COVID-19
in South Korea
In January of 2020, the first COVID-19 case was reported. by February 21, 2020, 348 cases were reported, according to a Korean CDC press release in February 2020. The spike in cases were likely attributed to "Patient 31" who participated in a gathering at a Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony church in Daegu who still continued to attend church gatherings, likely further spreading the virus (Shin & Cha, 2020).
South Korea had positive outcomes with containment of the virus by beginning contact tracing early on when the pandemic first appeared. Infected citizens were required to go to isolation shelters prepared by the government. Depending of the severity of the case some citizens were asked to self quarantine. These citizens were required to download an app that traces movement. Violators of the quarantine regulations were fined up to $2,500. In addition, local monitoring teams monitored the citizens and asked about their symptoms and also provided basic needs such as food, water, and toiletries while citizens were quarantined. Phones and credit card data were used to trace prior movements which further posed a risk to privacy.
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There was no general lockdown of the business in terms of supermarkets and retail stores. Schools, gyms, and cinemas shut down shortly after the outbreak moving schools, and universities to virtual settings (Santi, 2020). While many businesses still remain open, many precautions take place such as temperature screenings with each customer/client along with the use of thermal image cameras (Fisher & Sang-hun, 2020).
Smoking
Tobacco Use in Korea
Tobacco use in Korea still remains to have a prevalence rate with about 50% of males and about 5% of females. Tobacco use in Korea places a significant burden of avoidable deaths (Kim & Cho, 2018).
Cardiovascular diseases
Cancer
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Hypertension
Passive smoke inhalation leads to respiratory and allergic symptoms in children.
Tuberculosis
1 in 3 Koreans are diagnosed with latent tuberculosis. 76.8 people out of every 100,000 are diagnosed with active TB, which is the highest rate among the OECD member states. In Korea, TB has been considered a legal communicable disease since 1957 in accordance with the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, which made its reporting mandatory (Cho, 2018). In Korea, TB screening (chest radiography) is performed as a part of the health examination conducted on children who are entering secondary or high school and for adults, TB screening is included in the health examination performed every 1-2 years for health insurance subscribers (Cho, 2018). Recently, the treatment success rate for patients with TB in Korea has improved due to timely diagnosis and treatment. However, Korea still remains last place in OECD countries for tuberculosis.
Air Pollution
Air pollution, both domestic and international, in South Korea has become an increasing threat to people and the environment. This is due to the rapid industrialization since WWII. Causes of air pollution in Korea are from China's yellow dust from their large factories and coal plants. Domestically, traffic is a major cause of air pollution due to the fossil fuel combustion. East Asian countries are hit by dust storms every spring. The effects of these storms are respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cause of pinkeye, obstructing visibility, and damaging goods (Kim, 2019).
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Solutions to combatting the air pollution include masks and air purifiers for the home and cars. The government is also committed to cleaning the air by making efforts to regulate the coal plants, providing public air purification systems, and regulate the use of heavy diesel use vehicles and replacing with natural gas and providing emission reducing devices (Poon, 2018). Locally, the government encourages the use of other means of transportation such as walking and biking when possible.