Public health and epidemic prevention expert Chiu Shu-ti appealed to the DPP government and epidemic prevention commander Chen Shih-chung, urging them to sound the alarm! Alarms are sounding in hospitals, for transfers, and in the community! Because of a series of preventable errors!
Epidemic prevention is actually just a very simple logic. Unfortunately, the Central Epidemic Command Center severely lacks this logic. Experts from the National Taiwan University College of Public Health have been silenced, leaving only sycophants and internal propaganda. Is this a blessing for the people?
Let’s look at a few very basic but fatal logical errors:
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If medical staff in a hospital are infected, should their contacts in the same hospital be quarantined at home, undergo testing, or self-manage their health? No. 1. Patients should be managed similarly to inbound travelers, with one person per household or staying in quarantine hotels, to avoid endangering their families.
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If a cluster of infections occurs within the hospital, should we only allow discharges and not allow entry? Or should it be the opposite, allowing entry but not exit, or even not exiting and not entering? The most important thing in dealing with infectious diseases is to quickly stop the spread! Therefore, entry and exit should be stopped. Assuming discharges are indeed allowed, then, similarly to inbound travelers, one person per household or staying in quarantine hotels should be implemented. If this is done, there will be no two new local cases (discharged patients + family members). This is similar to the infection of family members of healthcare workers; as long as the established epidemic prevention logic (similar to the control standards for inbound travelers) is followed, it is absolutely preventable. Infection of family members, community panic, and economic damage can be avoided.
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How should patients remaining in the hospital be cared for? Should infected patients have one room per person, or should other patients have one? In fact, the most important thing to protect is to prevent uninfected patients and healthcare workers from becoming infected. Currently, those testing negative may not be truly uninfected due to false negatives and incubation periods. Therefore, some may be uninfected while others may be infected. How can we protect those who are not infected? We must provide one-on-one care. Whether staying in Taoyuan or transferred to another hospital, negative patients should ideally be isolated and treated in individual rooms to prevent cross-infection. This echoes the concept of entry quarantine mentioned earlier: those who haven’t developed symptoms should all be isolated in individual rooms. However, the photos of Taoyuan released by the forward commander show all patients together, meaning that if any one infected person or contact is found, everyone will be cross-contaminated. This is a major misconception.
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Limit testing, since tests aren’t always accurate? Wrong! A false negative rate of 1/3 means missing one out of three tests, but it will catch two, which is better than missing all three. Currently, too many community cases have been active in the community; we must immediately expand community testing, including in Taoyuan and Taipei.
Now, for every additional case, we must add a 28-day danger period. It seems the Lunar New Year business opportunities, whether in Taoyuan or throughout Taiwan, are going to be lost. A series of fatal mistakes, coupled with the prolonged delay in expanding testing and passively waiting for the worst, have led to this situation.
Note: Because many people are criticizing the previous hospital lockdowns, I’m also posting the official document for reference.
Ordered an immediate lockdown of hospitals and put the Health Bureau in charge, while neglecting their own duties. How could there be such a central government official? And now they’re still saying it was Taipei City that ordered the lockdown. Why lie??? Why not admit it???
Article Source: All Alarms on! Inside the hospital, during transfers, in the community, alarms are sounding! Because of a series of preventable mistakes!