After two months of intensive social distancing, South Korea is about to open up, and it has a rule for everything:
When meeting in an office, people will wear masks. At meals, diners will sit next to each other or in a zigzag pattern, not directly across. Hotel rooms will be ventilated for 15 minutes after travelers check out. Visitors at zoos and aquariums must stand 6 feet apart. Shouting and hugging will be discouraged at sporting events. So will high-fives.
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When Korean tourists descend on the resort island of Jeju during public holidays this week, the strictures say they should be wearing masks. Hotels and restaurants will take their temperature before letting them in, and people will be required to sanitize their hands before shopping at stores.
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All churches must take attendance of worshipers, to ease contact tracing later, and everyone must wear masks indoors.
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Cashiers are out. The guidelines say shoppers should use unmanned payment kiosks or widely available mobile payments instead of exchanging cash. The country is one of the world’s least cash-dependent, but authorities want the elderly to take up the habit as well. Tickets to concerts and amusement parks should be reserved online.
The VIPS steakhouse chain rearranged tables to put them 3 feet apart and provided disposable silverware and gloves at the salad bar this month. To minimize contact, waiters let customers leave before collecting their plates.
It’s better than I expected of Koreans, considering that about once a year South Korea has a man-made disaster with a three-digit death toll. Gas explosions, ferry sinkings, building collapses, subway fires, and the people involved react like sheep to slaughter, taking no initiative to save their own lives. Across the DMZ, the entire existence of North Korea is one big man-made disaster.
This does seem sort of police-state-ish. Is the North winning the war?
Well, they’re not being arrested for leaving their houses, and restaurants are open. That’s better than several US states.
It’s their country; they’re running it their way.