Starting from the outbreak of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020, face masks became a necessity for Taiwanese people. If we look back to the horrendous outbreak of SARS in 2003 (SARS in Taiwan 2003), we would recall how difficult it was to gain sufficient protection and enough medical supplies. This time, the Taiwan government has learned the lesson and made proper deployments to prevent tragedy from reoccurring. In this article, we’re going to take a look at how Taiwan battles against the pandemic war – especially on the aspect of distributing surgical masks – with the help of technology.
Mask Demands Surge High
As soon as COVID-19 broke out, the public fear of getting infected caused a surging demand for face masks. Most Taiwanese are familiar with the concept that “face masks save lives” from the experience of the 2003 SARS epidemic.
In early January, the Taiwan government attempted to ease the supply-demand imbalance by encouraging citizens to wear masks only under certain situations. “Leave the resources for those in need,” is a spirit stressed by many important figures, including the prime minister, the commander of Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), and many public figures. However, as the situation worsened, the whole globe under red travel alert and domestic cases rising, people’s need for masks became desperate. This was early February.
The Production Line
To ensure an abundant mask supply for the whole nation, the Executive Yuan (similar to the Department of States in the US) called up dozens of enterprises, mostly machinery industries, aiming to create a total of 60 production lines, yielding more than 6 million masks a day. Later on, with more than 3200 workforces, the “National Mask Team” expanded its scale and built 92 production lines within 40 days. By March 20th, the whole country could provide 15 million masks a day.
According to the Minister of Economic Affairs, “building 60 production lines in a month was mission impossible.” Only two companies could assemble the machines, and under normal circumstances, assembling one took 4-5 days. Now they had 60 to build in 30 days, which meant they had to speed up 4-5 times. To accomplish the mission, they recruited skillful workers from all over the country. With tireless work, the production line was finally set up by mid-March.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs stimulated the production of masks by giving out rewards. All the masks were purchased by the government by the price of 2.5 NTD (about 0.08 USD) per piece (so the government could keep track of all the resources and distribute them evenly). Companies that surpassed the standard production goal got paid extra. Now, we have succeeded to satisfy our national needs and can even donate over 10 million masks to other countries. (Taiwan Will Donate 10 Million Masks in Bid to Aid Global Coronavirus Response)
The National Health Insurance System
The National Health Insurance System (NHI) has proven to be extremely helpful in the COVID-19 pandemic for it serves as an independent database for every individual. In normal times, NHI is a system of health insurance that insures a national population against the costs of health care. Every citizen has an NHI card to record all their previous health histories. During the pandemic, the NHI card serves as a qualification to get your share of surgical masks; that’s how the Name-Based Mask Distribution Program operates.
Besides the distribution of masks, Taiwan has established an electronic system for entry quarantine. Individuals’ travel history is now stored on the NHI card to alert physicians to possible cases and prevent community transmission. For those undergoing home quarantine or isolation, the government is working with telecom operators to allow GPS tracking of their locations.
How To Get Your Masks
Starting from February 6th, Taiwan has launched the first version of Name-Based Mask Distribution Program. Citizens were allowed to purchase 2 pieces of masks per week, then the number rose to 3 pieces/week, slowly to 9 pieces/14 days. Even with the regulation that enforced all passengers on mass transportation to wear masks properly, and many other public places requiring masks for entry, the quantity seemed sufficient.
So, how do you get your masks? There are mainly two options for purchasing your designated portion. First, you could go to a local pharmacy or public health center to buy the masks with your NHI card. At first, there used to be long queue lines in front of pharmacies and health centers. People arrived two to three hours early to the distribution time for the stocks are too limited. Subsequently, APPs with maps and real-time records of each store’s mask stock released, most of which developed by voluntary contributors on the net.
By mid-April, you could use the online eMask system set up by NHI engineers to place an order with your ID number. After a week or so, your order would be delivered to local convenience stores–no queueing was required anymore. Getting masks has become an easy-peasy task.
How Taiwan Achieved This
Not forgetting the experience of the 2003 SARS outbreak, Taiwan has spent 17 years preparing itself against the threat of yet another infectious disease in case it happens. Taiwan has been well aware of the severance of the novel coronavirus since the very beginning. This alertness inspired swift and flexible reactions to the spreading COVID-19 compared to other nations. With the NHI system playing a key role in keeping track of all citizens’ health data and the effective distribution pathways due to the high density of convenience stores and pharmacies, Taiwan had the natural advantage of launching an experimental distribution system. Luckily, the results turned out quite satisfying.