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The United States and South Korea: the COVID-19 Response By Skylar Steffiare

By Skylar Steffiare

Prior to the events of the Novel Coronavirus, both the United States and South Korea faced viruses in previous years, being SARS and MERS respectively. How these two countries responded to these diseases would greatly impact their responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. While both the United States and South Korea both had previous outbreaks of different viruses, South Korea learned from their mistakes, resulting in better management of the Novel Coronavirus. 

 

South Korea’s Response to MERS

 

South Korea had no confirmed cases during the SARS outbreak of the early 2000s, but due to the global alert issued by the CDC and the severity of the issues in other countries, South Korea launched the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). This would later greatly help during the MERS outbreak years later. 

 

In 2015, the MERS outbreak hit the KCDC full force. With this being the first outbreak since it’s creation, many aspects of the response plan were not successful, but these lead to further adaptations. The KCDC quickly worked to reform the systems when responding to infectious diseases coming from those returning from abroad travels. This led to the addition of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and a strengthening of risk assessment and communications through further divisions being added. Because of these actions, MERS cases from travelers returning home were able to be contained, and no further cases were confirmed in 2018.

 

The United States’ Response to SARS

 

On April 4th, 2003, there was a suspected 115 cases of SARS from 29 US states. Due to the high number of cases, the United States began a containment process in early April for all those believed to have the SARS virus. On May 6th, the US reported no new cases in the last 24 hours along with no further transmission past the initial cases. The previously mentioned containment process is the reason for the lack of further transmissions. By the end of 2003, the CDC had released both an updated definition of the SARS virus and tests to confirm the diagnosis with laboratory evidence. With the new testing, only eight individuals in the United States had laboratory evidence that they were positive for SARS, all of which had traveled outside the country. SARS wasn’t widespread throughout the US and primarily stayed within its community. 

 

The SARS outbreak’s impact on the US seemed minor in comparison to other countries, with many believing it was a one-off event. Many people weren’t expecting another infectious disease, with widespread diseases being prevalent only in history books. As time progressed, many Americans pushed the memories of SARS to the back of their minds, and little change occurred to better the American response to public health issues.

 

The differences in how the United States and South Korea responded to previous outbreaks are astounding, and the ways in which their previous decisions impacted the current novel coronavirus outbreak are extremely prevalent.

 

South Korea’s Response to COVID-19

 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea demonstrated that transparency, communication, and collaboration were necessary for handling the virus. South Korea also was quick to alert its citizens on the severity of the issue, with the governmental safety alert raised to yellow with the first COVID case on January 20th and then raised to orange on January 27th at four COVID cases. Politicians took a step back to allow experts in the scientific field to take the lead and citizens were provided masks from the government to control the spread. This shows South Korea learned from its mistakes, allowing them to better manage the COVID-19 Pandemic.

 

The United States’ Response to COVID-19

 

In comparison, the United States took a very different approach. On January 31st a public health emergency was declared due to COVID-19, but it only set in place quarantine measures for those who had traveled to certain parts of China. On March 13th a national emergency is declared, many Americans claim this to be the last day of normalcy. 

 

The United States failed to properly manage the virus, greatly impacting its citizens. Communities such as LGBTQ+ individuals and POC are greatly suffering during the pandemic. With a rollback on transgender health care protections and an uproar against police brutality and encouragement for the Black Lives Matter movement, these communities are being disenfranchised further during a global pandemic. 

 

South Korea’s Success

The amount of time it took for the US to state the severity of the virus is shocking when compared to South Korea. Information on the virus and plans for reopening were rarely clear, with many becoming frustrated at the lack of cohesion between government officials. With over 145 thousand confirmed deaths in the United States and only 298 deaths in South Korea, South Korea showed the severity of the situation and acted accordingly.

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25 Comments

  1. I’m amazed to hear how South Korea handled this from the start. Both the scientists leading how things were handled and the country providing its citizens with masks. The availability and prices of masks are a huge issue that I hear people talking about in my community. Some people use this as a copout to not wear masks while others didn’t know where to find fabric ones or found that spending up to two dollars per disposable mask unreasonable for something they would only wear once. With the skyrocket price increases on things like masks and hand sanitizer or soap, and then the stores inability to keep stock, it seems like a smart solution for every citizen to get a pandemic care-package that included these necessary products instead of this turning into a socio-economic race.

  2. Wow, I am very impressed with the way you compare two countries together (the United States and South Korea). I like how you use the SARs and MERs in your argument to show how the U.S and South Korea handle them. Then you show how much improvement South Korea has in its healthcare system to deal with Covid-19 and that leads to their success in containing the virus. I agree that South Korea has been aware of the coronavirus since January as you state, they quickly alert their citizens how serious the disease is, while the U.S only raise its warning in March. This helps South Korea to prepare enough masks for their citizens and decrease the number of infectious cases. Overall, your arguments are very concise and easy to understand. Keeping up the good work!

  3. Thanks for keeping us posted. I am surprised at how quickly and effectively South Korea has responded. Thus, they managed to save a huge number of lives of their citizens, and this is the most important thing. CBD Drug Test I hope that such success will become an example for the rest of the world and we will finally unite in the fight against this virus. I hope this will all be over soon.

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