Abstract
Taiwan has been a world leader in controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, the Taiwan Government launched its COVID-19 tracing app, ‘Taiwan Social Distancing App’; however, the effectiveness of this tracing app depends on its acceptance and uptake among the general population. We measured the acceptance of three hypothetical tracing technologies (telecommunication network tracing, a government app, and the Apple and Google Bluetooth exposure notification system) in four nationally representative Taiwanese samples. Using Bayesian methods, we found a high acceptance of all three tracking technologies, with acceptance increasing with the inclusion of additional privacy measures. Modeling revealed that acceptance increased with the perceived technology benefits, trust in the providers’ intent, data security and privacy measures, the level of ongoing control, and one’s level of education. Acceptance decreased with data sensitivity perceptions and a perceived low policy compliance by others among the general public. We consider the policy implications of these results for Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the future.
Highlights
COVID-19 perceptions remained constant across samples, with participants on average reporting that they were somewhat concerned for themselves and very concerned about others, and that the virus posed a very severe threat to both themselves and others (Supplementary Materials, Figure S1)
In April 2020, we asked four representative samples of the Taiwanese public to report on their psychological resilience, the perceived risks of and impacts posed by COVID-19, and perceptions of their Government and neoliberal ‘free market’ worldviews, before rating the acceptability of three hypothetical COVID-19 tracing technologies: telecommunication network tracing, a decentralized Bluetooth exposure notification-style system backed by
Acceptance translated to uptake during this outbreak when the ‘Taiwan Social Distancing App’ became the most downloaded app in Taiwan in both the Apple and Android app stores [36]
Summary
Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, is considered an international ‘Gold Standard’ in infectious disease control [1]. Rapid border closures, increased mask manufacturing, and immediate home quarantines for international arrivals monitored by law enforcement officials were introduced by Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre to stop the spread of the virus [2]. These policy decisions, combined with social behaviors, such as social distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing [3], have proven effective at preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2, with fewer than 1000 total cases recorded between
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