How could I not write about the main cause for concern around the world over the past two years, i.e. the coronavirus pandemic? Here too, there has been no shortage of irrelevant questions from my French friends ans relatives, starting with this one:
"How was the lockdown in Korea? Wasn't it too hard?"
To put it simply: so far, there has been no lockdown in South Korea. The country was the first after China to be hit by the virus in early 2020, but the authorities have managed to contain the epidemic without having to resort to a large-scale lockdown of the type that has been implemented in France on several occasions. The population was encouraged to stay at home, online work was encouraged, schools and universities were closed (and are closed again as soon as the number of infections increases) and strict social distancing measures were put in place, but at no time was it impossible to leave your home. Korea relied on masks (everyone wears them all the time, both indoors and outdoors, even at the beach), testing, tracing (which raised some concerns about privacy), and "curfews" were sometimes put in place. But these were quite different from what was done in France. People were allowed to go out, but bars, cafés and restaurants closed earlier (sometimes only take-away sales were allowed).
In short, the epidemic had less impact on the lives of Koreans than in most other countries. Even though Korea is currently facing a fifth wave, the country is often seen as a model abroad for its handling of the pandemic. In my view, this is due to the swift reaction of the government (based on the experience acquired after the MERS epidemic in 2015), to its transparency (see this article) and to the fact that the measures taken have not been politicized, as the wearing of masks has been in Europe or in North America, so the population has generally followed the government's recommendations.
No lockdown. This is sometimes hard to believe for my family or friends, who keep asking me this same question even after I explained that things are different here.
While the government's response was very quick, the vaccination program was a little slow to get going. But once the vaccination started, Korea proved to be very effective, as always, and the proportion of vaccinated people is now higher than in countries that started vaccinating earlier (France or the USA to name but two). For some foreigners, it was a bit difficult to get vaccinated. Personally, being married to a Korean citizen, everything went pretty smoothly and even had my third shot at the end of December.
This is another question that I get a lot. The answer, again, is no. Korea has the same vaccines as France: Astrazeneca, Pfizer, Moderna,and Janssen. The difference is that it is possible to "mix" vaccines, contrary to France, I believe. For example, I got Astrazeneca for my first shot, then Pfizer for the next two shots.
In short, I have to admit that when I see the situation in Western countries, especially in France, I think I am very lucky to be living in Korea right now. My daily life is much less disrupted, and the risk of catching and especially transmitting the virus seems to be much lower here.
