Thread by @royngerng

Taiwan has developed an amazing face mask strategy during this #coronavirus outbreak. I remember Taiwan's government said it learnt from SARS that ensuring adequate masks is important to allay people's worries over the virus. But it's also important for several reasons: 1/13

https://twitter.com/skramerteaches/status/1233329612437934081

(1) It bought time for the government. Ensuring available masks for all residents in Taiwan prevented panic and gave the government the time and space to manage the #coronavirus and save the resources which it would otherwise need to spend dealing with a panic situation. 2/13

(2) Ensuring available masks for all became part of an effective strategy to contain the #coronavirus in Taiwan, as the masks helped to prevent people infected from spreading to others and therefore helped keep the #COVID19 cases in Taiwan relatively low. 3/13

(3) After about a month of Taiwan's mask strategy, people initially wore masks all the time, but have learnt to adapt to how they wore the masks, such as mainly on crowded public transport. This helps to conserve how long each mask can be used, especially with the shortages. 4/13

(4) We are now at a stage where @MOHW_Taiwan's efforts to contain the #coronavirus has been so effective, it has resulted in people letting their guard down and mask use is becoming less consistent. But Taiwan's mask strategy have bought enough time to... 5/13

... let Taiwan's government observe how the #coronavirus develops as well as for the epidemic to take shape globally, so that new data on infections, deaths and information on global capabilities mean community spread is becoming an inevitability both globally and in Taiwan. 6/13

(5) But because the effective mask strategy in Taiwan coupled with transparency and free media means Taiwanese have been vastly educated on the #coronavirus, this now means as Taiwan embarks on the next stage of community transmission, people are more ready to deal with it. 7/13

(6) As such, the mask strategy of the @iingwen government, @MOHW_Taiwan and @Taiwan_CDC has helped contained the #coronavirus epidemic, calmed people down and bought time for the government to educate people and prepare Taiwanese for the community transmission to come. 8/13

(7) Here's a summary of Taiwan's face mask strategy:
1: Premier @eballgogogo 1st spent time assuring Taiwanese of the adequacy of masks
2: the government then said it would build new lines to produce masks and buy current production from businesses for public distribution. 9/13

3: mask rationing in Taiwan started at 3 pieces per person per convenience store at only NT$6 a piece.
4: it was then tagged to each person at 2 pieces a week for NT$5 a piece.
5: key to Taiwan's mask strategy is how it has the production capabilities to produce masks. 10/13

6: Taiwan's government started by saying it will produce 3-5 million masks.
7: it later said it could produce 10 million masks by early-March.
8: it will now produce 11-13 million masks in the near future

Taiwan's mask strategy is key to its effective #coronavirus response 11/13

(8) Taiwan's strengthening of its health system, such as the @MOHW_Taiwan's creation of a cloud system in 2013 to decentralized healthcare as well as infrastructure upgrades and data management also helped ensure an effective mask rationing system. 12/13

focustaiwan.tw/society/202002…

(9) Finally, Taiwan's constant investment in digitalization and a dedicated digital minister @audreyt also enabled the creation of an online platform to provide real-time information about the availability of supplies of face masks across Taiwan. 13/13

taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3882111

Taiwan's effective mask strategy to manage the #coronavirus is ∴ a model that can be replicated by other countries during #COVID19 or future similar outbreaks - @WHO and @CDCgov should learn from @Taiwan_CDC, and this is why Taiwan needs to be let into WHO because #TaiwanCanHelp