Triathlon to Be Held in Taitung; Residents Worried About Infection 台東鐵人三項賽事照辦 民眾憂疫情擴大

A triathlon competition will take place in Taitung this weekend despite the new wave of the pandemic. Even though the organizers and the 4,000 competitors are advised to follow disease prevention measures, local residents are still very worried.

Taitung residents are very nervous about the rising COVID-19 count in the county. People are going to get tested every day, and schools have suspended classes. Parents are worried not only about their children getting infected, but also how they will put food on the table if they have to quarantine.

Mrs. Lu, Citizen: “What if I get infected by those people? What if my kids get infected? I'm really scared.”

Mr. Chan, Citizen: “If I'm ordered to quarantine, then I'm going to have to take 10-14 or 15 days off.”

Lin Bang-yuan, Taitung County Sports Director: “The way our elementary schools are set up, classes will be canceled right and left by the end of the month. ”

Taitung residents are also worried about the influx of 4,000 triathlon participants this weekend. The organizer says the central government has not ordered the cancellation of the competition so it will still be held. However, the competition course will be fenced off and participants will be asked to provide a negative rapid test. The race route has also been moved away from downtown areas. 

Luo Wei-shih, CEO, Challenge Family Asia-Pacific: “(Participants) will keep a certain distance from residents. It's safer that way. We have also adjusted the race route to avoid downtown. The route now goes through Taitung Forest Park and along the coast.”

Yao Ching-ling, Taitung County Magistrate: “We hope our hotels and restaurants can step up sanitation and disinfection.”

Nevertheless, residents remain worried. Both the county government and organizer say the central government is not making any prevention measures mandatory and they can only follow central guidelines.

台東縣每天都有新增確診人數，大家都很緊張，快篩站隨時都有民眾去快篩，現在停課的狀況連市區也有家長很擔心，除了擔心被感染確診，更擔心因為接觸被匡列隔離不能工作賺錢。

民眾盧太太說道 :「被那些人感染的話，那我小孩子可能就會被確診，我很害怕。」

民眾詹先生也說道：「我今天被隔離了，那我是不是得休息10到14、15天。」

台東縣教育處體健科長林邦遠表示：「我們國中小的特質都屬於小班小校，若按照這樣的規定，我們可能會到月底的時候可能停課的狀況會沒辦法控制。」

這個週末台東縣還有2天的鐵人三項賽事，共有4千人左右會參加，這更讓台東的民眾擔心。主辦單位表示，今年因應疫情中央沒有要求各種賽事停辦的情況下，還是照常舉行，但主場地特別圍起圍籬減少選手和民眾接觸，更要求參賽選手賽前要出示快篩證明才能參賽，比賽路線也盡量避開市區。縣府表示，會要求主辦單位做好防疫措施。

Challenge Family亞太區執行長羅威士表示：「跟市民有一段距離讓市民比較安全，那在賽道上我們也做了一些調整，就盡量不要有市區的產生，完全改在台東森林公園跟海濱。」

台東縣長饒慶鈴也表示：「對於我們的旅館跟餐廳業者呢，我們也希望能夠更正視我們的這個清潔的工作。」

儘管主辦單位強調會做好防疫，但民眾還是很擔心。縣府和主辦單位都無奈表示，目前中央的規定看起來都沒有強制性，只能依照中央的防疫指引做好防疫，讓民眾生活保持正常。