Taiwanese families say COVID-19 deaths didn't have to happen
ABC News
For 30 years, Nancy Chen ate lunch every day with her parents at their apartment
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- It is at lunchtime that Nancy Chen misses her father the most. For 30 years, she ate every day with her parents at their apartment. Her father, despite being partially impaired by a stroke, would buy her a box lunch with cod. If she were 15 minutes late, he would worry and ask if she was working too hard.
For the first year and a half of the coronavirus pandemic, it seemed that Taiwan would remain largely unscathed by the devastation playing out elsewhere. Aside from near-universal mask wearing, people went about their lives as normal.
But Taiwan was caught off guard when the virus came. The health system couldn't handle the number of COVID tests needed and doctors lacked the right medications. The death toll rose quickly from just 12 to more than 800.
Chen’s father, who died in June, was one of the victims.