lemmetellu Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Ok, so if you read some of my past comments you will know I am a Korean-American living in Seoul. Let me dispel some rumors going around about COVID-19 in Korea. First of all, I would cancel your plans to travel around here if it is refundable just because why would you want to travel in an airplane when there is an infectious virus going around? Second, if you do decide to come here, it will probably be easier to buy masks in your home country and then come because prices have risen considerably (went from like 50 cents to almost 3-5 dollars each now and almost impossible to buy unless you pay at the top end for like 5 dollars each. It is possible to buy them for under a dollar each online but those sell out in minutes). Now that's out of the way, some people are blowing this way out of proportion and saying that Koreans are the second Wuhan, blah blah. Korea has tested the most people for the coronavirus after China. Korea has tested more than 40,000 so far compared to the United States that has tested approximately 400. The CDC also stated that some test kits were faulty. What does that mean? This means that of course Korea is going to have more positive patients since they are testing more! If the US also tested (particularly in SF, LA, and NYC) I assure you the numbers are going to be similar to Korea and Italy. People having been asking to be tested for the coronavirus in the US but have not been able to since there are not enough test kits so they are being treated as if they have pneumonia instead. This means they are not being counted for the official coronavirus count even if they do have it. A man was tested for coronavirus and came back negative. The hospital in the US charged him and his insurance $3,500. In Korea, all testing and treatment is free regardless of whether or not you are a citizen (Patient #1 in Korea was a Chinese citizen who was treated and recovered for FREE). This is a huge deterrent to getting tested and treated in the US since you will have to pay astronomical amounts of money. In Korea, if you get put under quarantine and your work will not pay for those 2 weeks, the government will cover your expenses. Obviously, the US has nothing like this for their citizens. It is easy to get tested in Korea since there are testing centers literally every district and even drive-thru testing centers. Couple the free testing with ease of access and you get thousands of people getting tested which leads to it being easier to figure out who all is actually sick. There is a lot more than I can write about this topic, but basically this is a situation where doing the right thing like Korea is actually backfiring because now everyone else in the world thinks that Korea is some random hotspot for this when I assure you every country has the coronavirus they just aren't testing for it yet. You really think the rest of Africa (other than Egypt) doesn't have the coronavirus yet? Do you guys know how must Chinese investment and people live in Africa? I am 100% certain the coronavirus exists and is spreading rapidly there and in all other countries. Just because the official numbers don't reflect it doesn't mean it's not true. Thailand stopped updating their numbers as often, Japan (Abe) has strong incentive to downplay this (the Olympics are coming up and don't want it canceled... they let the gov't official working on the cruise ship situation return to work without testing them since it would affect work flow if they tested positive.. so apparently being oblivious is better than knowing the truth). The US allowed passengers from the Japanese cruise ship who were returning to the US fly in regular domestic flights back to their states (like Oklahoma). You really think those people didn't infect others while traveling in the airport/airplane? A third of the cruise ship was infected y'all.. and you could be carrying the virus without any symptoms. This is all to say that yes, Korea is fighting the coronavirus and it seems like this is like the only other hotbed for the virus (other than China and Italy) but in reality, Korea and Italy are most likely the only countries updating actual numbers while all other countries in the world are hiding/lying/being willfully ignorant to protect their economies/other interests. It is only backfiring on Korea because everyone else is lying when really to stop a pandemic everyone should be sharing factual numbers and trying their best to control this before it spirals. In conclusion, if you can change your flights and surgery schedules, I would do so just because it's not really a good time to be visiting right now in the current atmosphere. If you can't, I wouldn't be like super worried about it either. I still go to my dermatology appointments and it is just as hard to make appointments there as it always used to be (people aren't panicking and canceling appointments en masse is what I'm saying). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valenrina Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 I feel you, there is a mask shortage in Singapore too. SK is not alone in this. I would say this again, the virus does not differentiate borders. I think SK is doing an excellent job and I have confidence in SK's healthcare system. However, it is not justified to say other countries are deliberately downplaying the figures because you do not have proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmetellu Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 I'm mostly talking about Westerners (even though technically as an American I am one..) being like "Oh, this is an Asian thing.. those Asian people led to this..." while they themselves are being deceitful with numbers. I heard Singapore is doing a good job with this response but I haven't really looked up on Singapore and that's why I didn't mention you guys specifically in my post. I mostly look up news for Korea, US, and Japan and that's why I mentioned those countries specifically. But if you want proof that countries are "deliberately downplaying figures," you just have to look at the US. There is plenty of proof. Faulty coronavirus tests by CDC: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/25/cdc-coronavirus-test/ CDC's own site saying how many they tested: https://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus-2020.html UC Davis medical staff asked CDC to test a patient for coronavirus but kept getting rejected until finally he was put on ventilator. When they tested him, he came up positive. ("The patient was admitted to UC Davis Medical Center on February 19 but not diagnosed until the 23rd—raising concerns about testing capabilities and health care workers’ exposure to the disease." https://www.wired.com/story/community-spread-coronavirus/ "The patient had not yet been diagnosed, but UCD staff considered the patient as a possible coronavirus case and asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing, the UCD leaders wrote. However, the patient did not immediately get tested for coronavirus because they didn't fit the existing CDC criteria." https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/02/26/california-coronavirus-patient-hospitalized-at-least-a-week-before-diagnosis-1263958 ) This is just a few reasons why I am saying countries are not being forthcoming about the actual numbers. I know this is just for the US, but you can find plenty of information for this for Japan and Thailand as well. Just one example is- Hospitals in Japan refusing to test many who suspect they have COVID-19: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/26/national/hospitals-refuse-coronavirus-patients/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainie933 Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Wow thank you for this! I