How to Carry on with Life during the Corona Virus Outbreak?
Sylviana
Since people knew Corona Virus from TV news/ the Internet/ newspaper, almost everyone wears a mask when going out to take public transportation, work, or restaurants. I didn’t consider it to be serious until I received an email from my school, telling students that to avoid the risk of Coronavirus spreading, all primary and secondary schools in Taiwan would extend their winter break to the end of February. As a new semester started, students are told to keep the social distance for about 1.5 meters, especially when lining up at the student cafeterias, wear masks, and not to talk in the elevators.
I’m suffering few things from it: there was a licensing examination I supposed to take in March but it has been postponed to May, I couldn’t travel abroad this year, and our teacher planned to take us out to a field trip and teach us how to introduce some well-known attractions in Hsinchu but we had no choice but to cancel, as a result, we were asked to do PowerPoint presentations instead.
People who return from abroad or travel to other countries would be in quarantine for 14 days; some public spaces, such as schools, shopping malls, and restaurants, are with alcohol sprays and liquid soaps for cleaning hands; some places like squares for performance are even closed. In my hometown, Miaoli County, there are lots of people waiting outside the National Health Insurance (NHI) appointed pharmacies to buy masks and alcohol sprays because the 2 products are with quantity measurement. Taiwanese Government tweaks mask rationing plan to include all foreign nationals, I’m fortunate that my family has the habit to stockpile some masks, alcohol sprays, and foods at home, thus, there’s no need for us to line up for buying anything, we can avoid the crowds.
The Corona Virus does impact my life but at the same time, it makes me proud of being living in Taiwan, cherish all the bare necessities which are cheap but no longer easy to get as before, and find creative things easily. For example, knowing Taiwan has donated a total of 10 million surgical masks to its diplomatic allies, 11 European countries, and the U.S., I don’t think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence anymore. There’s a poster made by my schoolmates is with the words “ These days, we keep the social distance for 1.5 meters to get closer in the future.” which looks like description of a long-distance relationship.
Before going back to normal life, all Taiwanese people could do is to stay at home most of the time, wear masks in public, and follow/ listen to the Minister of Health and Welfare, Shih-Chung Chen. Taiwan is an outsider of World Health Organization (WHO) but with the strongest team.
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