key: cord-0927896-je7fe0e7
authors: Chang, Wei-Ting; Hughes, Michael W.; Liu, Ping-Yen
title: The impact of COVID-19 on the research and educational environment in Taiwan --Forewarned is forearmed
date: 2020-08-11
journal: J Formos Med Assoc
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfma.2020.08.004
sha: ab73a88afa7e9f811a93ebba70fda1ff0dbd2168
doc_id: 927896
cord_uid: je7fe0e7

nan

The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the virus of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 1 .

COVID-19 has reached a pandemic level. Its also affects socializing, economics, education, and research. Two months apart from the lockdown of the first city, Wuhan, China, the research institutes at Stanford University, California start their remote lecture plan from March 14 th . Soon after, Harvard University announced its closure until May. Additionally, on March 23 rd , the US government issued a "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" proclamation strengthening mandates on social distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19 2 . However, this regulation has yet to flatten the infection curve of COVID-19. As of 17 July 2020, there have been 13,547,206 confirmed cases with 584,,058 deaths globally 3 . With the timely activation of the public health system, Taiwan is one of the countries with an early response to COVID-19 3 . Currently, Taiwan received a 'rotten egg' from the pandemic with 452 cases diagnosed with COVID-19 and 7 cases of death, which fortunately is a relatively lower mortality rate compared to other countries.

Given the experience of SARS in 2003 and Dengue fever in 2015, the Taiwanese government was able to rapidly take action on this emerging infectious disease 3 . The National Health Insurance, starting from 1995, currently covers over 98% of the population. This well-established insurance system with high coverage not only relieves the economic burden of health care but is an efficient patient tracking system for travel and exposure history. Instead of instituting a local, citywide, or national lockdown, most people in Taiwan maintain their daily activities, including biomedical research.

There are several pivotal decisions and measures that contained COVID-19 and simultaneously permitted the function of research and educational institutes. In this global public health crisis, Taiwan tries the best to refrain from a lockdown. With the above strategies (Figure 1) , as of April 28, 2020 there are "zero" newly documented cases of COVID-19 over the past 3 consecutive days and most of the research and education institutes function as usual 3 . By sharing our experiences, we hope to establish a communication network with other countries to share and learn how to defeat COVID-19. 

China Novel Coronavirus I and Research T. A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China

Press releases

Taiwan Centers for Disease Control. Press releases

Working in Solidarity to Safeguard Taiwan--A Letter to Faculty Members, Staff, and Students

Community Pharmacists in Taiwan at the Frontline Against the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic: Gatekeepers for the Rationing of Personal Protective Equipment