As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increases in Taiwan, it is immensely important for people to stay at home and only travel if absolutely necessary. Classes are being canceled and people are working from home to reduce traffic, but in some cases the outbreak has sparked unnecessary travel.
There have been reports of university students, most of whose classes have been moved online, returning home from the level 3 alert areas of Taipei and New Taipei City to “take refuge” from the outbreak.
It is not just students. The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported that there have been at least two cases of infected people from Taipei and New Taipei City heading south to see relatives, causing additional panic and mandatory quarantines.
There is nothing to stop people from traveling, but such behavior only increases the risk of the virus spreading, while putting relatives — especially older ones — in danger.
It only takes one person to cause another infection cluster, so the best thing to do is to stay at home.
Former Taoyuan city councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇), who now resides in Taitung, yesterday posted a more egregious example on Facebook.
Wang wrote that he encountered a group of university students who had ridden scooters all night from Taipei to escape the situation in the north. They were planning to stay in a guest house and even asked him if there was a bar nearby.
This is irresponsible behavior. Classes were not moved online to allow students a vacation — it was meant to do the opposite.
Taipei and New Taipei City are far better medically equipped to deal with cluster infections, and as most residents seem to be heeding the government’s warnings — as evidenced by empty streets and stores — there is little reason to escape.
Instead, it seems to be a case of people treating the crisis as an excuse to go on a trip, which is reckless and unacceptable during this emergency.
What is alarming is that several replies to Wang’s post mentioned hearing about coworkers planning excursions to Taitung and Hualien — whose officials are already concerned about the number of tour buses that flooded the unaffected counties over the weekend.
Singer Aljenljeng Tjaluvie, or Abao — who is from Taitung — received a cry for help from relatives in the county about tourists flooding mountain areas, causing panic among Aboriginal locals, many of whom are elderly or children, and in some cases live more than an hour from the nearest hospital.
Reportedly, many of the visitors were not wearing masks.
The heads of several Aboriginal-majority townships in Pingtung County on Monday advised hikers not to visit until the outbreak is contained, or at least plan their routes to avoid villages.
While it is legal to visit these places for now and it is admirable that people have really taken to Taiwan’s nature and mountains while weathering the pandemic, they should be considerate and exercise restraint until this outbreak is contained.
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