Combating swine flu at Chonnam National University.

As some of you know I'm taking a couple language classes at Chonnam National University this semester. In the university's weekly paper on Monday there was an article above the fold about the number of students with swine flu; an excerpt:

우리 대학 신종플루 확진환자가 지금까지 총 24명, 의심환자가 8명 발생한 것으로 알려졌다.
현재 15명이 완치 됐으며 9명이 자택 격리 치료를 받고 있는 상태다. 그 중에는 언어교육원 소속 외국인 1명, 대학원생 1명이 포함됐다. 또 8명의 의심환자 중 3명은 완치됐고 5명이 자택에서 치료 중인 것으로 알려졌다. (지난 달 30일 현재)
9월 11명이었던 확진환자가 환절기에 접어들면서 10월에는 더 늘어났다. 현재 우리 대학에서는 이 같은 상황에 대해 대처방안을 마련하고 있다. 언제든지 손 청결에 신경쓸 수 있도록 건물별로 손 소독기가, 화장실에는 물비누가 비치돼 있으며 생활관의 경우 체온 측정기를 두어 언제든지 이상이 있을 시 체온을 측정해 볼 수 있도록 했다.

In short, 24 students have or have had swine flu, with nine currently receiving treatment. Several weeks ago I learned about the first student in the university's language school to get swine flu, though I guess because they stopped reporting individual cases in the media, and stopped counting new cases in July, I couldn't find any mention of it in the papers.

Anyway, when I started the semester on September 21, this sign was outside the Language Center:



The English says:

This building is off-limits to the following people:
1. People who have visited a foreign country within the last 7 days
2. Anyone who has the following symptoms: a high temperature (fever), coughing, sore throad, runny nose

Understandable restrictions, given that so many students and teachers were coming from overseas. The same information, though, was not posted at other buildings on campus.

Other signs went up this week. This one is on the front doors, next to the one I just posted:



The English says:

Notice for all building users: regarding H1N1 precautions

And below that:

We have installed an Automatic Thermal Imaging Camera at the main entrance. Due to the current spread of H1N1 virus, we are taking extra cautions by restricting anyone who has a temperature above 38.7

After entering this building, please wash your hands with the hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer is installed on the 1st-3rd floors of the LEC building I, the entrance of the LEC building II and the annex.

The camera is set up at the front desk:



There are hand sanitizer dispensers in the halls, like this one on the left:



A sign is posted at the sign entrance, telling people to use the front door because of the swine flu precautions:



The door is locked.




Koreans have generally responded well to the swine flu threat, with signs and public service announcements encouraging people to modify their behavior to begin hand-washing, hand-sanitizing, and trying to get people not to cough on each other or to come to work when sick. Some measures have been more effective than others, and there's still some nonsense going on, but I've been impressed with the way the public in general has responded. However, it's worth noting that signs of this sort are not up in other buildings, nor are there thermal cameras at the entrance of other places on campus, such as the gym, the library, or other buildings. I won't cry discrimination or run to the New York Times, but I do think such narrow vigilence is, pun sort of intended, unhealthy.

When swine flu first came to South Korea it was rendered as a foreigners' disease, and schools responded with measures aimed exclusively at the foreign staff. International travel was restricted, hagwon like Avalon tried to take teachers' passports, and the belief was expressed by some that kimchi would keep Koreans immune. That thankfully has passed for the most part, and, like I've written earlier, foreign teachers are more likely to get the flu from their students or others at their school than from other foreigners. Likewise, considering how many Koreans are getting the disease, you're just as likely to get it in Korea than out of it, and the risk of catching it from one building is as good as getting it in any other.

Browse the "Swine Flu in Korea" category, especially the older posts, for more.