More on those English teachers quarantined in Korea with swine flu.

In addition to the updates I compiled last night on the foreign English teachers quarantined in Korea for swine flu (please read the updates), the Joongang Ilbo has an article in the paper this morning on the issue, titled "Foreign English teachers epicenter of new flu cases." An excerpt:

The Education Ministry yesterday ordered every education office to provide information on the number of foreign teachers who entered Korea after May 11 and report by 5 p.m. if anyone is currently showing flu symptoms. The ministry also made it mandatory for teachers who have just come from Mexico, the epicenter of the flu outbreak, and the United States to not start work until after seven days of arrival. Those affected include teachers at private language institutes as well as those who teach at public elementary, middle and high schools and universities

As of Saturday, the number of confirmed domestic infections totaled 10, including six teachers from the language institute. On Sunday, health officials confirmed that another 11 patients - including eight foreigners from the language institute and three Korean children from New York - had caught the new strain of flu. One more infection from the institute, a 24-year-old American male, was confirmed yesterday, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A 28-year-old female who departed from New York and arrived at Incheon International Airport yesterday morning via Japan was classified as a “presumed patient” and was under further testing as of yesterday afternoon. She and the 18 newly confirmed patients were hospitalized.

Chungdahm Learning, a Kosdaq-listed firm that runs two private English-language franchises, recently recruited some 70 new teachers from eight countries including the United States and Canada.

The new recruits stayed at the same residence in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, during a training period from May 16 to 22. They were supposed to be dispatched to the company’s branches nationwide after the training.

I'm not going to write that it's outrageous or unfair to be looking at recently-arrived foreign English teachers as potential carriers of the disease. Nor do I think it's necessarily a "panic" to quarantine this group of teachers. After all, we just saw that some turned up with it, so people are right to be concerned about this orientation group and the people who came in contact with it. However, I hope the focus doesn't point exclusively at foreign teachers, or only at those who arrive at the US, since these newest cases are likely from passing through Japan. I can only imagine the number of exchanges between native speaker English teachers and Korean co-teachers like this one from Foreign/er will increase:

Her: "Joy! Do you have the H1?"
Me: "What are you talking about?"
Her: "The pig virus, do you have any symptoms?"
Me: "No." (serious and confused look)
Me: "Why?"
Her: "Somebody is asking, there are some cases."
And she proceeded to tell them something on the phone and then we continued class.

It's worth pointing out, too, that the numbers with the disease will seem a bit inflated because, well, they quarantined healthy teachers with those who were sick, thus guaranteeing the number of infected would increase.

I still think people need to be taking basic procedures to prevent the spread of the flu, because even though the papers have talked about hygeine, and have done so regularly, and even though the Joongang Ilbo has pieces that say stuff like

Washing one’s hands was regarded as a holy act of meeting with God and it was strictly abided by. Meanwhile, commoners in the Middle Ages didn’t pay much attention to washing. There was even a joke that if money was hidden under the soap, they would still never find it.

The new influenza outbreak that started in Mexico has spread to many countries but Koreans have thus far evaded infection. Perhaps this is because we, too, take our hygiene seriously. Nonetheless, we must not let down our guard. Germs and viruses reach far and fast with air travel these days, and nobody knows when a pandemic will break out. It is reassuring to know that today, as in the Middle Ages, we can help prevent another outbreak by washing our hands.

everyone is still coughing all over everyone else, still not washing their hands, and still going to work if they're sick. While I don't think it's wrong to look at new arrivals for the flu, from what I've read from inside the quarantine, and from what hygenic procedures we know take place here, it all has looked very thrown together, little more than panicking and rounding up foreigners with little idea of what to actually do. Even the Health Minister said a nine-day quarantine might not be effective:

Previously, Health Minister Jeon Jae-hee said her ministry will do all it can to strengthen inspections at airports since the disease is known to be carried in from overseas.

But she also admitted that the system may not be perfect because those within the incubation period of nine days may not be detected since they may have no high fever. ``All we can do at this point is to encourage people to make early reports and take medication and appropriate measures as swiftly as possible,'' she said.

For those just joining us, I'll direct you to the updates we read last night, to the initial post which has accumulated a lot of comments, and to the three blogs we know of run by quarantined teachers: An English Teacher Under Quarantine in South Korea, Ruby Ramblings, and Sparkling Chaos with Brian Dear.

I'm concerned for what this means for the teaching community as a whole, of course, for a community prone to frequent panics and accusations, but I also have personal concerns because I plan to visit both Japan and the United States this summer before returning to Korea.