The COVID-19 cluster infections among migrant workers at King Yuan Electronics and GreaTek Electronics in Miaoli County were a “watershed” moment, after which disease prevention spun out of control. As a result, the government extended the level 3 pandemic alert to block further clusters.
Due to labor shortages, about 713,000 legally registered migrant workers were in Taiwan as of April. Most of them — 468,000 — worked in the “productive industries” category.
Most migrant workers in Taiwan are young people with a need to interact socially. Their social networks span companies, cities and industries, and their movements and interactions on holidays are especially wide-ranging.
About 245,000 migrant workers are employed in the social welfare sector, as caregivers in institutions and people’s homes. Following the surge in domestic COVID-19 cases, long-term care facilities became pandemic hotspots. Community clusters at such facilities are difficult to control, and as most facility residents are old and weak, with chronic diseases, there is the potential of a high death rate and a costly use of medical resources.
Most migrant workers live in company dormitories. As 80 percent of those infected with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, early monitoring and testing are necessary.
For example, the serial interval for the alpha, or British, variant is three days, so one person can quickly pass it on to others. Everyone in a dormitory of 1,000 workers could be infected within a month, and the disease could spread to workers at other companies.
If preventive action is not taken in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli counties, where high-tech companies are clustered, these areas could become the next pandemic hotspots, which would have a serious effect on Taiwanese industry. Some crucial recommendations are as follows:
First, companies should lower the residential density in their dormitories, and rent large, adequately ventilated venues. Having migrant workers quarantine at home in crowded dormitories would only create more problems.
Next, companies should expand the scope and frequency of employee testing for COVID-19. Every worker should be given a rapid test every two to three days to identify those who are at different stages of infection. Testing negative in a single rapid test does not guarantee that a person has not contracted the virus.
Third, long-term care facility staff and residents should be vaccinated immediately. As Taiwan has imported vaccines, inoculation of facility staff and residents should be given priority to avoid cluster infections and prevent the medical system from collapsing.
Fourth, it is unavoidable that a large number of young migrant workers will be infected, so exclusive areas for patients with mild symptoms should be established, where they would be given medical assistance in their own language to provide mental and physical support.
Fifth, migrant workers rely heavily on cellphones, so mobile contact tracing is not difficult. If Taiwan can adopt an emergency measure requiring all workers to download a tracking application on their cellphones, it would be possible to track their contact history. Otherwise, contact tracing might be not be feasible due to the language barrier.
Finally, companies should increase communication with and management of workers, as they might run away due to pay cuts because of work suspensions or fear of infection.
Weng Ming-yu is a physician.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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