You Need To Listen To This Leading COVID-19 Expert From South Korea | STAY CURIOUS #15

What Hacker News said

Strong rec bkor · 2020-03 · on “The origin story of the N95 mask”

According to the Corona expert in South Korea, masks help a great deal. His assumption on why the WHO only recommends masks in Asia and not anywhere else is due to the limited amount of supply anywhere but in Asia. In Asia people like already own masks. Anywhere else people would first need to stock up. Leading to shortages. As such, it's better not to recommend them so medical professionals are prioritized. It's also interesting that in in Europe/US they focus on a person not getting a disease. In Asia they often wear a masks if the person isn't feeling well. Meaning, the mask is to prevent the person who is wearing it from infecting others. This bit is often glossed over. The video is avai

Strong rec JimTheMan · 2020-03 · on “On “Armchair Epidemiology””

I highly recommend this video from Korea (Professor Kim Woo-joo from Korea University Guro Hospital) that gives a Korean perspective on the disease and the western response to it: [this video] A few points of interest: (He is a very respectful fellow so apologies if the summary seems a bit to the point) - Masks help and he is slightly puzzled why the west hasn't adopted that culture - Their testing and tracing helps and they doubt the US would allow their level of privacy invasion - Korea is doing well because they have had to respond to pandemics and were prepared (as are Taiwan, Singapore etc)

Strong rec dba7dba · 2020-04 · on “Recovered virus patients retest positive due to 'dead' virus fragments: experts”

To learn more about coronavirus, treatment and vaccine development from the perspective of doctors in S. Korea, try watching these interviews in order. Each is about 30 - 50 min long. I posted the links and the dates they were uploaded. The videos are excellent because the doctors are not interrupted with questions. 1) 2020.03.27 1st interview with Professor Kim, leading expert on coronavirus in Korea. In Korean with excellent English subtitles. [this video] 2) 2020.04.14 2nd interview with Professor Kim, leading expert on coronavirus in Korea. In Korean with excellent English subtitles. [LINK] 3) 2020.04.25 Interview with the Director General of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) about CO

Strong rec dkfjdkfjda · 2020-05 · on “Take the Shutdown Skeptics Seriously”

I agree there's a lot of misconceptions and myths about masks. It clearly is not a panacea, it's really difficult (or even impossible) to quantify the impact, especially when combined with other precautions. Plus there's very little research about how masks affect this particular virus, because it's always somewhat specific. IMO the best thing we can do is look at experience from countries that managed to get the infection under control, like SK. I highly recommend these interviews with one of their leading experts, what he says makes a lot of sense: [LINK] [this video] When he says face masks are one of the effective measures, I'd probably trust him ... The question is what exactly should be the

Cites gameswithgo · 2020-03 · on “A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal, now dozens have Covid-19”

This is an important distinction for experts who know the terms of art, but for regular people it is maybe misleading to keep insisting that "it isn't airborne". It is traveling through the air, you can get it, through the air, if you are near another person. I have seen this misunderstanding in real life. People who think an outdoor festival is safe because "it isn't airborne" As well, at least one expert, in South Korea, states that it is possible to become aerosolized and actually airborne in the right conditions (many people, singing, shouting, in a small area). Source: [this video]

Cites bkdbkd · 2020-03 · on “A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal, now dozens have Covid-19”

In this interview Professor Kim Woo-joo describes a similar incident in Korea, where a choir contracted the virus. He adds that 5um is the min for 'droplet' infection, and that if the droplets remain airborne they can desiccate, and shrink , and then move from 'droplet' to 'aerosol'. [this video]

Cites balladeer · 2020-04 · on “Bill Gates calls for nationwide shutdown”

> The numbers from Korea, Italy and the Diamond princess are not good but they are not world-ending either. You lumped Korea and Italy together which is strange. Then apparently (seeing your comment chain) you tried to transpose it onto US and rest of the world. Korea was ready (experience with previous outbreaks). They started early. They tested like there's no tomorrow and are still doing that. Test - isolate, test - isolate, test - isolate. Everybody wearing masks - negative, positive, or untested. Everybody [1] And their health infra is impeccable. They are people with a great civic sense (I have lived there for months). 1. [this video]

Cites robocat · 2020-04 · on “South Korea reports recovered Covid-19 patients testing positive again”

The issue is talked about at 7:59 in this video [this video] (Leading COVID-19 Expert Professor Kim Woo-joo from Korea University Guro Hospital)