The South-Korean COVID-19 approach

The past week has been hard. Fontys send us an urgent request to come back to the Netherlands. It was a difficult decision: Staying in South-Korea or coming back to the Netherlands. Difficult because I feel like South-Korea is getting control over the spread of the virus, the online courses of the university just started and I finally started feeling better after being sick for a while.

On the other hand I’m afraid that the borders will close and then comes the question “for how long?”. Furthermore, at the moment of this decision it wasn’t sure yet what would happen with the Tokyo Olympics.

I didn’t know what to do. It literally gave me a headache.

While there’s a big chaos going on in Europe, South-Korea seems to have the virus quite in control. The number of cases is dropping and the measures that were taking don’t seem as extreme as in Europe. The situation at this moment in South-Korea (updated Wednesday 25-3-2020 13.45 GMT) is: 9137 number of cases, 126 deaths, 3730 recovered.

Shops and restaurants are still open, people are walking on the streets, in parks and they travel by public transport. Some gyms are opening again. People can go to the supermarket. And no, they aren’t massively buying toilet paper. Only the universities are still closed. This doesn’t mean that all students are studying at home… The study cafes are full of students.

The past week I started following online courses. In every course the collectivistic Korean society has been discussed. I think that this might contribute to the effective South Korean COVID-19 approach.

But why is it effective? I read in an article of Trouw that South-Korea already had a plan ready, thanks to earlier experiences with the Sars and Mers virussus.

One very important thing they used was a big information campaign. You could see posters, banners and digital signs with information about symptoms and emergency numbers that you can call if you feel them, everywhere through the city.

Another thing is that everyone can get tested for free in hospitals, special test centers and drive-throughs. At this moment South Korea is the country that has tested the most people.

I also receive several emergency notifications on my phone every day. It tells you that someone in the same city/district has been tested positive on the virus and it shows where that person has been.

Not just places where infected people have been, but also public spaces are regularly getting disinfected. Also, in every building you can find hand sanitizer and it’s often mandatory to use it before you go in, just like temperature checks.

Another thing that is very noticeable is that everyone is wearing masks. People expect you to wear it. I’m not sure yet if it helps, but I do wear it, also out of respect to other people. For example, if you don’t wear it in the subway, not many people would come sit next to you.

After talking to school, the travel agency, the embassy and foreign affairs I decided to stay here in South-Korea. It was a difficult decision. For how long will this crisis go on and what if something happens to my family in the Netherlands? I’m not sure if I can go back any time, now I declined the repatriation flight. After thinking a lot and talking to many people, I have a good feeling about my decision to stay here.

Unfortunately the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020 are postponed. It is sad, but the safety and health of everyone who’s involved is what’s most important. All is not lost that is delayed. Now I have a nice prospect for next year. I hope all supporters around the world will come together in 2021. Let’s go on the road to Tokyo 2020NE!