South Korea's Strict COVID-19 Measures May Seem to Work, Yet When in Reality, They Are Futile
“Please scan your QR code,” or “Please call this number for logging your information,” or “Please write your information on this logbook,” and “Check your temperature to enter'' have become the everyday norm of South Korea. Before July 2021, these social distancing measures and practices were widely applied, but with some exceptions. In department stores and big supermarkets, people were able to enter the establishments by only checking their temperature and not logging their information. However, since the second week of July, where the numbers of confirmed cases spiked to four digits, the South Korean government decided to increase the social distancing measure to Level 4. With this change, up to four people were able to meet before 6:00 PM, and only up to two people after 6:00 PM.
Even though it is understandable that the South Korean government drastically increased restrictions to have COVID-19 confirmed cases under control, they did not fully plan out their thoughts. With the stricter social distancing guidelines, a countless number of business owners are closing down shops, and people have been feeling discomfort, dissatisfaction, and distrust in the capability of the government. Yes, it was innovative when the South Korean government designed COVID-19 contact tracing at the dawn of the pandemic. However, when other countries such as the United Kingdom have loosened COVID-19 measures and do not apply social distancing measures or lockdowns anymore, the South Korean government is still somehow stuck in its own thick bubble that applying different social distancing measures will lead to fewer COVID-19 confirmed cases.
It has produced no results whatsoever. The reasoning behind applying the Level 4 social distancing measures was to bring down four digits confirmed cases to three digits, or lower. The South Korean government has applied the highest social distancing measure for 87 days and counting. Despite this, the South Korean government continues to struggle in their fight against COVID-19 and it appears that COVID-19 may win this fight. To make matters worse, on September 25th, after the big fall holiday, Chuseok, where people returned from visiting their relatives, there were 3,273 confirmed cases, for the first time in the history of fighting against COVID-19.
Before the Chuseok holiday, the South Korean government announced that people who received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine reached 70 percent of the whole population. South Korea is the last country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries to vaccinate its people. That 70 percent does not represent fully vaccinated people, yet the government lets people see their relatives during the holiday. This is counterintuitive. If the South Korean government truly wanted to decrease the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases, then they should have strongly stated and prevented people from seeing their family members, emphasizing their point for the greater good.
In the midst of the continuous fight against COVID-19, the South Korean government decided to give a relief fund, worth $215 per person, to the “bottom 88 percent income bracket.” One might think that distributing relief funds, to a selective group of people - not the whole Korean citizens - should make lives just a little bit more tolerable in this COVID-19 realm. Yet, the government was strict on where the stimulus fund could be used, and that it must be used before the end of the year.
The South Korean government enjoys putting K in front of everything: K-pop, K-drama, K-culture, K-food, etc. As COVID-19 started to spread last year, K-Quarantine became the newly coined term. Inserting K- in front of everything does not mean it is everlastingly impressive, productive, or fruitful. The South Korean government seriously needs to wake up and face the reality that their initial way of combating COVID-19 is fruitless; they need to focus their attention on how to move forward with coexisting with COVID-19 as the virus itself does not seem to wane out of the world. The stubbornness of the South Korean government will only produce more angry and distrustful citizens that may stop following the social distancing anymore. It is about time that the South Korean government puts a little faith in its people- a majority of the South Korean population would still wear a mask and avoid places where there had been confirmed cases without the constant, strict, and pressured guidelines of the government.
On November 9th, the South Korean government finally announced that people will be able to gradually return to normalcy. Only time will tell if the South Korean government will really let people get back to normal routines this time, and not extend more of these social distancing measures nonsense.