Where Were You When

We are all in a life-defining time in history right now. In years to come, "Where were you during the outbreak of covid-19?" will be asked, much like "Where were you when the twin towers were hit on 9-11?" or "...when the Challenger blew up?" or "...when JFK was shot?"

This is not South Korea's first rodeo when it comes to infectious disease control. The government was on top of things, and it has paid off. For now, at least, it seems the country is on the downhill side of coronavirus cases. Well, maybe. There is not much known about this coronavirus, except that it is highly contagious and news about it changes in an instant.

Unfortunately, we are not out of the woods just yet. We are still practicing social distancing, which is basically a soft self-quarantine. In the past 4 weeks I have been out of the house to go grocery shopping four times and I walk the dogs, but the walks are shorter than I like because I have to be back to homeschool. That's basically it. We have run down to Woorimart, the little corner store, a few times to get milk or another something we deem essential.

The kiddos are still doing online learning.

Zeke and Daisy are doing video calling with their teachers at specified times each day, almost like being there in class.

Eli has a bunch of busy work. A bunch. Not to bash his teacher; it must be like planning for a sub for 4 weeks. As a teacher it's easier to just be present than to plan for a sub. And then she will have 4 weeks of papers to wade through and grade. It's a teacher's nightmare. We’ve been completing assignments from the reading/language arts book, the math book, watching videos of his teacher and using the white board sent home, completing worksheets, reading, writing, making games, playing games, and doing experiments. You name it, we’ve been doing it.

 Anyway, it's not exactly a parent's happy hour. It has certainly made me feel the need to go to happy hours on more than one occasion.

It is interesting to see how differently South Korea and America are facing the virus. To be fair, Korea is the size of Indiana, with a much smaller population than the US. Plus there was an explosion of cases in one area due to an off-beat religious sect that was hiding their cases, resulting in the number of cases growing immensely in that one city and surrounding province.  So it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

However, the Korean government reacted immediately. They began massive testing. When they found a positive case they texted out to the whole country where patient '#x' had been so if you had been in the same place you should isolate and get tested if symptoms developed. They checked cell phone GPSs and credit card histories to help track movement to help track where people had been over the past several days. The Korean government meant business.

Abe's company sent home a whole floor of people because one man had been in contact with his brother who tested positive; once they found out he was negative they went back to work, but only after the whole ding dong work place had been sanitized. They take everyone's temperature on their way into work and before going through the lunchline. They also have hand sanitizer in the lunchline. They recently added these screens in the cafeteria.

They also added squares to stand in on the elevator floors. Not sure how that will help since they are not 6 feet apart...I guess it's to keep the elevator from getting overcrowded. I'm assuming most companies are taking similar measures.

We are also encouraged to wear facemasks everywhere when out of our house. I have read a lot about it, and more people agree that masks do not really stop you from getting the virus, for reasons that most masks that the general population wears do not have a tight fit, people are not used to them and we end up touching our faces just as much, when we take them off we end up touching them and spread any germs we stopped anyway. It still seems like it would be a better barrier than none, but I am not an expert on that. On the contrary, every article I read does agree that if you are positive it most definitely stops the spread if you cough or sneeze. At first when we were asked to wear masks, I thought it was for my protection so I would not get it. I have since decided we are asked to wear them as a defensive measure; 80% of people have mild cases or are asymptomatic and don't even realize they are carriers. If all of society wears a mask the spread is going to be halted by those who unknowingly would be out and about. The government also immediately made a law to fine those who should be quarantined but ignore it.

The spread was significantly slowed because of quick identification and isolation. Drive though testing was set up with quick results. Positive cases were immediately quarantined. If you were in contact with someone who was positive (which you would know from all those texts they sent out) you were expected to stay at home for 14 days, even if you did not have symptoms.

Shopping has been a non-issue. Us Americans get odd looks as we do our weekly shopping and have a full cart. Most Koreans have about 5 items in their cart. They just don't buy a lot at once. When this first flared up, I did notice other Koreans with slightly fuller carts, but still not as much as my weekly cart. There is still plenty of toilet paper, Kleenex and Chlorox wipes on the shelves. Muuuuch different here than in the US.

Not to brag, but I have a lot of toilet paper on hand.

The only thing that has ran out is face masks. Once again, everyone is expected to wear them. Even if I am outside walking the dogs, I get the stink-eye if I don't have one on.

The government has set up a system for equal distribution for masks. Depending on the last digit of your birth year, you have one day during the week to go buy 2 masks from select locations.

Korea don't do hoarding. Huh uh. We're all in this together...but in small crowds and at least 6 feet apart.

Covid-19 is an invisible enemy that will strike all of us, be it the illness itself, or financially, or the closing of school, or the lack of toilet paper. My heart goes out to those who have and will lose loved ones during this time and I pray health for all those reading.

I just want to make light of the situation with some of my favorite memes - none of which I can take credit for - that have popped up over the past week since the US has gone on shutdown (without toilet paper!). I know it is a serious illness that has and will continue to take many lives. But we all have to get through it together, even if we are half way around the world from the ones we love. So let's try to laugh along the way.