WHAT HAPPENS
As South Korea emerges from isolation caused by the COVID-19 crisis, there are important lessons for Canada, Bruce Deachman writes.
An uncharacteristically warm spring this year brought about an early blossoming of South Korea’s cherry trees, accompanied by a return to streets and parks by residents weary of physical distancing and self-isolating.
They’re not simply bored or incautious, however. Many South Korean residents believe that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind them, thanks largely to widespread testing and other measures put in place by the government after the country’s first confirmed case was announced on Jan. 20.
They may be right. The number of confirmed daily cases has dropped from a peak of 909 on Feb. 29, part of a 12-day stretch that saw no fewer than 250 new cases each day, to a relative trickle: During the seven days ending Friday, only 185 new cases were confirmed, or fewer than 27 per day.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed COVID -19 deaths in South Korea — a country whose population of 51 million is about onethird larger than Canada’s — never reached double digits in a single day, while the daily death average over the week ending Friday was roughly 3.1.
On April 3, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Canada and South Korea’s COVID-19-related death rates were almost identical: 3.39 deaths per million population in South Korea, and 3.66 in Canada. As of Friday, Canada’s had increased to 31.6, while South Korea’s had only crept up to 4.5.
“At this point, as this situation has continued for so long and the peak had gone, people are trying to balance their life between being careful and being normal,” explains Gemma Gil, a 28-year-old IT worker from Seoul. “I do stay at home a lot more than before, but I still go out sometimes and hang out with my friends, trying not to go to crowded places, though.”
Canada’s experience has in no way mirrored South Korea’s, yet perhaps we can use the emotional journeys of residents there to inform our own eventual emergence. Will we rush out into the perfume of lilac blossoms, eager to share our stories over restaurant meals and hockey intermissions, or will our first steps be tentative, like sailors finding ground after months at sea?
And will our experiences fundamentally change us, or will it simply be a matter of finding our legs again, and continuing on as before?
Although it certainly isn’t a simple case of comparing apples to apples — the two countries have differed in preparedness, societal attitudes, flash points and unique measures taken to fight COVID -19 — Dr. Curtis Cooper, a clinician and researcher at The Ottawa Hospital’s infectious diseases division, says the situation in Canada more closely resembles South Korea’s than it does those in the U.S., Italy,
People are worried, but not in a state of panic. There is no hoarding of food or other items. It’s not completely over yet, (and people are) wary, but there is a growing optimism that it can be contained.
Spain and France, or indeed most European nations.
“Has the execution (in Canada) thus far been perfect?” he asks. “Well, no, but we’ve actually done pretty well, and we know that because our hospitals aren’t completely overwhelmed at this point. We are in pretty good shape, I’d say, as far as the amount of human suffering and the number of people dying from this in Canada.”
On the face of it, one of the most visible differences between the two countries is that South Korea, although it closed schools and urged residents to self-isolate and remain two metres apart, didn’t shutters stores and businesses the way Canada did.
It was, however, better prepared, having experienced the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, which peaked in South
Korea, the hardest-hit country outside of the Middle East, in 2015.
“I think that’s one reason we didn’t have shortages of masks and other medical supplies,” says Adam Wong, a 27-year-old Vancouverite who since last August has been teaching English in a private academy in Seoul, adding that the streets of South Korea’s 10-million-strong capital never emptied the way that those in Ottawa have, while restrictions on movement and business have been far less severe.
“Schools closed,” he says. “Mine was closed for two weeks. And the gym I go to closed for two days. But otherwise it hasn’t been all that different than before. There have been fewer people out, but most nightclubs, restaurants and stores remained open, and it’s only lately that events have been cancelled, which seems kind of late.
“It’s as if the government is having this last crackdown to finally get rid of the virus,” he says.
Wong estimates, too, that more than 90 per cent of Seoul’s residents have been wearing masks during the pandemic, a precaution that, prior to the outbreak, was only seen when officials advised it on particularly smoggy spring and summer days.
In addition to early and widespread testing in South Korea, the government in March began enforcing a law giving it access to CCTV footage and GPS tracking from phones, cars and credit card transactions so it can track individuals who have tested positive. Some of that data is then made public, so citizens can determine if they may have come in contact with the disease and need testing themselves.
A third-party app, called Corona 100m, alerts users if they come within 100 metres of the latest known locations of people who have tested positive.
The government also ramped up production of test kits, opening nearly 600 testing clinics, including drive-thru assessment centres. Results were available in 24 hours. It also co-ordinated municipalities and hospitals, so resources and personnel were distributed where needed.
“Most people think the government has been doing a great job,” says Gil, “which led people to trust the government and stay calm. I think it’s one of the reasons that Korea is hailed as a good example.”
Cooper speculates some of South Korea’s responses to the outbreak have been an easier sell there than they might here.
“I’m speaking outside my area of expertise, but South Korea is a place where you have to be able to mobilize your population very rapidly, given the constant threat from North Korea. I think government agencies and the people there know how to get things done fast, because it could mean the difference between survival and not.
“I think when your system is honed to that reality, that’s the way the system has been built because that’s the way the system has to be. Whereas in Canada we don’t have the same kinds of threats that a place like South Korea has.”
South Korea also experienced a particular flashpoint during the epidemic — Patient 31, a woman who was a member of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, in Daegu, about 240 kilometres southeast of Seoul. Her infection, confirmed on Feb. 18, sparked a massive escalation of infections, while also focusing public attention on the problem.
“It’s then more likely the public will follow the instructions of pub