Several Taiwan lawmakers are in Geneva, campaigning for Taiwan''s participation in the WHA. Besides advocating for Taiwan, the lawmakers have been seeing firsthand how the Swiss are living with COVID. Very few people wear masks in public or observe social distancing, they say. One lawmaker looks forward to Taiwan making the same return to normal life.

People enjoy a meal al fresco in Geneva. It’s just like any other day.

Walking down the street, there’s nary a face mask in sight, and not many are observing social distancing. Lawmaker Wang Wan-yu, who is currently in Geneva, says the change took a little getting used to.

Wang Wan-yu
New Power Party lawmaker
After I landed, it felt a little weird. Because even at the airport, most people aren’t wearing masks anymore. But we’re still a little anxious, so we still wear masks. We felt the anxiety especially at a diplomatic banquet on the first day. We were all in very close quarters, and it was a little noisy. So we all chatted very close to each other. We’re a little nervous, especially because the next day, we heard someone at the banquet had tested positive for COVID.

But Geneva is still offering PCR tests to the public.

Lee Shih-chen
FTV reporter
At this PCR test site, staff told us that during the peak of the recent wave, people had to line up for two hours to get a PCR test.

Rapid tests, which are in high demand in Taiwan, are available at many pharmacies in Switzerland.

Switzerland’s most recent COVID wave peaked in mid-March. Since then, case numbers have been in a continual decline.

Lin Ching-yi
DPP lawmaker
Switzerland’s vaccine coverage is not as high as Taiwan’s. But they decided to live with COVID back in April. So they eliminated many of the infection control regulations. Over here and in Europe, countries have downgraded COVID. They no longer consider it a pandemic. They treat it as if it were the common cold. Something like the seasonal flu.

Wang Wan-yu
New Power Party lawmaker
For a long time, Taiwan had a zero-COVID approach. So I think many people are worried about opening up. If the rate of severe infections goes down, and vaccine coverage is high, then I think it’s time to open up and go back to life as it was before.

The lawmaker is in Geneva to promote Taiwan’s cause at the WHA. She says the trip has also been a learning opportunity, as she’s getting to see how Switzerland is living with COVID.