Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002
From: Northwestern Georgia, USA
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Ugg. Not very impressed with The Atlantic's analysis.
I haven't seen a single report associating Korea's success with some kind of racially negative analysis. Every report in here, and every thing I've seen outside, has associated its success with early detection and quick countermeasures. The insertion of racism allegations undermines the message and the author's credibility.
More than that, the author seems to draw flawed conclusions. The focal point of Korea's early outbreak was the church service in Daegu, as noted in The Atlantic story. That happened in February (see another version here: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/24/808914718/secretive-church-sect-at-the-center-of-south-koreas-coronavirus-outbreak). If that was the origin or the main point of genesis, the outbreak in Korea possibly happened later than in the US and may have had one primary point of ignition (the congregation in Daegu), facilitating efforts to contact trace, isolate and treat. By mid February, countries were much more on guard than in January and earlier. Primed to react. Not so in January. Heck, in January, nobody may have looked for Covid, thus completely missing diagnoses.
In contrast, the virus may have arrived in America at multiple unknown points earlier - January or perhaps before that. The arrival wasn't noticed, there was little if any chance that early to identify and contact trace, etc.
Very, very different scenarios. Korea has done well and is the envy of most every western nation. We should emulate, if possible. But comparing the genesis of the pandemic in the US to Korea, and tossing in racism allegations to boot, doesn't seem to have merit.
Captain Beefheart will hopefully weigh in with his thoughts.
quote:
ORIGINAL: obvert
I'm posting this not as an attack but because I feel based on all of the evidence over the past nearly four months, South Korea is the model to follow until a vaccine is developed (if that ever does get developed successfully).
It's simply a coincidence that the first known case in the US was nearly at the same time as the first in South Korea. From what I've heard now about cases being active in France in December and in NY in January. I think many more cases were active in the US in these early months than we now know, growing fast and with stealth in less vulnerable populations.
The difference in the US and Korean methods of reaction are not due to just a difference in the situation or the populace and habits. We've know this for a while from our local there Commander Cody. This means though that every country could do what they're doing. We just have to do it.
This article expounds on their methods and the reason they were so ready for this pandemic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/whats-south-koreas-secret/611215/
In the time that South Korea righted its course, the United States veered into disaster. In mid-March, the U.S. and South Korea had the same number of coronavirus-caused fatalities—approximately 90. In April, South Korea lost a total of 85 souls to COVID-19, while the U.S. lost 62,000—an average of 85 deaths every hour. That the U.S. population is approximately six times larger than South Korea’s does little to soften the horror of the comparison.
Juxtaposing the South Korean response with the American tragedy, some commentators have chalked up the difference to an ancient culture of docile collectivism and Confucianism across the Pacific. This observation isn’t just racist. It also exoticizes South Korea’s success and makes it seem like the inevitable result of millennia of cultural accretion, rather than something the U.S., or any other country, can learn from right now. The truth is that the Korean government and its citizens did something simple, admirable, and all too rare: They suffered from history, and they learned from it.
< Message edited by Canoerebel -- 5/7/2020 4:52:10 PM >
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