Taiwan saw 13 new local COVID-19 cases today. 3 of these cases were in Kaohsiung. The cases were a family of 3, a mother, father, and their 4-year-old child.
The child went to the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Emergency Room (高雄長庚紀念醫院急診室) this morning. To be hospitalized one must take a PCR test. The child was given a test and it came back positive. The hospital immediately tested the child’s parents and found that they were post positive as well. When the results were discovered the local government started moving to contain the spread.
The hospital and all inside were immediately locked down. The local CECC began recording the information of all individuals present in order to determine if they had also been infected and to begin contact tracing.
The child had been attending a kindergarten in Fongshan District (鳳山區). When the case was confirmed today, parents rushed to the school to check on their children. A quarantine bus also rushed to the scene to test those at the school and whisk them off to hotels to quarantine.
On January 10th, 13th, and 14th, the father was at Kaohsiung Port for work. On the 15th he developed a headache and cough. It is unclear if this was COVID related.
All of the individuals at the hospital, the kindergarten, and port will need to spend the upcoming holiday in a quarantine hotel now. In the coming days we will see how if and much community spread there is from these infections and hopefully where it came from as authorities are still unsure of the origin of the three cases.