My Personal Experience with Corona Virus So Far (In South Korea)

Hey folks. Just wanted to make a post about this given that I feel a bit stressed. Sometimes writing about things can make you feel better.

I live in South Korea, specifically in the city of Busan. Until last week, SK had kept its borders tight and measures were in place to reduce the transmission of CNOV. Then around last Thursday/Friday news broke of the damn 신천지 cult.
Basically a grandmother in the cult was infected by CNOV and had symptoms, but ignored them. The cult is a Christian sect whose leader claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Members all wear white and kneel on the floor during ceremonies, as they don’t allow chairs.

picture of the cult in prayer

So this grandmother was the main vector. From there, hundreds more have become infected, and they’ve made their way down into Busan and across the country. Last year, the cult opened a church in Wuhan.

As of yet, the government has not discovered how the cult became infected originally. Everyone things there is some kind of secret connection to Wuhan. Maybe they were involved in human trafficking ?

coronamap.live gives you a map and alert system, showing areas where confirmed patients are. the latest update says they are updating OVER 600 NEW LOCATIONS

Come Friday morning and Saturday, I regularly receive updates from the government about the virus. Unfortunately the messages are in Korean and I can’t copy/paste these because of some dumb Android OS feature. But my wife is Korean and I know some, so I can still stay up to date.

daily updates from the government on my phone

I work in a middle school, and the school year is delayed by a week. I still have to come into work, despite there being nobody here except administrative staff and the principal. There are hand-washing stations at all entrances, the government has handed out masks and hand-washing kits for the classrooms. I'm at work now and it is deserted.

Buses have hand-washing dispensers at the exit doors. The streets are nearly empty and everyone here is wearing some kind of mask. My boxing gym has closed. The government has closed all libraries and museums indefinitely.
Most hagwons (private education institutions) are closed. The government has banned all protests and recommends you stay home if you aren’t going to work.

It feels like a sci-fi dystopia film.

Near Busan University, there were reports of someone who fell to the ground, sick. These pictures allegedly show health workers spraying disinfectant there. It could be fake new though...

Last week there were around 50 cases, maybe. Now there are over 600 cases, including children. 18 people have recovered and 6 have died.

An odd anecdote: on Sundays near my apartment, the streets were always full of people in white walking to churches. I would jokingly call them cultists. My wife would agree and say, “yep, they’re cultists”. Guess what? They really WERE cultists. And not just any cult but the 신천지 cult members that have, knowingly or not, spread the majority of this virus in South Korea. They have a damn church two blocks from me, and I would daily walk my dogs near it.

There is a real fear that health workers will show up someplace in a hazmat suit and declare that “you are now going to be quarantined because you have been in contact with someone who is infected”. You can see this happening in the video below. It was uploaded to twitter. A Chinese person who stayed in a spa for three days was found to be positive with the virus, and the people in the spa were all placed in quarantine!

I don't think I would die if I got sick. It seems people in my age bracket, healthy adults, have a high % chance of recovery. I am worried that if I get sick, then I would be quarantined and my dogs would be left alone! So if you see the news that a foreigner in South Korea is running from the hospital, that's me! I'll be running to get to my dogs and then pitch a tent in the the mountains until I recover.

But I feel fine so far. Just got to keep washing my hands!