Former Vice President Chen Chien-jen says that the main factor behind Taiwan’s elevated COVID-19 fatality rate is the high number of elderly patients. Chen is also an epidemiologist.
Taiwan is facing its largest outbreak of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, but the case numbers are dropping. Chen says that Taiwan saw 500-600 new cases every day during the first two weeks after it was put under a Level 3 COVID alert. The next two weeks saw 300-400 new cases each day, and this week has seen fewer than 200 new daily cases.
He says the collective spirit of Taiwan’s people is helping bring the outbreak under control.
Before April 14, Taiwan only had 1,076 cases, 11 deaths, and a fatality rate of 1%. Many of those patients were infected while abroad.
Now, however, Taiwan’s fatality rate is 3.7%. Chen says that’s because many of the patients in the recent outbreak are elderly, with 55% at least 50 years old. Patients 80 years old and above are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, with a 43% chance of serious illness and a chance of death of 27%. Taiwan began vaccinating all senior citizens aged 85 and older on Tuesday.
Chen says it is reasonable that the government has put vulnerable people like these at the top of its vaccination priority list.