Taipei City Government

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Taipei City Government regularly convenes outbreak prevention meetings and vigorously assists social welfare organizations such as institutions for senior citizens, disabled persons, and daycare centers to step up outbreak prevention efforts. The city government perceives immense importance in the protection of people’s health, hence Mayor Ko and Deputy Mayor and Acting Department of Social Welfare (DOSW) Commissioner Tsai Ping-Kun traveled to Xing Long Public Housing Social Welfare Park on February 24 to inspect the senior citizen daycare center, Wenshan Workshop, and Wenshan Daycare Center for their preparedness in regard to the implementation of the outbreak prevention measures.

Furthermore, he also stressed the importance of washing hands frequently, environmental cleaning and disinfection. According to Ko, since the outbreak is still not under control, Taipei City’s original plan to reopen community caring concern centers, evergreen academies, senior service center courses, community integrated care centers and parent-child centers on February 25 will be postponed until late March, pending further assessment. Ko emphasized that preventing an outbreak is like engaging in combat, so everyone including communities, care institutions, hospitals or clinics must stay vigilant and fully prepared.

While inspecting the senior citizen daycare center, the mayor not only checked on the health of the senior citizens but also reminded them of the importance of washing their hands often. When he visited the Wenshan Workshop, he also urged people to wear masks to prevent being infected. Ko commented that outbreak prevention measures at long-term care, home care, community institutions, and daycare centers will be carried out in accordance with the Central Epidemic Command Center’s instructions and official letters, while Taipei City Government will continue to reinforce environmental disinfection on a regular basis. Likewise, facilities used by the senior citizens frequently will be disinfected more often, and all disinfections conducted will be documented.

The mayor appealed to the public to minimize visitations during the outbreak and make use of alternative visitation methods such as video calls. Additionally, children at the daycare centers all have their body temperatures taken daily to monitor their health. Children with fever, respiratory tract symptoms or overseas travel history should be under self-health management, and they will therefore not be accepted at the daycare center and the parents will be requested to take them home.

Ko emphasized that the DOSW has inventoried outbreak prevention resources of 477 community care centers throughout the city and concluded that their resources are generally lacking in the face of volatile outbreak conditions, therefore Taipei City’s original plan to reopen community caring concern centers, evergreen academies, senior service center courses, community integrated care centers and parent-child centers on February 25 will be postponed until late March, pending further assessment. The understanding of senior citizens and the general public is greatly appreciated. Moreover, the disaster prevention process will undergo a comprehensive review, beginning with the self-protection of frontline caregivers in order to prevent further outbreaks among institutions and communities. The staff will be required to take body temperatures regularly, wear masks at all times, and sanitize their hands (some of them will be wearing gloves) and check their TOCC (travel, occupation, contact, and cluster) history. The staff will vigorously convey outbreak prevention-related information to the service subjects, and those with a fever or upper respiratory tract discomfort should stay at home. If you still need to go to the institutions, it is advisable to establish an independent space and one-on-one care measures to minimize the risk of infection.