Counting the Days in Korea

Seoul, South Korea:

As everyone knows, the whole world is going through a crisis with coronavirus these days. I am a resident living in South Korea. The first person who got infected in our country was on 20 January 2020. We also learned that many people died and got infected from China by watching the news.

As a result, people gradually started to become afraid of the coronavirus. People had to stay at home all day hoping that the virus would disappear as soon as possible.

My parents emphasized that I should wear masks and carry hand sanitizer when I go out. Furthermore, we wash our hands thoroughly after returning to the house and brush our teeth.

The government made an emergency safe committee to settle the situation down at the start of the infection. Nevertheless, infected people still increased every day.

People started to notice and got aware that they would get infected if they were near an infected person.

To make people aware of all the infected people, they came out with an app to give notices and updates about the coronavirus. It tells where people were infected from and where they have visited. Plus, it also shows all the screening clinics near you. This is so helpful because it shows you where to avoid and stay away from.

Also, there is an application for people who are in self isolation. Self-Isolation Safety Application checks your health every day and requires health authorities to report any abnormal symptoms.

 The long-running coronavirus and the government’s policy to wear face masks when going out has caused major chaos in the supply of masks. All the masks on every website were sold out instantly.

Because of this situation, the government has implemented a five-day rotation system for buying masks. It also limits two masks per person a week. According to the five-day rotation system, a mask can only be bought on Monday if the birth year ends with one and six, Tuesday if it is two and seven, Wednesday if it is three and eight, Thursday if it is four and nine, and Friday if it is five and zero.

With the government’s public mask sales system in place, useful applications were created. By installing Mask Alimi (마스크알리미) and DdokDdak (똑딱), smart phone users can learn public mask purchasing pharmacy and real-time inventory status across the country.

This virus also impacted the school system as well. First, the first school day was delayed and further delayed again. To protect students from getting infected, the school board decided to start teaching students on online. Starting on April 9th, the 9th grade and 12th grade will start online studying by using programs like EBS, Edunet, and Zoom.

Continually, the other grades will start online learning one week later than the 9th and 12th graders.

The school’s homeroom teacher can open a class to deliver learning content through online courses, check attendance, and make sure the lesson has been completed.

As the Ministry of Education officially announced its opening of online schools, the school office will investigate the status of students who cannot be remotely educated and make pushes for renting laptops, tablets, and Internet communications to the underprivileged.

I realized how precious my normal daily life was after being deprived of my free time and unable to spend my time outside! On the positive side, I have got in a good habit of washing hands frequently, covering my mouth with clothes when coughing, and keeping social distance. I wish this virus would disappear as soon as possible! We all want our normal life back!