How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down
March 26, 2020
South Korea's foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, speaking to the BBC last week, said the key lessons from her country are that it developed testing for the virus even before it had a significant number of cases.
"In mid-January, our health authorities quickly conferred with the research institutions here [to develop a test]," Kang said. "And then they shared that result with the pharmaceutical companies, who then produced the reagent [chemical] and the equipment needed for the testing."
So when members of a religious sect in Daegu started getting sick in February, South Korea was able to rapidly confirm that it was COVID-19.
"Testing is central" to the outbreak response, said Kang, "because that leads to early detection. It minimizes further spread." And it allows health authorities to quickly isolate and treat those found with the virus.
Hong Kong and Singapore have followed similar paths in responding to this outbreak.
They've used testing aggressively to identify cases — not only testing people who are so sick that they're hospitalized but also mild cases and even suspected cases. They've quarantined tens of thousands of people who may have been exposed to confirmed cases.
The vast majority of the people ordered to quarantine at home are perfectly healthy and never do get sick, but the few who do develop symptoms can be quickly isolated further. Tedros of the WHO refers to this as cutting off the virus at the bud — basically stopping the virus from spreading further and preventing community transmission.
Hong Kong also reacted with incredible speed in the outbreak's early days. On Dec. 31, 2019, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection, the city's health department, sent out an alert to its doctors telling them to be on the lookout for patients presenting with fever, acute respiratory illness, pneumonia and/or shortness of breath
How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down
Pretty much everything Trump didn't do. And the results are obvious. We're stuck in shutdown mode precisely because Trump botched everything, while S. Korea is moving on, resuming normal life and repairing the economy.
That's a long time in the future for us, because of Trump's failure to act in a timely and effective way.
March 26, 2020
South Korea's foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, speaking to the BBC last week, said the key lessons from her country are that it developed testing for the virus even before it had a significant number of cases.
"In mid-January, our health authorities quickly conferred with the research institutions here [to develop a test]," Kang said. "And then they shared that result with the pharmaceutical companies, who then produced the reagent [chemical] and the equipment needed for the testing."
So when members of a religious sect in Daegu started getting sick in February, South Korea was able to rapidly confirm that it was COVID-19.
"Testing is central" to the outbreak response, said Kang, "because that leads to early detection. It minimizes further spread." And it allows health authorities to quickly isolate and treat those found with the virus.
Hong Kong and Singapore have followed similar paths in responding to this outbreak.
They've used testing aggressively to identify cases — not only testing people who are so sick that they're hospitalized but also mild cases and even suspected cases. They've quarantined tens of thousands of people who may have been exposed to confirmed cases.
The vast majority of the people ordered to quarantine at home are perfectly healthy and never do get sick, but the few who do develop symptoms can be quickly isolated further. Tedros of the WHO refers to this as cutting off the virus at the bud — basically stopping the virus from spreading further and preventing community transmission.
Hong Kong also reacted with incredible speed in the outbreak's early days. On Dec. 31, 2019, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection, the city's health department, sent out an alert to its doctors telling them to be on the lookout for patients presenting with fever, acute respiratory illness, pneumonia and/or shortness of breath
How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down
Pretty much everything Trump didn't do. And the results are obvious. We're stuck in shutdown mode precisely because Trump botched everything, while S. Korea is moving on, resuming normal life and repairing the economy.
That's a long time in the future for us, because of Trump's failure to act in a timely and effective way.