Tainan Dragon Boat Race Held As Usual with Less Teams|台南龍舟賽照常舉行 縮減天數及參賽隊伍

The Tainan City Government said it will go ahead with this year's dragon boat race as the pandemic situation has improved. Mayor Huang Wei-cher said the city government will make every effort to ensure safety while keeping the excitement of the game alive. However, some athletes are still worried and said they might opt out this year.


Rowers are training hard on the Tainan Canal to ready themselves for this year's dragon boat race. While many cities and counties have either postponed or canceled similar activities this year amid the pandemic, the Tainan City Government has announced that this year's race will carry on as scheduled, albeit for a shorter duration with fewer teams participating. Although the situation has improved in recent weeks, athletes are still worried upon hearing the news.

The size of the event will be reduced in order to meet disease prevention needs while keeping the excitement of the game alive. We have planned to have 73 teams competing in the event. The duration of the race would be reduced from 5 days to 3 days, with some of the racers not wearing face masks.

Although the virus outbreak is currently under control, China and South Korea have seen the return of the outbreak after these countries lifted the restrictions just a few days ago. Therefore, we have decided not to participate after consideration.

As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to ease in Taiwan, the Tainan City Government stressed its decision aims to strike a balance between continuing the tradition and containing the disease. Meanwhile, the neighboring Chiayi County has announced that county government staff, school teachers and students are not required to wear face masks.

Students still have to wear face masks if they needed to. We will not force students who are healthy to wear masks.

(Chiayi is the first place to announce the lifting of face-mask wearing.) That's good! It means Taiwan has done an excellent job in virus prevention.

However, Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-cher has a different opinion towards the lifting of the face mask wearing restriction.

We see the CECC Commander Chen Shih-chung was not wearing a face mask yesterday, but one needs to know that there are transparent partitions between him and others. Unless Chen announces that people do not need to wear masks and stop practicing social distancing, then we will consider not wearing face masks when we are indoors.

Counties and cities are adopting different strategies with some beginning to lift related restrictions as the COVID-19 outbreak gradually comes to an ease.



划龍舟的隊員在台南運河裡面奮力的前進，但受到武漢肺炎疫情的影響，不少縣市取消或延期舉辦，而台南市政府表示，因為疫情趨緩關係，宣布今年龍舟賽續辦，不過將減少比賽天數及參賽隊伍，即便如此，曾經參賽過民眾有疑慮。

台南市長 黃偉哲表示：「規模可能是有點縮小，但是為了整體的節目緊湊， 還有防疫需求，所以我們大概目前為止規劃的，大概有73隊。時間從5天縮減為3天，其他部分選手是不戴口罩。」

前參賽隊伍教練 蔡宏盟表示：「畢竟現在疫情已經暫緩了，但是前幾天那個大陸跟南韓，也是因為疫情暫緩，又開放一些，又爆發出來，所以說我們考量下，還是今年還是不報名。」

因應疫情趨緩關係，台南市府強調龍舟賽將兼顧傳統以及防疫，不過隔壁的嘉義縣已經宣布，縣府員工及學校師生不再硬性規定戴口罩。

嘉義縣民雄興中國小校長 黎萬元表示：「如果有需要的學生，還是要戴，假如身體健康我們就不強迫。」

嘉義縣民雄興中國小 學生表示：「（嘉義全國第一個解禁戴口罩？) 很好，代表我們台灣的防疫，做得很好。」

而針對嘉義縣口罩解禁，台南市長黃偉哲則是不同看法。

台南市長 黃偉哲表示：「只看到昨天陳時中部長，沒有戴口罩，但要注意到他跟其他的人員之間，是有透明隔罩，除非陳時中部長可以說，我們不戴口罩，也不需要社交距離，或是不需要透明隔罩的話，那我們考慮在室內，也遵照陳時中部長；順時中，我們也可以不戴口罩。」

國內武漢疫情漸漸趨緩，各縣市也慢慢解禁相關措施，不過各縣市都有不同做法，防疫與解禁，也考驗各地方首長的智慧。