had no idea Korea was so on top of everything. Your post makes me feel safer there than here in Canada lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennaebruem Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 It's wild how certain countries are downplaying the severity of this situation outside of North-East Asia. I'm worried for the people living in America who can't afford to get tested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmetellu Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 haha thanks for taking the time to read my long af post. After I wrote it I was like whoa is anyone even going to read this? haha I agree! I feel like some people are being willfully ignorant.. like if they ignore it long enough it will go away or something. The US global health security team that oversees the handling of pandemics and crises was disbanded in 2018 so maybe that's why this is being handled so poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valenrina Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 Well, I read the Japan one, they didn’t deliberately not test the patients. The medical staff were confused because the criteria for testing was not clear. Sometimes the headlines could be misleading... maybe read the whole article instead of grabbing headlines before drawing conclusions? Other countries may not be hiding/lying, but just inefficient. Lazy to read the US ones, maybe they’re lying, muhahaha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meloncat Posted February 27, 2020 Share Posted February 27, 2020 How long would you recommend putting our surgeries off for? I was planning on going mid April, but I am not sure because we don't know how things are going to play out. I have a friend in the US military who flew out Sunday and he said they're being sent back home within the week due to the virus. Whether it is SK sending them back or the US I am not sure. We also have no idea what travel bans may come in the future. Trump said he won't put a ban I'm yet, but he may. US also got first confirmed case on someone who wasn't in contact with a known infected individual or recently abroad, so it's here too now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmetellu Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 No this one works perfectly for my argument because they are still limiting the types of people that can be tested; as in those who have been to China or those who have been in contact with those who are infected. Italy (and most recently United States) have community-based infections as in now they don't know how these people got infected. This is the point some US CDC officials and experts are making; countries should be testing anyone who is showing symptoms for the coronavirus instead of placing these restrictions. Please read what I wrote instead of dismissing it because you were offended. And if you are trying to prove your point, please provide proof as I have since you requested I do. Otherwise, I will no longer be engaging in conversation with you. I doubt this will be over before the summer (and that is also what the news is saying as well here in Korea), but I can't be sure since I am not an expert (I did minor in public health at a top uni in the US.. it is just a minor). The US military here just got their first case of infection so I heard they are handling it (no one really knows how.. it's the military they keep it private from the public. haha) I hope your friend is okay though! I feel like Trump will put a travel ban on Korea before he does China, but who knows. lol. And yea, I read about the Solano County case.. I feel that person was in contact with people in SF since it is pretty nearby and there are sooo many direct flights from Asia to SF (that's why I predicted earlier that SF def has cases). I've lived in SF for a while and just the situation there is so ripe for coronavirus to flourish. SF and NYC for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixie007 Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 I don't think SK is doing good job, they would have done a lot of things to prevent what is happening now. SK can have an excellent hospital system, but other systems don'y seem that way. They can't prevent the 31th patient go around and spread the virus, they can't stop the protest some days ago, they can't shut down Daegu to stop spreading the virus either. Over 2000 more case over one week proves my point. All I can say is that if anyone considers to get plastic surgery in SK, you should do more research and get ready for it because Korean Won is dropping and many hospitals will quote better price to attract more patients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixie007 Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 For the first week when people know about Corona, Korea government refused to test people who have same symptoms just because people traveled to Thailand NOT Wuhan. And which source did you get the information that other countries don't have kit enough to test people? the information was confirmed? I feel so doubtful about what I read. All I know is Korea rise alert level and many countries impose entry ban to Korean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixie007 Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 The only thing that you are kind of right about is the charges for the test in the US. The US has not declared a state of emergency. Therefore people need to utilize their health insurance. The person you are talking about obviously didn't have insurance. There isn't an outbreak in the US. Therefore no need for free govt paid testing yet. Trump has already requested 2.5 billion to prepare for an outbreak. What do you think that money will be used for??? Free testing maybe??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterfly93 Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 I heard it was like that in the beginning but apparently now you have to pay up to 160k won if you decide yourself to get tested and about 10k won if you were in contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus. I'm guessing it's because there is too many people who have to be tested right now. But 160k (about 160US$ maybe) is still a lot better than 3500$ in the US. ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valenrina Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 ok, you're the boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmetellu Posted February 28, 2020 Author Share Posted February 28, 2020 I never said the response was perfect, but it is a hell of a lot better than most other countries. You can get all the information in my posts from some simple research (especially about US not having enough test kits.. which is also mentioned in one of the links I posted so obv you are just stating things without reading my posts). There is so much in accuracy with your posts, but from the fact that you posted 3 comments in a row here and then in other threads shows me that you already have your mind set so agree to disagree and move on. My friend lives in a dorm room where one of the residents got it so she went to get tested and it was free (and got her results in less than 24 hours) so I'm not sure about this... will have to look up more info on this later. ------- Currently SK is at 80,000 tested (double from when I posted yesterday) while the US is still stuck around 400-450. Another about preventing dissemination of information in US https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-anthony-fauci-trump-admin-stops-discussion-2020-2 Prob won't update anymore. Just wanted to give a different perspective but people seem unwilling to even do the basic research. lolol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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