IT soft power
Public-private cooperation has not only enabled these simple masks to help contain the spread of the virus, but also highlighted Taiwan’s soft power in terms of information technology and its public health system.
Taiwan Panorama visited mask-maker Motex, which is currently operating 11 production lines on two shifts. Two of those lines make masks exclusively for frontline medical personnel.
Motex Group chairman Y.C. Cheng experienced the 2003 SARS outbreak at first hand—he had to self-isolate when returning to Taiwan from mainland China during the outbreak, and well remembers the discomfort of wearing a mask 24 hours a day. The experience made him realize just how important these seemingly insignificant masks are, and led him to invent a diamond-shaped version that is both more comfortable to wear and more close-fitting.
Confronted with the shortage of masks in the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government rapidly halted exports, added new production lines, and instituted a mask rationing system.
To make sure the public had convenient and equitable access to masks, on February 4 the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) made data on mask sales and inventory at all of the nation’s pharmacies available to the public.
Skilled programmers then integrated this information into a variety of “mask maps” that enabled the public to find nearby NHI pharmacies, see their mask sales hours, and check the size of their mask inventories through visual maps, chat robots, and voice assistants. Some of these tools even included positioning and navigation functions.
Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang also contacted these tech communities about creating a face-mask supply and demand database. With more than 100 mask-map apps and groups currently in existence, public-spirited tech communities have demonstrated the power of Taiwanese IT.
Taiwan’s mobilization of the general public has made us a global model for epidemic prevention.