Thread by @WilliamYang120

Worrying facts about #Taiwan's #COVID19 testing benchmark - Over the last few weeks, Taiwan's epidemic prevention measures have been widely praised by the international community, but now some worrying facts about its benchmark for who qualified to get tested have emerged.

1. A friend has been experiencing shortness of breath, dry cough, fever, as well as joints and muscle pain since two days ago. He first called the national hotline to request to get tested, but the person answering the call insisted that if he didn't have travel history ...

... over the last 14 days or if he didn't come in contact with anyone that has traveled over the last 14 days, he wouldn't qualify to get tested. Taiwan currently has 167 medical institutions that offer testing for #COVID19.

He then went to one of the hospitals and tried to ask if he can get tested, but staff at the hospital gave him the same answer. So he was turned away again even though he offered to pay the testing fee by himself.

This morning, he still has joints and muscle pain, dry cough and his temperature has dropped a bit. He called three of the 167 hospitals to ask again if he could get tested, and he was again rejected.

The hospitals told him that "since #Taiwan hasn't entered into community transmission," so only people who have travel history over the last 14 days or those who come in contact with people who have travelled over the last two weeks can be tested.

He went to a local clinic and asked the doctor whether his symptoms fit #COVID19, and the doctor told him that it is now very hard for doctors to distinguish COVID19 from a flu or a cold.

And since the flu season is almost over in #Taiwan, it is not likely that his symptoms are caused by a flu. On top of that, the doctor told him that flu symptoms usually come and go very fast, whereas #COVID19 symptoms tend to take longer to show up and subside.

So now he could only stay home and try to hope the medication from the clinic actually works.

Yesterday, the chief of @Taiwan_CDC insisted that #Taiwan hasn't entered into community infection, but with the uptick of the number of confirmed cases over the last few days, it should have modified its evaluation.

Insistence on following "strict orders" from the central command center and denying worrying citizens the rights to get tested could deal a huge blow to #Taiwan's hard work since the beginning.

So anyone that thinks #Taiwan has been responsibly carrying out #COVID19 tests should view it with a grain of salt. The low number so far could simply be the result of not testing enough suspected patients.

Oh and he is not allowed to be admitted to ERs at hospitals because his body temperature is below 38 Celsius. This is just poor bureaucracy and unreasonable stubbornness.