scholarly journals Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), Crisis Communication Principles and the COVID-19 Response in South Korea

2021 ◽  
pp. 097325862098117
Author(s):  
Hye-Jin Paek ◽  
Thomas Hove

This case study highlights several communication insights that have emerged from the South Korean national response to COVID-19. In particular, it focuses on how innovative disease control programmes and information and communications technologies (ICT) have been used in conjunction with appropriate message strategies. The South Korean government used ICTs in a variety of ways to enhance crisis communication, coordinate large-scale public health efforts and supply chains, and facilitate widespread adoption of preventive measures such as social distancing and mask wearing. The response and communication strategies were based on principles established by research in social sciences and recommended for pandemic response, including social marketing, crisis communication, and normative influence. South Korea’s COVID-19 response and communication strategies can provide useful insights for national efforts to manage COVID-19 and other possible future infectious disease outbreaks.

2021 ◽  
pp. 239-250
Author(s):  
Sunghee Chung ◽  
Sujin Lee

This chapter explores South Korea’s responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on its innovative approach and regulatory background in implementing the so-called “test-track-treat strategy.” Years earlier, South Korea revised and introduced a regulatory framework to allow for effective responses and interventions against infectious disease outbreaks in the aftermath of its traumatic experiences with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015. The chapter looks at how the amendments to regulations related to infectious diseases in the aftermath of the MERS outbreak have worked to South Korea’s advantage in fighting Covid-19. However, despite South Korea’s success in “flattening the curve,” its use of large-scale testing, and information and communication technology (ICT) to track patients raises controversial human rights and privacy issues. The extensive use of surveillance technologies to track and monitor individuals has the potential to infringe upon and limit fundamental human rights. The chapter then illuminates the dilemma facing South Korea between democratic governance and surveillance technology and discusses how to reconcile, through a South Korean lens, potential tensions between individual freedom and public health in a state of emergency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Cencetti ◽  
G. Santin ◽  
A. Longa ◽  
E. Pigani ◽  
A. Barrat ◽  
...  

AbstractDigital contact tracing is a relevant tool to control infectious disease outbreaks, including the COVID-19 epidemic. Early work evaluating digital contact tracing omitted important features and heterogeneities of real-world contact patterns influencing contagion dynamics. We fill this gap with a modeling framework informed by empirical high-resolution contact data to analyze the impact of digital contact tracing in the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigate how well contact tracing apps, coupled with the quarantine of identified contacts, can mitigate the spread in real environments. We find that restrictive policies are more effective in containing the epidemic but come at the cost of unnecessary large-scale quarantines. Policy evaluation through their efficiency and cost results in optimized solutions which only consider contacts longer than 15–20 minutes and closer than 2–3 meters to be at risk. Our results show that isolation and tracing can help control re-emerging outbreaks when some conditions are met: (i) a reduction of the reproductive number through masks and physical distance; (ii) a low-delay isolation of infected individuals; (iii) a high compliance. Finally, we observe the inefficacy of a less privacy-preserving tracing involving second order contacts. Our results may inform digital contact tracing efforts currently being implemented across several countries worldwide.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-hoon Jang

The exhibition Masterpieces of Korean Art, which toured 8 cities in the US from December 1957 to June 1959, was the first large-scale overseas exhibition of Korean cultural objects that the South Korean government organized. This overseas exhibition in the US was designed to secure a cultural identity for South Korea on the world stage by explaining to US citizens that Korean culture has peculiar characteristics and independence from Chinese or Japanese culture. It was in the same context that the South Korean government was trying to secure a place within the world order controlled by the US. This touring exhibition shows that, through this exhibition, the National Museum of Korea was engaged in a dual mission to both gain cultural citizenship on the world stage and, reflexively, to internalize this for internal consumption so as to consolidate a sense of Korean cultural identity at home.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hye-Jeong Lee ◽  
Sung-Yoon Huh ◽  
Seung-Hoon Yoo

