 Hello, I'm Audrey Tang. I'm really happy to be here virtually to share some lessons that we learned from our COVID-19 response about trusting citizens. Infectious diseases originate from large scale group living of human beings. Ironically though, a pandemic not only in dangerous public health but also destroys the foundation of society, trust. Since ancient times, the way to fight infectious disease has been to increase interpersonal distance, closing down of countries, locking down cities, stopping gatherings and so on. An increase in distrust seems inevitable and some groups are even eager to blame the disease on others. Whether they are of a different race, different nationality or different belief, this tendency has prevailed from the black death of medieval Europe to the COVID-19 of today. During the fight against the pandemic in 2020, however, Taiwan has used our urban government model, the Taiwan model, to successfully prevent the landslide effect of distrust. At the onset of the pandemic, masks and other personal protective equipment quickly fell into a supply and demand imbalance. The government to restore the balance adopted a real name rationing system in a timely fashion to guarantee fair distribution. But selling masks was not enough. Preventative measures against the disease would be effective only if the majority of people were willing to properly wear the medical mask to cover their faces and have good hand sanitation practices. So who would implement this plan? Well, we have over 6,000 pharmacists, each having not only knowledge but also engagement in their communities trusted by their neighborhoods. They seem the best candidates for messenger, the sending the public the ideas of trustworthiness in a approachable way. Yet not everything could be achieved simply by the public trusting the pharmacists as messengers. For pharmacists, executing the mask initiative would be an extra chore that could affect their usual drug dispensing business. But the central epidemic Monsanto or the CECC did not issue orders forcing pharmacies to comply. Instead, we designed a mass rationing system based on the experience of retrieving medications with refillable prescriptions for chronic disease, flattening the learning curve for everyone involved. It also allowed pharmacists to come up with various social innovations such as limited hour sales, such as take a number of systems to reduce waiting times for the public. With such incentives and innovations, pharmacists integrated further with the civic technology communities. They improve automated processes and help people save their time. The government reciprocated with complete trust in the cooperation. We continuously improved the data structures of the National Health Insurance Administration with weekly iterations in the API, forming a virtuous cycle. In other words, when the government was willing to understand the needs of pharmacists and provide space for mutual participation, the two complimented each other to win back more social trust. Only then did a pandemic fighting national team lie up, grow stronger. There have also been a case where a worker in an intimate drinking bar were diagnosed with COVID-19. In spaces like that, both guests and employees, of course, are very sensitive to privacy. However, in terms of pandemic prevention, failing to provide reliable contact details for tracking would lead to significant social vulnerabilities. However, the government did not invoke sanctions or order the pubs and nightclubs to close down if they refuse to collaborate. Such measures actually could reinforce the stigma society attaches already to such workers. And it could cause business to go underground as in the prohibition era in the US. So those situations, if enforced in a lockdown, top-down, shut-down fashion, it will only make the spread of the pandemic even more unpredictable. Fortunately, experts at the CCC has extensive prior experience with HIV-positive communities. And they developed together with the community a practical real contact system. That's to say, as long as people could be effectively contacted, no real names registrations were necessary. And the CCC also clearly explained the scientific crux. Social distancing must be maintained and the droplet infections must be avoided. As long as those businesses could achieve these scientific demands, they could remain open. So instead of shutting down any nightclubs or any intimate drinking bars, what the CCC did is to incentivize social innovation. And indeed, they innovated. As a result, business developed creative approaches such as leaving code names, single-use emails, and prepaid mobile phone numbers or provides hats with plastic shields to maintain physical distance. When even the nightclubs and drinking bars could join the fight, their prevention effort garnered even more social trustworthiness. Around the world, the pandemic has also brought severe challenges to national governance. Countries have adopted isolation measures such as national city-wide lockdowns. Schools suspended and business closed. It turned many countries and cities into lonely islands, such as described in the novel The Lord of the Flies. Being isolated from the world brings political pressure. Although leaders may have been elected democratically, democracy is still rooted in competition between political parties. And this gives rise to escalating opposition and conflict. Every person sees a beast projected from their own mind. Unquestionably, the easiest casualties are a science and reason. And just like the novel Lord of the Flies describes, and I quote, they walked alone to continents of experience and feelings, unable to communicate, unquote. As the pandemic spreads, these drama continue to play out. Despite not imposing city-wide lockdown measures, Taiwan still cannot be considered a utopia. This truth is especially apparent in Taiwan's international activity. Being inappropriately overlooked and blockaded has created domestic pressure. Even without a pandemic, there has always been a lot of fighting among the political parties. Epidemic prevention only makes it more likely that the fighting could worsen. But right before the fiercely contested election this January, one survey showed that, regardless of their political leanings, the public had a high degree of recognition for the deepening of democracy and for international collaboration. It was like a kindle fire radiating wands in a world filled with wind and snow. So when legislator Gao Hong'an, the MP, she once served as the Vice President of Data Analytics at Foxconn. When she cited the data from the Jioping and Musk map, open stream map community, pointing out the difference between supply and demand in different regions that cause unfair distribution of Musk and requested an adjustment, Minister Chen Shizhong of Health and Welfare did not defend the existing policy at all. Instead, he simply said, and I quote, legislator teaches all, unquote. And so we co-created and revised the algorithm the very next day. So this reminds me of a Buddhist saying, and I quote, a thousand-year-old dark room can be illuminated by a single lantern, unquote. Whether the darkness can be broken depends on whether more people are willing to light and pass on the lanterns. So while I do not naively believe that the world will magically become a better place as long as everyone has good intentions, nevertheless, digital innovation is very important because on the internet, we don't have to maintain social distancing, and more importantly, digital spaces allow all footprints of kindness to remain. Everyone can have a voice and a part to play. The Musk map is a great example. When the National Health Insurance Administration posted real-time information on the availability of Musk at pharmacies on the National Open Data Platform, refreshed every 30 seconds. Well, in less than a week, over a hundred apps were developed by various groups to channel this information through chatbots, voice assistants, maps, analytics, and so on. It is just like establishing a distributed ledger with more than 100 nodes. And as time passes and people continue to contribute in this way, trust will continue to accumulate. In the digital world, distance does not separate friends. The pandemic may have temporarily isolated us from our loved ones, but in many ways, the digital space have brought us even closer. If people want to support and boost this movement, the trust of governments to its citizens is very important. Everyone's business, everyone helps. The governments around the world can start with one simple principle, trust the citizens more. Thank you for listening.