Wesley Chapel Native Provides Info About Covid-19 From South Korea
Wesley Chapel native Ciara Cotey,
a University of South Florida graduate
and the daughter of Neighborhood News
managing editor John C. Cotey, has lived
and worked in Seoul, South Korea, since
2012. She shares with us what it has been
like working to flatten the curve.
I first heard about Covid-19
(which Koreans just call “corona”)
around the end of January, when it was
becoming more widespread in China.
It was the weekend of the Lunar New
Year, so lots of people were traveling
abroad and gathering with their families.
I wasn’t too worried about it, and it
didn’t stop any of my Korean friends or
coworkers from taking a weekend trip to
Hong Kong or Shanghai over the vacation.
I took a short trip to Daegu, which
would become the epicenter of the
spread in Korea, and we casually chatted
about how we hoped the coronavirus
would stay in China.
I teach English to some of the
board members of the Central Bank of
Korea, and one day when I arrived, they
had a thermal camera set up outside
the elevators. They informed me that
I couldn’t get into the building without
wearing a mask. Luckily, I had a
few at home to deal with the fine dust,
but when I went to buy some later, I
learned that masks were sold out everywhere
— both in stores and online.
No one here was taking it too seriously
until the last week of February,
when infections quadrupled in a matter
of days, due to one patient who refused
a test and attended several “church”
events while she was sick. This led to
the entire city of Daegu shutting down,
and the rapid spread of the virus north
into the South Korean capital of Seoul
caused people to take it more seriously.
Soon, masks and hand sanitizer
were quickly bought up, and the government
started the warning system.
Detailed Warnings
The Korean government sends
out detailed national warning messages
(see picture) every time a new
patient is discovered, and you can see
the list of all the places they had been
while infected.
If anyone receiving the messages
had been near any of those places,
there is a hotline phone number and
the health department will tell you
to self-quarantine. And, if you show
symptoms, they will come to your
house to test you.
Korea did a really good job of containing
the virus when it was only China
that had most of the cases. Daegu got
pretty much shut down. After that, cases
started popping up all over Seoul, but
most of the cases still remain related to
this “church.”
All of the registered members
were tested and, after that, coronavirus
testing became mandatory for people
who might have come in contact with
infected people.
Healthcare, Not Fear
I’m not really scared of catching
the virus, because I’m healthy and the
healthcare system in Korea is excellent,
so I know I would recover. The testing
and treatment of Covid-19 is paid
for by the government, so I also didn’t
have any fear of going broke if I caught
it. However, I would be worried about
spreading it to other people, like my
adult students and their families, or my
boyfriend and his parents.
Lots of working moms have had to
take unpaid leave to take care of their
children, as the school year continues to
be postponed, currently until mid-April.
It’s surprising to me that any American
can now treat this as a vacation, when
the health system and response to the
virus has been so abysmal. On Facebook
last month, I saw my friends back home
going to the beach, going to concerts
and taking advantage of the cheap flights
to take a trip, and I can’t imagine that
happening here.
The South Korean government sends out very
detailed alerts when someone is discovered to have
contracted Covid-19.
Social distancing is so important
when there’s no way to even follow the
trail of infections. Americans here are all
glad we stayed here because if we had
gone home out of fear, we wouldn’t
have had the same access to the health
care and testing we have here.
As for the whole toilet paper thing,
Koreans are literally laughing at Americans
because they don’t understand why
toilet paper is sold out.
The only shortages I have seen have
been hand sanitizer, thermometers and
face masks, which are rationed by the
National Health Insurance. You can get
two masks on the designated days. On
Thursdays, for example, if your birth year
ends with 5 or 9, you can stand in line at
the pharmacy to get your masks. Luckily,
my boyfriend had the foresight to order
200 masks in January, just in case.
If anything, this pandemic has
created a huge demand for ordering
groceries online, and people aren’t
stocking up or going to the grocery
store because they can get whatever they
want delivered whenever they want.
In general, people are still pretty
worried, but some people are still living
their lives the way they did before.
My friends still go out and drink with
their friends on the weekends, I still see
restaurants packed with people.
But, everyone wears a mask in the
subway and if you cough, all heads turn
towards you. At the start of the issue,
several foreigners here just up and left
on the soonest flight to get away from
the virus, I guess not knowing that it
would eventually spread to their home
countries as well. My close friends in
Daegu are all confined to their homes
because the situation in Daegu is much
more stressful than it is here in Seoul.
“My whole family communicates
by calling and video chatting now,” my
friend Eunyoung Kim tells me. “None
of the restaurants in the neighborhood
are open except for delivery, and they
just leave it outside your door after you
pay electronically so there’s no physical
contact. It’s hard not being able to
share a meal with your family members
for fear of getting sick.”
In a family-oriented culture like
Korea, people are feeling very isolated
compared to before.
At our press time, Korea was still
only showing about 75 or so new cases
per day, with recovery rates surpassing
the new cases, so it looks like it’s slowing
down so far here. People coming in
from Europe are now forced into quarantine,
so if this method works, Korea
should have it fully contained within the
next few months.
Stay safe, everyone. Hopefully,
the U.S. response to the pandemic will
continue to get better over time.
THE LAW OFFICES OF
MATTHEW J. JOWANNA, P.A.
Personal Injury • Family Law
Wills, Trusts & Probate
813-929-7300
MJJPA.COM Offices in
Wesley
Chapel
Paid by Matt Jowanna, nonpartisan, for County Court Judge, Group 5.
Neighborhood News @NTWCNews For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 28, Issue 8 • April 10, 2020 • NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net 9
/MJJPA.COM
/NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net
/tampataxfirm.com