[Snorlax94]

I posted a recent (within the last week) news story in the other thread about the South Korean man who visited three nightclubs last weekend in Seoul.  There are now 27 confirmed cases of transmission from that man, and authorities are scrambling to trace contacts for 1500+ more nightclub visitors.  Much of the identity contact information collected by the nightclubs (collected by order for contact tracing) has proven inaccurate.  I can only imagine how terrible a similar situation would be in the US.

The situation with the Korean nightclubs is exacerbated by the fact that they were gay clubs. While not legally discriminated against, there are additional privacy concerns about “outing” people, and this may have also contributed to people using false contact information. Fears of discrimination can hamper contact tracing.

Despite that, last I saw they had contacted almost half of all potential contacts. It’ll be interesting to see if, with incredibly easy-to-access testing, everyone who was at those clubs will seek out testing and self-quarantine until then. If they can contain this flare-up, it also gives more hope to countries watching, as this was close to a worst-case scenario.

The fact that one person went to 3 clubs in one weekend and exposed so many people also makes me wish there was some way we could limit the amount people go out, but I feel frustrated thinking how impossible it’d be to implement anywhere and moreso in the US. Maybe we can get to the point where people can dine outside a few times a week, but if the same people dine in lunch, then go shopping, then dine in dinner, then watch a movie, then go to the gym every day, they are not only more likely to get infected, they are more likely to spread it to many people, like the patient 1 in Italy, who was an “incredibly” active and social person. Just another reason to avoid “touristy” spots for the next year or so.

[Snorlax94]

I posted a recent (within the last week) news story in the other thread about the South Korean man who visited three nightclubs last weekend in Seoul.  There are now 27 confirmed cases of transmission from that man, and authorities are scrambling to trace contacts for 1500+ more nightclub visitors.  Much of the identity contact information collected by the nightclubs (collected by order for contact tracing) has proven inaccurate.  I can only imagine how terrible a similar situation would be in the US.

The situation with the Korean nightclubs is exacerbated by the fact that they were gay clubs. While not legally discriminated against, there are additional privacy concerns about “outing” people, and this may have also contributed to people using false contact information. Fears of discrimination can hamper contact tracing.

Despite that, last I saw they had contacted almost half of all potential contacts. It’ll be interesting to see if, with incredibly easy-to-access testing, everyone who was at those clubs will seek out testing and self-quarantine until then. If they can contain this flare-up, it also gives more hope to countries watching, as this was close to a worst-case scenario.

The fact that one person went to 3 clubs in one weekend and exposed so many people also makes me wish there was some way we could limit the amount people go out, but I feel frustrated thinking how impossible it’d be to implement anywhere and moreso in the US. Maybe we can get to the point where people can dine outside a few times a week, but if the same people dine in lunch, then go shopping, then dine in dinner, then watch a movie, then go to the gym every day, they are not only more likely to get infected, they are more likely to spread it to many people, like the patient 1 in Italy, who was an “incredibly” active and social person. Just another reason to avoid “touristy” spots for the next year or so.