Recurrence/Spikes of Covid-19The final meeting of RCNY's 2019-2020 year took place on Zoom on June 25. Our featured speaker was Dr. Chunhuei Chi, Director of Center for Global Health in College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State Univ. and an advisory committee member of Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare's Bureau of Int'l Collaboration. He was joined by Emily Y.C. Hou, Economic Officer with Taiwan’s Investment and Trade Office.
report & video inside.
Report of the Week – Meeting of June 25
by Andreas Runggatscher
by Andreas Runggatscher
The final meeting of RCNY's 2019-2020 year took place on Zoom on June 25. Our featured speaker was Dr. Chunhuei Chi, Director of Center for Global Health in College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State Univ. and an advisory committee member of Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare's Bureau of Int'l Collaboration. He was joined by Emily Y.C. Hou, Economic Officer with Taiwan’s Investment and Trade Office, spoke about Taiwan’s initiative to share containment best practices with other countries facing the pandemic. Dr. Chi spoke about the different models of response across the globe to the COVID-19 pandemic and how Taiwan’s best practices could be applied to reopening the United States.One of the key points of Taiwan’s response is that the economy remained open while many other countries faced shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this, the Taiwan government financed the cost of the quarantine including providing universal access to masks and comfort items for the quarantined citizens. What might be helpful in the United States is mandating mask use and quarantining infected patients as a resurgence of cases emerges.
Due to the challenges of SARS in 2003, Taiwan prepared for COVID-19 pandemic with a strong legal framework to allow for contact tracing and had adequate health supplies. Taiwan emphasized a high level of transparency with a daily briefing on COVID-19 until late May and built trust with the public that was critical for Taiwan’s success during the pandemic. While the Taiwanese government has implemented precision tracking measures with cell phone signals, the citizens have played an important role in practicing safe measures.
Dr. Chi concluded his presentation by discussing measures that should be taken going forward including defining a well-developed legal framework on privacy rights and a general strengthening of the health system. For the United States to continue reopening in a safe way, it is critical that the government provides guidance to businesses on how to safely reopen and Rotary can play a role in this effort.
This link leads to a recording of today's highly insightful presentation by Professor Chi.
If you missed the meeting via Zoom please consider viewing this recording
CLICK
If you missed the meeting via Zoom please consider viewing this recording
CLICK