Some strategies for combatting the spread of coronavirus probably wouldn’t go down to well in America. Such as banging on people’s doors and threatening them if their phone goes dark and they can’t be tracked.
My phone, which is satellite-tracked by the Taiwan gov to enforce quarantine, ran out of battery at 7:30 AM. By 8:15, four different units called me. By 8:20, the police were knocking at my door.
— Milo Hsieh (@MiloHsieh) March 22, 2020
My phone briefly ran out of battery at 07:30, and in less than an hour, four different local administrative units had called. A patrol was dispatched to check my whereabouts. A text was sent notifying that the government had lost track of me, and warned me of potential arrest if I had broken quarantine.
I returned to Taiwan last Thursday to experience the island’s zero-risk take on coronavirus.
Since I was coming back from Europe, I am subjected to a mandatory 14 days home quarantine. Before I had my passport checked, I had to pass through a booth set up by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. I filled out a document detailing places I had visited in the last fortnight, my phone number, landline and address. They notified me that my phone would be “satellite-tracked” for enforcement.
A thought to consider: the more the current administration in the U.S. bungles it, the more reasonable it will seem to propose draconian, unconstitutional measures to prevent disaster. Trump and the GOP have always wanted those things, so coronavirus creates a perverse incentive for them to cultivate crisis.
Another way of putting it: Republicans saying the old should die to save America aren’t concerned about election prospects.