Now, in Korea, there is a disease going around, called MERS-CoV. This disease is originated from Middle East and has killed more than 800 people. This deadly virus has a fatality rate of 60% and highly contagious because it is an airborne virus, which means one can be infected without direct contact with a MERS patient. A Korean tourist who visited UAE (United Arab Emirates) got infected and returned to Korea without knowing it--it has a 10 days of the incubation period. Since then, it has killed 9 people and got over 3000 people infected in about a week.
The scary part is, we do not have enough information about this virus. Since Korea has a different environment from Middle East, such as climate and humidity, it is uncertain how it will mutate. So, the best way to avoid any place where the infected people are. However, the Korean government announced that they would not disclose the list of the hospitals where MERS patients were. The reason is if the government makes the list public, those hospitals with MERS patients would try to hide that they had MERS patients because it will adversely affect their earnings. Maybe some hospitals would refuse to take MERS patients, which, the government believes, will make this situation worse. In deed, a hospital that had accused of having a MERS patient experienced all other patients got scared and moved to a different hospital.
This sparked a heated controversy because people believed their right-to-know comes first. The public got angry about the government's response to this emergency situation and felt unsafe to stay in Korea. They argue that if people do not know where to avoid, more people would be exposed to the virus than otherwise, and it would lead to a far worse situation.
I don't know who is right or wrong, but I do know it is not a good time to figure out who to blame. However, would it be too demanding if I want the government to find the way to control this situation while keeping the public feel safe? I am just really worried about my family and friends and wish this would be over soon.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/08/world/south-korea-mers-outbreak/
I recently read a couple of articles regarding the MERS outbreak in Korea and it seems like the lack of government control and measures is making the matter worse than it should be. I am worried about my family and friends back home and as you said, I also hope this would be over soon
ReplyDeleteI have also heard about the MERS outbreak and heard that many schools in Korea has been shut down to take pre-cautious measures to prevent it from spreading as well.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't know much about Korea government, I do agree with you that the government should have handled this with more transparency and should isolate and quarantine MERS patients to prevent MERS from further spreading.
About 10 years ago in Singapore, we had the SARS virus outbreak. Schools were shut down, public spaces were vacated, and no one left their houses without first donning protective masks. It was a terrible experience. I wish you, your friends, and most importantly, your family, the best of health!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I send my prayers to the people in Korea and those infected or affected by the disease in any way. I personally have not heard the news about the MERS outbreak. Hopefully they figure out this crisis soon. Whenever I see some kind of disease outbreak on the news, I always think about movies like Contagion or horror zombie flicks. I also wish you, your family, and friends good health.
ReplyDeleteyes, this is probably biggest news recently about the MERS disease having in Korea. As still in my mind, there was SARS in Hong Kong when I was 13. I was wearing the mask every day when i was going out and temporary prohibited going to school. I know from the news that MERS is actually in "same family" as SARS but much more dangerous. The main different of MERS and SARS is that MERS is not easily spread out by human activities. However, once you got inflection, the chance of dead is much higher than SARS. Currently, there is no a certain way to kill this virus and control the spread of it. The only way can do it to prevent and enough protection of ourselves like wearing the mask, going to clinic when you feel sick etc. It is sometimes understandably the government tries to hind the real situation and where does it come from first as long as there is no way to remedy the situation. The government can do is not to make the public in scary about the disease by providing the information about the MERS
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