Do exceptional situations demand exceptional measures?

The case of Milo Hsieh, a Taiwanese student living in Washington who was studying in Belgium, prompts me to write again about civil rights in exceptional situations, and about what we are willing to accept as a society when it comes to balancing our rights with our health.

The BBC reports that Milo Hsieh decided to return to Taiwan when the university he was at in Belgium cancelled his study program due to the pandemic. On his return, because he had been in Europe, the Taiwanese authorities told him to self-isolate at his home for 14 days, warning him that his phone would be digitally tracked to ensure compliance, as happens with criminals, but without a warrant. To return home from the airport, since he was totally prohibited from using public transport, he had to use a specially equipped “quarantine taxi” and was notified that for the next two weeks, he and his family would not be able to set foot outside their home, not even to go shopping.

This is Taiwan, a country ranked 31st in the world in the Democracy Index. Below 23, that ranking considers countries “flawed democracies” (as a comparison, US is ranked 25th in that same ranking, and therefore considered a flawed democracy too), but Taiwan, although it has its issues, is a country that is generally considered to respect the civil rights of its citizens. And yet, when…