Monday, May 25, 2009

Quarantine in South Korea

For more information regarding the current situation inside the compound, please click here.

So after the release of information regarding the lock down on some 20 odd English teachers in Korea and the impending onslaught of infection that will result from symptoms not being observable until 7-9 days after contracting the swine influenza, I got to thinking about the chances of an international pandemic. And they are: None.

Sure things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better, but it's not something that we can't handle. Antiviral drugs have already been issued to combat the flu at it's early stages and people are taking it upon themselves and their employees to remain within the confines of their own homes when not required for work. But it's still fascinating for me to be an adult in this situation.

The big thing that made me start thinking about the H1N1 strain is that CDI, who I worked for my first year in Korea, officially declared that all 121 of their academic campuses would be closed for ten days in order to compensate for the outbreak of swine flu in their teachers. This left me shell-shocked in how they never gave a thought to vacation for any of their teachers during my tenure. That's how I knew it was serious.

Whatever the case, I'm both excited and nervous to come back to the States. My coworkers are afraid that I'll contract the disease and bring it back with me. If that's the case, maybe I can get them a week of vacation too :)




Don't eat pork.