PHM-Exch> [PHM NEWS] From PHM Korea

[Claudio Schuftan]

*How South Korea Stopped COVID-19 Early*

Apr 27, 2020 Myoung-hee Kim
<https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist/myoung-hee-kim>

Government testing and tracing alone did not halt the spread of the
coronavirus in South Korea. The country's civil-society organizations also
played a critical role by monitoring the situation closely, helping to hold
the authorities accountable, and reaching vulnerable social groups.

SEOUL – South Korea experienced one of the world’s largest initial
outbreaks of COVID-19 outside China. But, unlike the United States and many
European countries, we have been able to contain and drastically reduce the
spread of the virus, at least so far – and without imposing a nationwide
lockdown. Our response may provide insights that can help other governments
and civil-society groups working to combat the pandemic.

So, how did we do it?As is widely known, South Korea’s government focused
on aggressive testing and contact tracing to contain community
transmission, and established a strict triage system to protect health-care
workers. But testing and tracing alone did not stop the spread of the
virus. The country’s civil society – including non-governmental
organizations and trade unions – played a critical role by monitoring the
situation closely, helping to hold the authorities accountable, and
reaching the most vulnerable social groups.The government procured
high-quality diagnostic kits based on a tightly coordinated transfer of
public-funded technology to private manufacturers, and quickly established
a mass testing system in which public-health centers played a central part.
These early interventions paid off: the country now has more than 600
testing sites, including 80 drive-through centers, capable of testing a
total of 20,000 people per day. Moreover, individuals with suspected
COVID-19 symptoms and contact history are legally entitled to be tested
free of charge.Each time a new case was identified, local governments used
contact tracing to quarantine potential carriers and publicly disclosed
their individual travel histories in order to inform nearby residents of
their potential exposure. This helped to contain infection clusters. And
the triage system in hospitals helped to prevent patients with severe
symptoms from indiscriminately infecting health-care workers and other
patients.For contact tracing, the authorities relied on mobile-phone GPS
data, credit-card transaction records, and CCTV footage. While this use of
personal data is legal in South Korea and proved effective in combating the
virus, it also raised significant privacy concerns. Over the last two
months, some patients whose detailed travel history was made public have
been blamed, as if they had recklessly put others at risk of infection. The
country’s National Human Rights Commission and advocacy organizations have
called for an appropriate balance between protecting the public and
respecting individual rights, and this debate continues today.

Trade unions, NGOs, and the public were also instrumental in pushing the
government to protect vulnerable citizens, respect their basic human
rights, and address the deeply rooted inequalities highlighted by
social-distancing measures.Many low-wage workers, for example, could not
work remotely or take paid leave to support themselves and their families.
A call center in southwest Seoul, where workers were crammed into a small,
poorly ventilated office, emerged as one of the country’s biggest COVID-19
clusters. And one delivery worker died on the job, collapsing from
exhaustion because of the huge increase in online orders. Unions informed
the public and policymakers about such problems, based on reports from
their rank-and-file members, and advocated for greater employment security,
paid sick leave, and adequate protective gear, including
facemasks.Similarly, public hospitals, which have long suffered from
underinvestment, began to take the lead in accommodating the influx of
patients. At the same time, the COVID-19 crisis highlighted the inadequacy
of South Korea’s private hospitals, which account for 90% of the country’s
hospital beds. When the virus struck, they lacked both the relevant
equipment and isolation units, because these were not profitable in normal
times. As a result, civil-society groups are now demanding an expansion of
the country’s public health-care system.

In addition, NGOs cooperated closely with local service providers to
identify gaps in care. NGOs monitored assisted-living facilities, homeless
shelters, and vulnerable individuals at home to ensure that these
populations were receiving proper attention. And community volunteers
stepped in to provide additional support where local governments lacked the
capacity to do so.Finally, the government responded to civil-society
organizations’ demands that migrants and refugees – often the targets of
racism and anti-immigrant rhetoric – have access to testing and treatment.
For example, the Ministry of Justice announced in early March that
undocumented migrants could be tested for COVID-19 without risking
deportation, and published multilingual information materials. NGOs working
with South Korea’s migrant communities are now disseminating critical
information about medical access and paid leave to help support these
groups.As governments around the world increasingly adopt wartime-like
measures to fight the pandemic, civil-society groups must prevent
policymakers from responding in ways that further exacerbate inequalities
or marginalize the most vulnerable groups. Such efforts were crucial to
South Korea’s success, and they can help other countries to beat the virus,
too.


Sun Kim PHM Asia Pacific
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