Asia Today: Seoul shuts down more than 2,100 nightclubs

[denem]

Last edited Sat May 9, 2020, 05:56 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s capital has shut down more than 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars and discos after dozens of coronavirus infections were linked to club goers who went out last weekend as the country relaxed social distancing guidelines.

The measures imposed Saturday by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon came after the national government urged entertainment venues around the nation to close or otherwise enforce anti-virus measures, including distancing, temperature checks, keeping customer lists and requiring employees to wear masks.

Park said the entry bans on the facilities will be maintained until the city concludes that risks of infection have been meaningfully lowered.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or KCDC, said earlier in the day that 18 new cases were reported in the 24 hours to midnight Friday, all but one of them linked to a 29-year-old man who visited three clubs in Seoul’s Itaewon district last Saturday before testing positive days later.

Read more: https://apnews.com/60474a8f015cc729c702ed2bb20b5a5d

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Next Up: Georgia reopens nightclubs.

[SunSeeker]

1. They know to do this because they have excellent contact tracing.

Testing, contact tracing and targeted quarantines is how they've only lost 256 people to Covid-19 in a country of 51 million.

[CottonBear]

2. We don't have any of that here in Georgia, USA.

The South Koreans are the best model for a proper public health plan for and response to a pandemic.

I’m surrounded by people in my community who are not wearing masks or even social distancing. At least 5O% of people are not wearing masks in grocery stores and many fewer are wearing them outdoors. I’m wearing my mask and gloves and staying as far away from them as is possible.

[SunSeeker]

3. Keep it up. Wearing a mask, even homemade cloth masks, works.

[CottonBear]

4. I have an N99 mask for grocery shopping and homemade masks for outdoors.

The Czech Republic and Vietnam are two countries which are have excellent public health responses to the pandemic.

Be safe and be well.

[tazkcmo]

6. I ride the bus to work.

The drivers aren't wearing masks. Most riders aren't wearing masks. Almost impossible to be a safe distance away from others unless the bus is almost empty. It's like playing the lottery twice a day and the prize is getting to keep doing it. Yay.

[CottonBear]

7. Yikes!

In response to the pandemic, my community now has free bus fares, rear door only entry and exit, plus all of the drivers have masks. The local government told people to only make absolutely essential trips on the bus and to wear a mask while riding the bus. It seems to be working. Initially, one bus driver got COVID19, but no new cases have occurred among the transit employees.

Be safe. Wear your mask and wash your hands!

[tazkcmo]

8. I'm "lucky"

My employer has provided me with N95 masks specifically for my commute because they actually give a fuck about their workers unlike our bus system or the pork processing plant where they are allowing Covid positive people to return to work after a week.

If I survive, I'm heading west to California before cold and flu season begins this fall.

[CottonBear]

9. You are lucky!

Stay safe and well so you can get to California!

[spiderpig]

14. Taking this op to reiterate kudos for Gavin Newsom.

We are so lucky to have him. He does what's right and doesn't overplay his hand for political advantage.He's the reason I'm not cowering in fear but just observing health guidelines. I don't need to have my nails done and Mr. pig cuts my hair as needed.

[yankee87]

12. Woodstock, GA

I lived in Woodstock for 12 years, left about 12 years ago, and even though we just north of Atlanta, it was upper conservative. So I feel your pain.

[CottonBear]

13. I'm lucky to live in a blue city that issued a shelter in place order in mid-March.

However, Governor Kemp (R-GA), who is from my city, overrode our local order when he ended the statewide shelter in place order and declared Georgia “open for business.”

My blue city had been hunkered down and shut down for weeks, while the red counties around us, continued to go on like there was no emergency at all. Keep in mind, that we are the regional economic and Health resources center (university, 2 major hospitals, health care, manufacturing, retail, banking etc) for a surrounding red, rural and suburban 17 county area. We went on lockdown to protect us and to protect the resources that our red neighbors depend upon for their health and their jobs. The neighboring counties mocked us and called us liberals and communists.

Kemp doesn’t give a shit about the people in his hometown who made huge sacrifices for the greater public good. He’s forcing service workers to go back to work. In addition, unmasked and clueless college students have returned and are holding keg parties at fraternities and pool parties at apartment complexes.

[rickyhall]

5. We have a model we should have been following.

But it's more than the orange freak. It would have taken all of the Fed and the governors and the state legislatures to do what South Korea did. With this kind of management in the 1940s we would speaking German now.

[Igel]

10. You wouldn't like what the S. Koreans did.

We call Trump "fascist" now? After 75k dead, we might be willing to think about some S. Korean measures.

At 10 dead, we'd have been rioting if we had the S. Korean protocol in place.

[sandensea]

11. That look long enough.

Most countries that have imposed minimally serious stay-home orders, shut those suckers down in late March at the latest.

Better late than never I guess.