South Korea role model for handling crisis

My nephew could easily have joined the stampede of more than a million frightened Canadians scrambling to get home to the Great White North before it’s too late, but that wouldn’t have made any sense, given that he resides in the country that’s the envy of the world for its adroit handing of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Experts from around the world have been scratching their heads wondering how South Korea, one of the first nations impacted when the deadly coronavirus spilled out of neighbouring China in late January, has kept the beast in check, with fewer than 200 deaths so far, a tiny fraction of the grisly toll in Italy, Spain and other western nations.

My sister’s son, Kevin Search, a 32-year-old Mcmaster grad who has worked in South Korea for nine years and is engaged to a Korean woman, has watched the country’s struggle with this silent invader from the beginning and sees lessons for all of us in how the calm, disciplined and well-organized Koreans are winning this fight.

South Korea, with more than 50 million people packed into an area smaller than Michigan, had a head-start, having dealt with a MERS (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome) outbreak five years ago that claimed a number of lives.

That episode convinced the country it needed to prepare for an even deadlier virus. It reacted to the January outbreak with widespread testing that allowed it to isolate and track infected individuals and affected neighbourhoods without bringing the entire country to a screeching halt.

Kevin, who works as an editor/writer for an English-language teaching publisher in the sprawling capital, Seoul, still makes the gruelling 80-minute commute by subway and bus from the burbs to his office.

“The Seoul area is not shut down. Far from it, I would say. Stores, cafes, malls, office buildings have all remained open. Mind you, they are noticeably less busy than usual. But still most places seem fairly lively and are receiving significant traffic,” said Kevin in an email as he was heading out for drinks and sushi with a buddy.

What a contrast with our economically crippling shutdown.

Kevin believes the mask factor has played a key role in South Korea’s success. In normal times, he said, 60 to 70 per cent of people wear masks, often because of pollution blowing in from China.

“Now, ever since this crisis began, it’s not an exaggeration to say 99 per cent are wearing them while they’re outside,” he said. “On the subway or bus, it’s 100 per cent.

“You are a real pariah if you’re not wearing one.”

Kevin was even lectured by fellow tennis players when he tried going on the court without one. Unlike in Canada and other western nations, said Kevin, nobody feels embarrassed about wearing a mask.

“For them, it’s just like wearing a baseball cap.” Koreans, he said, truly believe in the power of the mask to thwart disease.

Meanwhile, more than two weeks after the pandemic declaration, a mask is still a rare sight in Windsor. Canadians were given a bum steer by so-called experts who initially claimed masks were useless and then said they were desperately needed by medical personnel.

Another advantage, Kevin believes, is that Koreans are not touchy-feely like Italians and other southern Europeans.

“They essentially never shake hands or hug or kiss other people. Even at family gatherings. Even couples rarely hold hands while going for walks together.”

We might call them cold fish, but that reserved nature paid dividends in this crisis. The Koreans were into “social distancing” long before it became life-and-death advice.

South Koreans aren’t submissive by any means, said Kevin, but they are highly disciplined and tend to heed government warnings like the three to five text messages he receives daily.

The country didn’t experience panic buying and hasn’t been plagued, like so much of the West, by so-called “covidiots” who pranced on beaches, licked aircraft toilet seats and defied authorities while happily spreading the virus.

Kevin said South Koreans are generally “pretty cool and calm” and damn proud of how their nation has dealt with the coronavirus and become a medical role model for the world.

Little wonder he didn’t rush back to Canada.