Coronavirus Disease Outbreak in Call Center, South Korea

ABSTRACTHospital workers are critical for a successful response to an infectious disease outbreak and for preventing disease transmission to the community. Therefore, hospital crisis management should implement efforts to improve hospital workers’ preparedness in responding to public health emergencies caused by infectious diseases. Traditionally, preparedness and skill of hospital workers have been emphasized, but awareness of the importance of the emotional mindset of hospital workers in dealing with disease outbreaks has only recently increased; therefore, empirical approaches to examining emotional responses of hospital workers has been limited. This study analyzed qualitative data of the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in South Korea. In particular, negative emotions and stress experienced by hospital workers who treated patients were characterized, as were the events that triggered such experiences. These events were categorized into four themes (eg,Mistake, Missing, Delay Due to Communication Failure). Identifying events that trigger negative emotions in hospital workers has important implications for hospitals’ management guidance in relation to an infectious disease outbreak. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness.2019;13:504-510)

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Public Health Emergency and Crisis Management: Case Study of SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17113984 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (11) ◽

pp. 3984 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Hemin Choi ◽

Wonhyuk Cho ◽

Min-Hyu Kim ◽

Joon-Young Hur

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

South Korea ◽

Crisis Management ◽

Call Center ◽

Large Scale ◽

Diagnostic Testing ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Major Cluster

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an unparalleled public health crisis, delivering an immense shock to humanity. With the virus’s health consequences largely unknown, different health systems around the globe have pursued various avenues of crisis management. South Korea, troubled early by the virus, was once the second most affected nation in the world. Arrays of measures in South Korea, such as large-scale diagnostic testing and technology-based comprehensive contact tracing, have brought about debates among public health experts and medical professionals. This case study describes the major cluster transmissions in SARS-CoV-2 hotspots in South Korea (such as a religious sect, a call center, logistics facilities, and nightclubs) and offers early observations on how South Korean public health authorities acted in response to the initial outbreak of the virus and to the new waves prompted by re-opening economies. We then discuss the way in which South Korea’s experience can act as a reference for shaping other countries’ public health strategies in pandemic crisis management.

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Identifying High-risk Areas of Foot-and-mouth Disease Outbreak Using a Spatiotemporal Score Statistic: A Case of South Korea

International Regional Science Review ◽

10.1177/0160017620931581 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 (5) ◽

pp. 477-500

Author(s):

Son-Il Pak ◽

Gyoungju Lee ◽

Munsu Sin ◽

Hyuk Park ◽

JiYoung Park

Keyword(s):

High Risk ◽

South Korea ◽

Spatial Pattern ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Disease Outbreak ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Score Statistic ◽

Foot And Mouth ◽

Risk Areas

The objective of this study is to identify high-risk areas of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in South Korea using nationwide data collected for the disease cases that occurred during the period from December 2014 to April 2015. High-risk areas of FMD occurrence are defined as local clusters or hot spots, where the frequency of disease occurrence is higher than expected. An issue in the FMD detection study is in identifying a spatial pattern deviated significantly from the expected value under the null hypothesis that no spatial process is investigated. While identifying geographic clusters is challenging to reveal the causes of disease outbreak, it is most useful to detect and monitor potential areas of risk occurrence and suggest a further in-depth investigation. This study extended a traditional score statistic (SC) that has limited to identify the spatial pattern by proposing a spatiotemporal score statistic (STSC) that incorporates a temporal component into the SC approach. STSC, a local spatial statistic, was utilized to detect clusters around the known foci with a latent period. This study demonstrated STSC could better exploit the advantage of the original SC and improve the cluster detection due to the latent time component. The empirical results of STSC are expected to provide more useful policy implications with agencies in charge of preventing and controlling the spread of epidemics when deciding where to concentrate the limited resources available.

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Public health emergency and crisis management: Case study of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak

10.26686/wgtn.14376410 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

H Choi ◽

Wonhyuk Cho ◽

MH Kim ◽

JY Hur

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

South Korea ◽

Crisis Management ◽

Call Center ◽

Large Scale ◽

Diagnostic Testing ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Major Cluster

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an unparalleled public health crisis, delivering an immense shock to humanity. With the virus’s health consequences largely unknown, different health systems around the globe have pursued various avenues of crisis management. South Korea, troubled early by the virus, was once the second most affected nation in the world. Arrays of measures in South Korea, such as large-scale diagnostic testing and technology-based comprehensive contact tracing, have brought about debates among public health experts and medical professionals. This case study describes the major cluster transmissions in SARS-CoV-2 hotspots in South Korea (such as a religious sect, a call center, logistics facilities, and nightclubs) and offers early observations on how South Korean public health authorities acted in response to the initial outbreak of the virus and to the new waves prompted by re-opening economies. We then discuss the way in which South Korea’s experience can act as a reference for shaping other countries’ public health strategies in pandemic crisis management.

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Public health emergency and crisis management: Case study of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak

10.26686/wgtn.14376410.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

H Choi ◽

Wonhyuk Cho ◽

MH Kim ◽

JY Hur

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

South Korea ◽

Crisis Management ◽

Call Center ◽

Large Scale ◽

Diagnostic Testing ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Major Cluster

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an unparalleled public health crisis, delivering an immense shock to humanity. With the virus’s health consequences largely unknown, different health systems around the globe have pursued various avenues of crisis management. South Korea, troubled early by the virus, was once the second most affected nation in the world. Arrays of measures in South Korea, such as large-scale diagnostic testing and technology-based comprehensive contact tracing, have brought about debates among public health experts and medical professionals. This case study describes the major cluster transmissions in SARS-CoV-2 hotspots in South Korea (such as a religious sect, a call center, logistics facilities, and nightclubs) and offers early observations on how South Korean public health authorities acted in response to the initial outbreak of the virus and to the new waves prompted by re-opening economies. We then discuss the way in which South Korea’s experience can act as a reference for shaping other countries’ public health strategies in pandemic crisis management.

Download Full-text