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the South Korean government plans to expand the installation of small-scale solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plants, which do not occupy large spaces and have a smaller environmental impact than large-scale SPV power plants. This article applies a choice experiment to evaluate quantitatively the value given by people to the attributes of the installation of small-scale SPV power plants. To reflect the preference heterogeneity of South Korean people, a Bayesian estimation of a mixed-logit model is successfully performed. According to the results, South Korean people consider the electricity bill, the operating body, and the installation location as being more important than other attributes. The respondents prefer small-scale SPV power plants that are located in residential areas, have a large scale of installation, are operated by a private corporation and produce electricity for self-consumption. For these attributes, the South Korean people are willing to pay an additional electricity bill of South Korean won (KRW) 4286/month, KRW 3712/kW, KRW 2885/month and KRW 3731/month, respectively. The results provide meaningful implications regarding the aspects of installation on which the government should focus. In addition, the results can be utilized in policy making and decision making related to the installation of small-scale SPV power plants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-382
Author(s):  
Myungji Yang

Through the case of anti-impeachment rallies held in South Korea in 2016-2017, this article examines why the large-scale, rightwing mobilization emerged in the midst of democratic and peaceful demonstrations. Analyzing the widespread emotions and narratives shared by protesters, I argue that rightwing elites and intellectuals mobilized civil society by evoking specific historical experiences that arouse intense fear and outrage among older citizens. Capitalizing on positive and successful historical experiences of anticommunist nation building and national modernization, the South Korean right has tried to rebuild its political legitimacy and symbolic power during the postauthoritarian period (1987-present). Drawing from ethnographic observations and in-depth interviews undertaken in Seoul, I emphasize the prominence of Cold War geopolitics and authoritarian legacies in shaping the discourse and mobilization strategies of the South Korean right. This article enhances a critical understanding of the internal workings of rightwing mobilization in existing Western-centric scholarship on the far right.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
Marjan Miharja ◽  
Erwin Syahruddin ◽  
Bionda Johan Anggara ◽  
Johan Johan ◽  
Gugus Atmoko ◽  
...  

WHO determined COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 9, 2020, which is the strongest push for this community service program to be carried out. WHO has published guidance on adjusting the MFIs while managing the risk of a spike in case numbers. WHO publishes guidance on adapting to LKMS, while still managing the risk of a re-increase in the number of cases. A series of measures was developed to help provide guidance to countries in adapting public health measures to various contexts and this provides consideration for decision makers. In connection with the policy of controlling infectious disease outbreaks, Indonesia has Law Number 4 of 1984 concerning Communicable Disease Outbreaks, Government Regulation Number 40 of 1991 concerning Management of Contagious Disease Outbreaks, and Regulation of the Minister of Health Number 1501 / Menkes / Per / X / 2010 concerning Certain Types of Infectious Diseases That Can Cause Outbreaks and Countermeasures. Including various policies to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic issued by the government. One of them is the Large-Scale Social Restrictions or PSBB at the end of March. Citing Article 1 paragraph 11 of Law (UU) Number 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine, PSBB is a limitation of certain activities of residents in an area suspected of being infected with a disease and / or contamination in such a way as to prevent the possibility of spreading disease or contamination. The policy covers at least school and work vacations, restrictions on religious activities and restrictions on activities in public places or facilities, including the socialization of washing hands using hand sanitizer which can be done in certain situations where soap and clean water are not available. For the results to be effective, the hand sanitizer used should contain at least 60% alcohol. This step is a necessity in order to prevent Covid-19 from becoming more widespread. The goal to be achieved from the socialization of good and correct hand washing is to understand the procedures, and be able to practice how to wash hands properly and correctly. It is hoped that in this socialization there will be a change in behavior in the community in washing hands as often as possible properly and correctly.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Weston ◽  
Natasha L. Bloodworth ◽  
Richard Amlôt ◽  
G. James Rubin

