Korean Job Discussion Forums

[curiousaboutkorea]

On Friday I received an interesting text message. It said,

[Missihippi]

You got this because you traveled outside of korea recently.. That is the Korean gov't making sure you don't spread swine flu.

[curiousaboutkorea]

I haven't traveled outside the country since I first arrived here 5 and a half months ago (before the swine flu outbreak).

[Missihippi]

It's definitely a gov't message, because i just got back from outside of Korea and got the message about 3 days later. Same with my co-t.

[Crockpot2001]

[mimis]

Haha

[Young FRANKenstein]

[eIn07912]

hahaha curiousaboutkorea i got this msg (well, one similar to it) too. i have just traveled to a country where the swine flu is picking up steam as of late, and was actually lucky i didnt get it.

i wasnt offended by it or anything. actually, i found it rather nice. u cant really blame them for trying to keep track of those that may have had contact. it'd be much worse if it were like that first batch of foreigners that had it and they just came to ur house, dragged u kicking and screaming, to a quarantine in the middle of nowhere.

just a friendly text, saying "hey, if u feel sick, just give us a call and u can come in and get checked out. of course, if u r, we want to deal with it safely. but theres no need to come to ur house and invade ur privacy. or force u to come in and get checked out, regardless of how u feel.. just let us know!"

i gotta say, the way koreans have handled the swine flu (well, post that first group that everyone heard and read so much about) has been rather applaudable (if thats a word). i was in indonesia for a few weeks, and if u even sneezed someone would call the authorities and u'd either be detained or have someone force the blood out of ur arm. i mean, even the locals were paranoid about it. u could see people forcing the sneeze in, or quietly coughing, trying to pass it off as just clearing their throat. there were body temp cameras all over the airports and we went through 2 or 3 health check points when entering and leaving. some foreigners in Bali that got caught with it just got thrown in this concrete room with 2 dozen other people and forced to stay there for days on end. no air con, tv, or magazines. just a few mattresses on the floor and a bunch of indonesians that didnt speak english. compared to just getting a text asking u have a fever or cough, that must have been hell.

[ewok]

so if you realize you are sick after 5pm, you and everyone you come in contact with are damn out of luck, because the bureaucrats that run the korean health department keep strict office hours...

[Young FRANKenstein]

[curiousaboutkorea]

Yea, I'm not offended. I'm just a little surprised. Why did they send it to me? I haven't traveled abroad. How do they even know who I am? Are they just now sending these texts to random foreigners?

[eIn07912]

[losing_touch]

Yeah, I got the message. I was directed to go to the Public Health Clinic if I experience symptoms. It is near my house. They are only open until 5. They told me that I should go there instead of the hospital.

[bixlerscott]

KCDC - Korea Center for Disease Control seems likely saying, "If you're experiencing fever and cough, please call in and report for your quarantine and treatment."

I was going to go to Japan for Summer vacation and my school got all worried that I would bring back the flu. I didn't go, because flights were rediculously expensive and didn't feel like spending millions of Won on a few days of Japan. While I didn't get the text message, I got a 2 page memo on my desk.