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With almost four times the population of Washington state in an area a quarter of its size, Taiwan has suffered comparatively little of the economic devastation that has taken hold in this state and nation in general.

They never even shut down the bars. Why?

They all wear masks, contact tracing is fast, and they follow strict protocols with visitors.

Aside from that, life is normal in the island nation off the coast of the People’s Republic of China.

Coulee Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sam Hsieh just got back from visiting family there and described the experience for CMC’s hospital district board of commissioners Monday night.

People in Asia got used to wearing masks when the SARS virus hit them hard in the early 2000s. So when SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in 2019, systems were in place for quickly tracing the disease, and people already knew to put on masks, which are plentiful.

Now, 74 % of the population is fully vaccinated.

Anyone traveling to Taiwan must also be fully vaccinated, take a PCR covid test within 72 hours of boarding the plane (a 14-hour flight from Washington), then quarantine in a special hotel room with the family for 14 days.

“The kids definitely got more screen time than usual,” Hsieh said.

Meals are delivered to the door. Hsieh said those breaking quarantined are fined heavily. He heard of one person fined over $30,000.

Travelers are tested every three days for Covid until they’ve been in country for 21 days. And the government will check on you daily.

The results? Among almost 24 million people, Taiwan has seen about 18,800 cases of COVID-19, including 851 dead. Among Washington state’s 7.5 million, some 1.34 million cases of the disease have been documented by county health agencies all over the state, the state’s Dept. of Health site says. We’ve almost reached 11,000 dead.