The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Boston, Harvard GSAS Taiwan Student Association, and several medical universities in Taiwan hosted a panel discussion on March 5, to share details of Taiwan’s experience combating diseases, and the strengths that Taiwan is bringing to fighting COVID-19. The attendees included Angelo Puppolo, a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and chair of its Committee on Technology & Intergovernmental Affairs, and Marty Martinez, Chief of the Mayor's Office Health & Human Services for the City of Boston.

Douglas Hsu, Director General of TECO in Boston, explained that Taiwan’s government learned how to fight the spread of COVID-19 from dealing with the global outbreak of SARS in 2003. At the beginning of 2020, when other countries were still unprepared for the COVID-19 virus, Taiwan’s government set up a tracking system to track all confirmed cases and banned the export of medical face masks, and Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare established the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to integrate government’s resources to protect Taiwan’s entire population from any local COVID-19 outbreak. CECC provides information and resources and holds a daily press conference giving updates and the latest news.

These are key reasons why Taiwan has been among the countries with dramatically fewer people infected by this devastating virus, despite being so geographically close to the location where this pandemic began. Taiwan is fully ready and willing to contribute its experience to help protect global health! #TaiwanCanHelp