Recently I have had many people ask me about the virus here in Korea and how we are handling things. I thought I might just share some details as a foreigner living here in Korea and how it has affected me and what they are currently doing about the virus.
We only had a few cases in the beginning and we were all pretty chilled about it, not taking it that seriously. Then around patient 40 things got really serious. It was a woman that was part of a large and really questionable church group. Sitting in close proximity and not allowed to wear anything on their face resulted in a massive spike of cases. From there, numbers spiked into the hundreds and very soon thousands. Near the end of Feb, we were all made very much aware of what was going on. The church in question had closed down and all other groups of the church closed down as well while the majority of members got tested. There were some cases where they had to track down the members who were avoiding authorities. At the beginning of March, schools got closed as well as several other businesses. Social distancing and self-quarantine was highly recommended and it was around this time masks were no longer easy to find. I had to go to quite a few places to get some masks. During these days we were bombarded with messages of where the so "hotspots" were that we should strongly avoid. We kept getting messages, all at the same time as well. So if you were out and about, in a supermarket perhaps, you could hear everyone's phone bleeping at the same time with newly updated warnings and ways to stay safe. There were also stations all around the city to get tested, whenever you went out you could easily spot them, so testing was simple, fast and easy.
They were tracking the infected and there are even apps showing where they lived or traveled to. Detailed reports of infected whereabouts could be found online and it was easy to know where not to go. This personal information was good to know, even though not always good for the infected. An older gentleman had to explain why the went to bars and then later motels... You can kind of imagine how their wives must have freaked out...
Fast forward a few weeks and we were all used to staying indoors, only going out for the things we needed. Shops were still fully stocked. No idiots running around for toilet paper, simply because they are not idiots. If you are one of those people who hoarded food and toilet paper, I sincerely hope you have diarrhea until your supply of toilet paper runs out. Another cool thing to mention is that everywhere you go now you have access to hand sanitizer. Every bus and every shop has it readily available to use to make sure your hands stay clean and safe.
It was at this point I realized Korean kids are smarter than most. The essays that they wrote about Covid said to stay calm and not buy too much of one thing since everyone needs supplies and we must be considerate of others. Yep, 13-year-olds being smarter than some of the people you see online...
Now that April is here and the daily numbers of cases down to less than 100 per day you can see that all the safety measures in place worked really well. People are going out again, while still wearing masks and being careful, things are returning to normal.
Just today I went to a supermarket to get some stuff and was greeted at the door to a mobile station that would measure your temperature as you face the camera. Pure awesome sauce of how this is handled.
Goes to show, preparation and quick action is all it takes.
In Cyprus, the situation with the coronovirus is getting worse ... many of the locals do not comply with quarantine.
Even despite the fact that the fine became 300 euros, for going out without permission :-(((
Thanks for the insight, South Korea is indeed trending better than many countries despite being close to China.
The church thing seems unfortunate and I'm not really a fan of strict government oversight and big brother watching even for the best intention, I consider private life and liberty should be respected over safety.
Although one thing that seems to be great is the massive adoption of mask. Here in Switzerland everytime I watch for finding masks in pharmacies it's empty, I guess they keep it for the front line personal and we are working from home, and I don't necessarily go out so often in a crowded place. I just go out for the groceries respecting distances and doing walks and bike rides.
that is probably something the west has to learn from the East : Social acceptance of mask and better hygiene standards in general (or more preparation and supplies for these kind of scenarios).