In this post you will read about the response to the Covid19 pandemic on a closer glance to the media response in Korea compared to Switzerland.
A short overview:
- background information about the start of the pandemic
- media and communication during covid19
- apps and notification usage during the pandemic
Korea and Switzerland – such different countries and therefore different ways to treat a pandemic. It is definitely hard to compare these two countries as we must understand, that also the culture and the history is so different
Background information
In the early phase of the pandemic, Korea was the country with the highest cases outside China. Within a short time, from around 40 positive tested people, the number increased quickly up to more than 900 cases. As fast as the numbers raised, as quickly was the respond of Korean government to contain the infections.
Korea already had a well-prepared plan to respond to such pandemics – did they plan it while they produced the film Train to Busan? – the health care system was well adaptable, the government had a clear communication, also they involved the private sector in facilitating responses to the virus and Korea had set up a thorough contact tracing system.
Switzerland was not as fast as Korea, but the pandemic wasn’t as fast either. The first infection in Switzerland was officially on the 25th of February 2020. Only in March, bars and restaurants started to reduce the number of clientele to a maximum amount. People were unsure and decided mostly by themselves if they want to go out or stay home. On the 15th of March 2020, the government has imposed the shutdown. Until then we were still working in the office and meeting our friends on one’s own responsibility. On the 16th of February we had to move all our staff from the office back home. We did not know enough about the pandemic yet and this was not communicated enough. But the government did a good job to decrease panic throughout the whole country.
Media /communication – Apps and notifications
The way I experienced the pandemic in Korea next to wearing a mask in the indoor, was quite interesting. As soon as I entered Korea, I received daily messages via phone in Korean. First thought in my mind was, that this must be some kind of advertisement. But thanks to Google translate, I shortly found out, that they send the Corona updates every day. Unlike Korea, Switzerland announced the figures via the media. If you did not follow the media, you did not know how many people were infected. In Switzerland we used an app called SwissCovid which was tracking us and gave information about how close we were to potential infected people. Not on a daily base, but mostly after the weekends we received some notifications.
Both countries anyway had a good communication in terms of media releases.
Conclusion: both countries had good solutions and did a good job. Especially the respond in terms of the government was highly rated in both countries.
stefanieammann 