UNSTRUCTURED Established methods for collecting surveillance data and attitudinal or behaviour data during a pandemic are limited by issues including cost, timeliness and reliability. This paper presents the outcomes of a rapid evidence review exploring the potential utility of online data, and particularly social media data, for contributing to both outbreak detection and the assessment of influenza-related health behaviours and sentiments. Three literature reviews, including one systematised review, contributed to this rapid evidence review. The systematised review search was conducted on PubMed and Google Scholar. From an initial total of 787 papers found through the search, 54 relevant articles were identified and included in the synthesis. These papers were combined with our initial narrative reviews to form the rapid evidence review and subsequent literature synthesis. Overall, the literature suggests that online data do have a role to play in both surveillance and understanding public responses and concerns during large-scale infectious disease outbreaks. However, given the relative infancy of work in this area, more research is needed – particularly around evaluating the validity and reliability of these approaches – before complex online data can be used with confidence to inform public health decision-making.


2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1776) ◽  
pp. 20180280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Baker ◽  
Jason Matthiopoulos ◽  
Thomas Müller ◽  
Conrad Freuling ◽  
Katie Hampson

Understanding how the spatial deployment of interventions affects elimination time horizons and potential for disease re-emergence has broad application to control programmes targeting human, animal and plant pathogens. We previously developed an epidemiological model that captures the main features of rabies spread and the impacts of vaccination based on detailed records of fox rabies in eastern Germany during the implementation of an oral rabies vaccination (ORV) programme. Here, we use simulations from this fitted model to determine the best vaccination strategy, in terms of spatial placement and timing of ORV efforts, for three epidemiological scenarios representative of current situations in Europe. We found that consecutive and comprehensive twice-yearly vaccinations across all regions rapidly controlled and eliminated rabies and that the autumn campaigns had the greater impact on increasing the probability of elimination. This appears to result from the need to maintain sufficient herd immunity in the face of large birth pulses, as autumn vaccinations reach susceptible juveniles and therefore a larger proportion of the population than spring vaccinations. Incomplete vaccination compromised time to elimination requiring the same or more vaccination effort to meet similar timelines. Our results have important practical implications that could inform policies for rabies containment and elimination in Europe and elsewhere. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: epidemic forecasting and control’. This theme issue is linked with the earlier issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: approaches and important themes’.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 741-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Mimura ◽  
◽  
Taro Kamigaki ◽  
Hitoshi Oshitani

Infectious disease outbreaks in postdisaster settings provide significant social impact although those outbreaks do not always occur. It is important to assess the potential risks of infectious disease in each setting. The Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred March 11, 2011, imposed a huge impact on public health services. After the earthquake and following tsunami, many evacuation centers were sites of crowding as well as poor sanitation conditions because of the large- scale of destruction. Some shelters became sites of infectious disease outbreaks such as influenza and norovirus enteritis, although the size of these outbreaks was quite localized. Improvements in the response to infectious diseases through lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake are expected to be the triggers for improving preparedness for public health emergencies.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey L. O'Sullivan ◽  
Carol Amaratunga ◽  
Karen P. Phillips ◽  
Wayne Corneil ◽  
Eileen O'Connor ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectives:The global impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) brought attention to the role of healthcare professionals as “first receivers” during infectious disease outbreaks, a collateral aspect to their role as responders. This article records and reports concerns expressed by Canadian emergency and critical care nurses in terms of organizational and social supports required during infectious disease outbreaks. The nature of work-family and family-work conflict perceived and experienced by nurses during infectious disease outbreaks, as well as the supports needed to enable them to balance their social roles during this type of heightened stress, are explored.Methods:Five focus groups consisting of 100 nurses were conducted using a Structured Interview Matrix facilitation technique.Results:Four emergent themes included: (1) substantial personal/professional dilemmas; (2) assistance with child, elder, and/or pet care; (3) adequate resources and vaccinations to protect families; and (4) appropriate mechanisms to enable two-way communication between employees and their families under conditions of quarantine or long work hours.Conclusions:Social and organizational supports are critical to help buffer the effects of stress for nurses and assist them in managing difficult role conflicts during infectious disease outbreaks. These supports are necessary to improve response capacity for bio-disasters.


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