[Global Times Special Correspondent in Taipei Yu Yu] The 32nd confirmed case of New Crown Pneumonia in Taiwan was an illegal Indonesian caregiver, shifting the focus of Taiwan's epidemic prevention to illegal workers and worrying about whether they would become super communicators and a gap in epidemic prevention.
According to Taiwan's "China Times" report on March 1, after the 80-year-old man in northern Taiwan was diagnosed with new crown pneumonia, the 31-year-old Indonesian female caregiver responsible for caring for him was also diagnosed on February 26, becoming the 32nd case in Taiwan, and so far The only case where a foreign carer was diagnosed. The carer took care of the elderly from February 11-16, and was outdoors in February 16-19. He took buses, MRTs, trains, and taxis in 4 modes of transportation, covering Taipei and New Taipei. She went to another hospital to take care of other patients, and "there was a serious breach from family cluster infection to community infection." As of now, the health unit has mastered a total of 148 people contacted by the nursing staff from February 11th to 16th, 116 of which need to be inspected, all of which are negative; 18 of the 23 people contacted from February 19th to 24th were inspected. Negative, the rest are under inspection.
Taiwan's United Daily News said that the day after the authorities announced the diagnosis of the care worker, the media found the particularity of their illegal care worker status-they turned close to the patient, patted their backs, lifted their arms, took sputum with toilet paper, and processed excrement. , But not even qualified to receive a mask. When reporters took turns asking questions about how to get this group of illegal immigrant workers to get the same protection as medical staff, Taiwan ’s “Central Epidemic Command Center” all answered “This is the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor”, and even skipped the question once. After that, the "command center" announced that it should notify the "Immigration Department" when it asked the hospital to find illegal nurses. This measure subsequently caused some people to worry that illegal workers would therefore hide further, and they did not dare to seek medical treatment when they appeared to have symptoms. Until February 29, "command center commander" Chen Shizhong finally expressed his disapproval of the hospital's report, which would cause patients to be unable to receive care. Taiwan's "Executive Yuan" made three appeals on March 1. The first is still strongly calling on employers not to hire illegal workers; the second is to simultaneously require relevant ministries to strengthen measures to promote epidemic prevention among Taiwan's workers; the third is to invite workers to work with the authorities to prevent epidemics .
The island views this differently. "Administrative Affairs Commissioner" Lin trillion said on March 1 that the focus now is not on the inspection of illegal workers, but that both legal and illegal workers must be included in the epidemic prevention so that the correct epidemic prevention information can be completely transmitted. Cai Bi, a "Legislative Member" of the People's Party who is a nurse background, said that if illegal workers are banned during the current epidemic prevention period, these people may be chased outside the law, which is even more harmful to epidemic prevention. The number of legal or illegal caregivers who report daily is counted together.
According to statistics from Taiwan's "Immigration Department", as of January this year, Taiwan has lost 48,000 foreign workers, of which 48% are Indonesian and nearly 45% are Vietnamese. The "Immigration Department" offered the "confession" concession in the first half of last year, but the effect was limited. More than 90% of foreign workers who lost their association still chose to stay. They went to hospitals as nurses under the needles of illegal agencies or other nurses. Medical staff and intermediaries revealed that in addition to providing shelter for finding a legal worker, they need to spend NT $ 50,000 to 60,000 a month, which cannot be afforded by ordinary families. At the same time, it is not easy to apply for legal care. Many families find illegal caregivers and will cover them if they encounter problems. Generally speaking, the average daily salary of legal care workers is more than NT $ 2200, and illegal foreign care workers only need 1,300 yuan, which is almost half cheaper. Because of the shortage of manpower on the island, the price of even illegal nurses has not fallen.
Cognitive care writer Yi Jiaqi wrote in the China Times on February 29 that foreign workers who come to Taiwan to work legally or illegally are mainly for the purpose of making money. Once they are sick, they will also bear debt in addition to affecting their work. If illegal workers show up for treatment, they will pay a hefty price. If the authorities propose an amnesty without considering their situation, more than 50,000 illegal workers will become a breach of the epidemic. "Lianhe Bao" said on March 1 that the 32nd confirmed case was an illegal care worker, which not only put the accompany patients on the island at risk of infection, but also unexpectedly reflected that the nursing staff was inadequate, but the competent authorities had long ignored it, causing it to use " The old method of "detective and raiding" deals with the problem, and there is an end that may make the epidemic self-defeating. The article said that although Chen Shizhong stepped on the brakes in time, 40,000 to 50,000 illegal foreign workers have become a hidden concern in epidemic prevention. How to provide them with support for epidemic prevention and medical treatment is a challenge.
According to a previous report by the United News Network, Taiwan's "Immigration Department" strengthened the management of mainland residents' entry, impacting families with family members in hospital and needing to accompany the sick. As the mainland nurses are mostly land-based, some domestic companies have confirmed that the number of caregivers has been reduced by 50% recently. It is a major reason that land-based nurses who return to Taiwan from the mainland need to be isolated for 14 days.