COVID-19 Data in South Korea

South Korea had an effective plan to tackle COVID-19 with testing and screenings. South Korea

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Background

Government Tracking in South Korea pre-COVID-19

South Korea is a very connected country. There has been a 200% increase in CCTV from 2013 to 2020. Many people, especially people living in rural areas, ask for more CCTV as they feel safer. CCTV footage has been increasingly used in court as evidence, and having a CCTV camera discourages criminals as they know if they break the law, it would all be on the footage. Having 1.34 million CCTV cameras in 2020 also has its downsides of lack of privacy as CCTV cameras can be legally placed on private property without government permission.

COVID-19 Masks

During the early stages of the pandemic, there was a mask shortage that lead the South Korean government to buy masks and redistribute them to pharmacies, so everyone has a chance to buy masks. The South Korean government made a set price on the masks for 1,500 won each, which is around $1.3 USD, and citizens can only buy up to 2 masks on a certain day based on their birthday. The South Korean government also put a ban on exporting masks. At first, only 10% of exports were allowed to be masks, but the South Korean government replaced that role by banning all mask exports.

COVID-19 Masks Tracking App

Even with the restrictions and help from the South Korean government on the masks shortage, it was still difficult for citizens to find pharmacies that had masks in stock as they sold out very quickly. The South Korean government open API on masks sales for pharmacies, so many companies, like Goodoc, Naver, and Kakao, utilized the open API to make apps for South Korean citizens to easily find the pharmacies that had masks in stock, so they do not have to walk to multiple pharmacies and waste their time. Many apps were made and opened to the public. They all served the same purpose of helping people see which pharmacies had masks or not. The apps had some different components like the Kakao app was different from its competitors by having a cell phone number for all the pharmacies, so the person can call the pharmacy to confirm once more that they had masks in stock.

Digital Generational Gap

Divide between Phones and No Phones

In 2019, it was reported that 95% of the South Korean population owns a smartphone, while the remaining 5% have a mobile phone. It is predicted that the usage of smartphones will increase to 97.4% by 2025. While South Korea's smartphone ownership is the highest percentage in the world, there is still a generational digital gap. 29.2% of people between the ages of 60 to 69 know how to use smartphone apps and the most common feature of the smartphone that they use is calling and checking the time, while 100% of people between the ages of 30 to 39 use the internet on their smartphones. This causes a generational digital gap between the younger generation and older generation. The younger generation has more access to technology and apps thus having more information to navigate through the pandemic. During the early stages of the pandemic when masks were scarce, the younger generation found masks much faster and more effectively than the older generation as they used the mask finding app, such as the mask finding app made by Goodoc or Naver. The mask finding app allows people to check the stock of masks in real-time, so they would minimize time walking from one pharmacy to another pharmacy and directly asking the pharmacist if they have masks left. The South Korean government knew that this will be an issue, so they allowed family members to obtain masks for their elderly family members, but they must be over the age of 80 and need to show proof of family relations on another mobile app called Gov24.

COVID-19 Government Messages

As the older generation used their smartphones as cell phones and other minority groups, like people with disabilities, have limited physical boundaries to smartphones are unable to receive information and causing them to become more vulnerable, especially during the pandemic when information is vital. One way that South Korean citizens get COVID-19 related information is through COVID-19 government alert messages. The COVID-19 government alert messages tell you a COVID-19 patient case number with information about the district they live in and major places they have visited at what time. It is used to inform nearby citizens to get tested if they have visited the same places at a similar time with the COVID-19 infected patient. The text message gives a basic outline of the major places the COVID-19 patient has visited, but people can go to the Ministry of Health and Welfare website to see more exact information. The Ministry of Health and Welfare website has information about the exact whereabouts of the COVID-19 patient’s location for the last two weeks. No names are announced in the text message or on the website, but a lot of identifying information is given so some people are able to connect the dots and figure out who that person is. If the location is controversial, like a religious cult gathering, or embarrassing, like a love motel, that COVID-19 patient will face backlash and embarrassment from online comments that cause the COVID-19 patient to have mental health issues. The information on the COVID-19 patient’s locations over the last two weeks is gathered by first asking the COVID-19 patients about their whereabouts over the last two weeks and then the gaps are filled up by their phone’s GPS, CCTV, and credit card transactions. The reason for sharing this much information is because of the MERS outbreak back in 2015, when the South Korean government was criticized for not sharing any information about the MERS patient and citizens believed that would have slowed down the spread and lessen the fear about MERS.