Department of Sports, Taipei City Government

On May 3, Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan visited Taipei City Hospital Zhongxiao Branch and inspected the COVID-19 Outpatient Clinic area to learn more about the setup of the outdoor facility and related workflow.
 
Huang remarked that there appears to be a growing number of patients with mild symptoms visiting the facility. She instructed the hospital to establish a fast-track queue to divert the crowds from the emergency room to minimize impact on the ER. There should also be clearer signs, and the workflow should be further simplified as well.
 
As for the Mayor Ko Wen-je’s sudden absence, Huang explained that one of the mayor’s bodyguard tested positive earlier in the day. Even though the mayor’s rapid test result indicated negative, Ko decided to be safe and minimize the impact on others by cancelling the trip.
 
Regarding the media’s question on what she thought about Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung’s comment over the possibility of comprehensive quarantine lift starting mid-June, Huang replied that the priority is to see if we can get past the peak in mid-May. Nobody knows what will happen in June.
 
With new COVID cases surpassing 20,000 a day, journalists are curious whether there is a possibility of the mayor’s proposed “soft” lockdown happening in the coming week? The deputy mayor pointed out that there are still over 500 hospital beds and 800 to 900 beds at quarantine hotels. The city government will continue to track available resources and optimize reassignment/discharge of hospitalized patients and quarantined individuals based on actual needs to lessen the burden on medical resources.
 
As to whether distribution of medication based on presence of symptoms at the hospital helps reduce the pressure on medical institutions, Huang explained that with the new COVID outpatient queues, the number of people crowding into the ER will likely drop, thereby lessening the burden on emergency room personnel.