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How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

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241–250 of 287 posts

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#241
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ordered a number of masks yesterday from Aliexpress. It works. Shipping is slower than usual, but not crazy.

Can you really say it works until you've actually received them? What masks did you order by the way?

Well, I ordered some a couple weeks ago and got them as well. Been distributing them to neighbors.

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#242
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of masks sold retail can’t be used in hospital settings in America. Many hospitals have strict rules about procurement and origination of things like N95 masks. Meanwhile, I can order comparable masks from China and have them in less than a week in quantity. It’s very much cultural as well as government response (why we are sucking so much at controlling this).

> I can order comparable masks from China Why would you buy safety critical equipment from China? There are good reasons those hospitals have such strict requirements. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-03/12/c_138870714.htm > A joint law enforcement operation by government agencies including the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) was launched in early February, with over 80 million defective face m…

For our use, faulty KN95 masks are better than nothing. Maybe they suck but it’s better than nothing and probably better than home made masks. You have to shop around and find reputable sellers that have been in business a while to mitigate risks as much as possible. I trust Aliexpress slightly less than Amazon these days which says a lot. Amazon used to have my unquestioning trust. Now I barely use them in favor of other retailers.

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#243
post #21

Again another article that doesn't even mention the use of masks and hand sanitizer. The cost of the epidemic now goes into the trillions, self-made cotton masks are cheap compared to the economic damage. They can be disinfected in boiling water and if everybody uses them they will help to stop the spreading of the virus. In all the countries mentioned in the article people wear masks when in public, often just again…

Cloth masks may be counter productive https://dx.doi.org/10.1136%2Fbmjopen-2014-006577

That is not what that study says. Yes, cloth masks are not as effective as medical masks. But the study does not compare cloth masks with no masks. The three groups in the study are:

> medical masks, cloth masks or a control group (usual practice, which included mask wearing).

Yes, the cloth mask group had more infections than the medical mask group and the control group. But the control group included wearing masks as usual. It does NOT say cloth masks are less effective than nothing. "No mask" was not studied. Cloth masks might be less effective than wearing no mask (I personally doubt that), but this study didn't say anything about that hypothesis.

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to that. mainland China banned citizens from traveling to Taiwan as individual tourists 2019 July because of other reasons. So yes Taiwan did not have huge flows of mainland Chinese. https://time.com/5639832/china-bans-travel-taiwan-tourists/

But they did, for business. There are also millions of Taiwanese that either live or work in the PRC. Taiwan was one of the major international destinations for flights from Hubei and not coincidentally one of the first countries with cases outside China.

I would appreciate if you provide data/source.

> There are also millions of Taiwanese that either live or work in the PRC

Taiwan has a population around 23.78 million. So you are saying at least 1 in 20 live or work in the PRC...

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#245
Another factor is that schools remain closed. We know children are largely asymptomatic and their R0 is 2x - 8x greater than the general public. We’ll see how they fare when they reopen schools. That said we just need enough mitigating measures to push R0 < 1. If it’s 2 now, then two 30% measures will work, or three 20% measures, ...

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#246

Last few days though, more numbers are being reported of new infections in both China and South Korea. Yesterday more than 100+ in SK I think.

Almost half of them are actually an influx from other countries, mostly overseas Korean in EU and US.

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#247
post #7

Another effing article that completely ignores Taiwan... I’m no taiwanophile, but why is it that a first-world democracy with a successful strategy against Covid is being completely ignored by media? https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689 Taiwan has huge flows of Chinese people, yet no outbreak. Maybe it’s a good thing they are not recognised by the WHO?

Here in Taiwan now just had some delicious bittermelon and pork rib soup after a gym session. All had hand sanitizer at the door and temperature checks and all wear mouth masks. Really impressive what they've done here. Feels safe and relatively normal. American here and staying safe in Taiwan till this blows over. It's funny people say be safe in Asia but I fell a lot safer then in USA!

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#248
post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Europe and USA don't understand how exponent works. Oh, they know how exponents work. They only care when it affects their bottom line. It's clear that the working class are just lambs for slaughter when the corporate overlords look at them.

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. By delaying the response they made their bottom line sink exponentially deeper.

No, they were selling off assets in the final moments before the markets crashed -- buying themselves a bit more time by lying to their serfs.

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#249
post #66

South Korea is basically an island, conducted serendipitous did large scale pandemic drill in December, has a compliant population with mandatory civil service and memory of recent authoritarian government, can mobilize techno-authoritarian surveillance. My question is, what is happening in Japan? Except wide spread mask usage, they have systemic undertesting at 1/6 capacity, no social distance measures, nothing shut…

> South Korea is basically an island, conducted serendipitous did large scale pandemic drill in December, has a compliant population with mandatory civil service and memory of recent authoritarian government, can mobilize techno-authoritarian surveillance.

And they didn't even try to shutdown churches, bars and clubs, while churches consistently have been the largest sources of mass infection. And your may also want to know that literally every single media has been criticizing every single action taken by the government. What an authoritarian government.

> Which loops back to S.Korea, why so eager to trust their numbers. Their politics is fairly corrupt.

They earned their trust by reporting 7000 cases, taking the risks of huge political disadvantages. All the other first world countries were reluctant on doing that due to the exact opposite motivations. And unless you have some ideas on the modern political landscapes in S.K., I would recommend not to inconsiderately speak up a such fairly strong opinion.

Re: How South Korea Reined In The Outbreak Without Shutting Everything Down

#250
post #7

Another effing article that completely ignores Taiwan... I’m no taiwanophile, but why is it that a first-world democracy with a successful strategy against Covid is being completely ignored by media? https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762689 Taiwan has huge flows of Chinese people, yet no outbreak. Maybe it’s a good thing they are not recognised by the WHO?

Because Taiwan didn't have a chance to handle such mass infection (which is better than having it of course), so it is not a good model to follow for western countries which are already in a hell.
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