[Chang] Reality More Cinematic Than Movies

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] I feel a strange sensation as I hear about the numerous awards won by the movie Parasite. The familiar scenes around me are being seen by people all over the world; could I say I feel like an extra, ‘Passerby 2,’ in the film?

With the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Korea’s situation appears daily in world news, and it feels like we are living in a disaster movie, albeit with a very sad meaning.

Shopping malls have become deserted, religious gatherings have been replaced by broadcast streaming, and kindergartens and schools have even postponed their openings. In China, the origin of COVID-19, several major cities have already been locked down, and amid this, an official who abused power to secretly evacuate family members was caught, causing international embarrassment.

In Korea, ‘Patient 31’ sparked public outrage. This patient refused medical staff’s recommendation to get tested twice and spread the virus widely by moving around churches and buffet restaurants.

As a result, the patient’s residential area turned into a ghost town with no people, and Korea, once praised as a ‘successful quarantine country,’ suddenly became a country with a breached quarantine system, pushing humanity one step further away from eradicating COVID-19.

Patient 31, or any one of us, who would have thought we would face such an unprecedented infectious disease crisis in our lifetime? We painfully learned a harsh lesson alongside tragic consequences: never underestimate it as a mild symptom or think ‘I’ll be fine’ or ‘It’s just me’?complacency is absolutely forbidden.

Each citizen’s role in this COVID-19 situation is to strictly follow the guidelines presented by the government and medical institutions to prevent further spread. Also, since anyone can easily become a source of information dissemination through the internet and mobile SNS, one must never spread inaccurate information to attract attention or out of anxiety about the disease.

The time when a few individuals’ sweat and effort could stop this has already passed. It is an urgent task to supplement the disease control system with a nationwide systematic manual and system, expand vulnerable medical infrastructure, and strengthen the social security safety net.

Disaster movies become more moving with a happy ending. We hope that the COVID-19 situation, which is more like a movie than a movie itself, will soon have a happy ending.