Another Ten Confirmed COVID-19 Cases at Chulu, Taitung 今初鹿3快篩站逾3百人採檢 又10村民陽性

Ten more positive cases have been found at Chulu Village in Taitung. They are waiting to do PCR tests for further confirmation.  

The head of the Chulu Village in Taitung handed out numbers to the villagers for them to line up for the COVID-19 rapid tests. Nearly 200 people lined up before 9 a.m. Chulu Junior High School and Chulu Elementary School both announced a day of school off on the 28th for prevention's sake.  Staff and teachers completed disinfection processes at the school during the day. Many students went to get rapid testing. More than 300 people got tested by just 10:30 a.m. Ten residents tested positive and will further get PCR tests for confirmation. There are six confirmed COVID-19 cases so far in the village and everyone is worried.

Parent: “Parents worry too.”

Liao Tsung-he, Beinan Township Representative: “They have to get tested again for confirmation. We will try our best to appeal to authorities for further testings for our villagers.”

Yao Ching-ling, Taitung County Magistrate: “We quarantined 18 people yesterday and now another 12. So far we confirmed 6 positive cases and all those under quarantine currently are tested negative.”

Taitung Public Health Bureau is calling on all those who have visited Chulu Village on March 21 to go get rapid testing as soon as possible. The Chulu Ranch nearby has also requested over 70 employees to get rapid tests and the ranch conducted large scale disinfection.

Lin I-chang, Manager, Chulu Range: “We will make arrangements to separate visitors from our factory to keep our visiting area safe.”

The air is tense in Chulu Village. Some shops have closed temporarily on their own. People wonder whether the government would place a semi-lockdown on the village like what they did with the Fangliao Village in Pingtung last year. The Taitung County Government said further observation is required. 

28日一大早，初鹿村長拿著號碼牌，發給來接受快篩的村民，不到9時，就已經有將近200人排隊接受快篩。

初鹿村的國中小學，28日宣布預防性停課一天，學生不用到校上課，學校教職員進行校內消毒，不少學生也到快篩站快篩，到上午10時半為止，衛生局在初鹿村開設的3個快篩站已經快篩308人，其中有10位村民快篩陽性反應，要進一步接受PCR檢驗。由於目前初鹿村已經6名確診村民，大家都很擔心被匡列隔離。

卑南鄉代表廖聰和說明：「必須要進行第二次篩檢的部分，我們以我們的立場，我們一定會向上來作爭取。」

台東縣長饒慶鈴指出：「昨天我們匡列了18位，那我們又增加了12位，目前仍然是6位確診，其他的匡列人士都是陰性。」

衛生局表示，10位快篩陽性村民進一步的檢驗要下午才有結果，呼籲初鹿村或是曾經在3月21日進出初鹿村活動的民眾趕快接受快篩。鄰近初鹿村的初鹿牧場，也要求70多名員工都要接受快篩，並且加強場區消毒。

初鹿牧場經理林意章說：「我們會把工廠的部分，跟遊客的部分再做一些隔離，讓我們（牧場）場區是更安全的。」

初鹿村的疫情讓村民很緊張，已經有店家自己暫時關門停業，但縣府會不會比照去年屏東枋寮村疫情微封村的防堵疫情模式？縣府說還要再看疫情的發展的再做決定。