Taiwan's CECC explained today why to (or not to) reveal the trajectory of COVID-confirmed cases & how they decide when to do so.

As @pybaubry highlighted this, I watched the video and found it indeed very interesting, therefore summary it here. 1/11 https://twitter.com/pybaubry/status/1341990979079864320

Context:
2 days ago, Taiwan interrupted its record of 253 days free of local COVID transmission. Case 771 spent at least 3 days with Case 765 (imported case) & got infected.

While CECC warned about their visits to 3 department stores, leak info mentioned ... 2/11

... other places (restaurants, metro, etc.) they seem to have been to. Some then questioned CECC about hiding information.

Ppl w/ good memory also pointed out in Feb, CECC released a very detailed trajectory of Case 32. (see link) 3/11 https://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/202002275007.aspx

The person was a migrant carer, so people wonder whether racism drives this different treatment. Note that for Case 32, the revealed information is basically a 4-day detailed agenda of the infected person.

So why not do the same this time? 4/11

CECC: to make a warning for a location that a confirmed case has visited, 2 conditions are examined. (1) Is the place public or private? (2) Are close contacts all specific (identifiable) or not?

Reminder: definition of close contact: <2 meters, >15 mins, no mask. 5/11

Let's enumerate different scenarios.

Scenario 1: private place. Example: residence. In a such place, contacts are always identifiable. No revelation.

Scenario 2: semi-public place. Ex: schools, working area. Contacts are usually identifiable. No revelation either. 6/11

Scenario 3: public place w/ tracing system. Ex: restaurants, gyms that ask for entering time & phone numbers of all visitors. Contacts are not specific but thanks to registration, they can be identified. So, based on the principle of privacy protection, no revelation. 7/11

Scenario 4: public place w/o tracing system. Ex: department store, long public transportation. This can create non-identified close contacts. CECC will reveal this place if they find it necessary.

And this is the only scenario that CECC will consider to reveal. 8/11

There are 3 types of contacts: possible source of transmission, close contacts, non-close ones. Possible sources will be tested. Close contacts will be isolated; some tested. Non-close contacts will be asked to self-monitor their health. 9/11

For Case 771, all 176 close contacts are isolated & tested. All negative (so far).

Concerning misinformation, CECC recalled that penal crime can apply. At least one of the rumors was disproved: apparently Case 771 was not running the Taipei Marathon last weekend at all. 10/11

The video of the full press conference can be found here. 11/11