How South Korea Flattened The Curve Without Shutting Down Its Economy

By  James Barrett

An analysis published by The New York Times this week takes a close look at South Korea’s successful efforts to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 infections without shutting down the nation’s economy and presents four key lessons from the country’s response. The study concludes by addressing the question of whether South Korea’s response is transferrable to other countries, including the U.S.

The report, written by Max Fisher and Choe Sang-Hun, begins by highlighting just how successful in comparison to other countries South Korea’s response to coronavirus has been.

“At the peak, medical workers identified 909 new cases in a single day, Feb. 29, and the country of 50 million people appeared on the verge of being overwhelmed,” the journalists write. “But less than a week later, the number of new cases halved. Within four days, it halved again — and again the next day. On Sunday, South Korea reported only 64 new cases, the fewest in nearly a month, even as infections in other countries continue to soar by the thousands daily, devastating health care systems and economies. Italy records several hundred deaths daily; South Korea has not had more than eight in a day.”

So how has South Korea pulled it off so far? It was not through draconian or economy-crushing measures implemented by the likes of China and now an increasing number of countries across the globe, including the U.S.

The answer is four key measures: 1) rapid intervention before the pandemic is a full crisis; 2) implement widespread testing; 3) contact tracing and isolation; and 4) get the public to help.

The Times piece breaks down how South Korea implemented each of these measures, the first: “Intervene Fast, Before It’s a Crisis” (formatting adjusted):

Just one week after the country’s first case was diagnosed in late January, government officials met with representatives from several medical companies. They urged the companies to begin immediately developing coronavirus test kits for mass production, promising emergency approval. Within two weeks, though South Korea’s confirmed cases remained in the double digits, thousands of test kits were shipping daily.

full story at https://www.dailywire.com/news/analysis-how-south-korea-flattened-the-curve-without-shutting-down-its-economy