Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Jung Eun-kyeong (C) briefs on the coronavirus in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province on April 29, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — “Should we not have birthday parties with friends?” “Do we have to have surgery if we get sick with the coronavirus?”
Unlike the usual tension in the regular briefing room of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the mood at a special briefing on Wednesday at the KCDC headquarters in Cheongju, 137 kilometers south of Seoul, was warm.
The room was filled with the clear voices of children, and from time to time, laughter broke out.
The 45-minute special briefing was an unusual event planned by the KCDC ahead of Children’s Week, which runs from May 1 to 7.
In order to answer children’s questions about COVID-19, KCDC administrators answered questions from prerecorded videos.
KCDC Director-General Jeong Eun-kyeong; Choi Eun-hwa, a professor at Seoul National University’s School of Medicine; and Kim Ye-jin, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University’s School of Medicine, answered questions one by one.
“We wanted to invite the children in person, but instead children of KCDC personnel recorded the questions. The measure was set up to maintain proper physical distancing,” an official from the KCDC explained.
While COVID-19 briefings are usually filled with a litany of unfamiliar terms and medical jargon, this briefing was quite different.
It was full of “sharp” questions, which may seem unrelated and trivial, but they were questions anyone would be curious about.
Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Jung Eun-kyeong (R) briefs on the coronavirus in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province on April 29, 2020. (Yonhap)
Jeong, whose face has become gaunt over the past 100 days fighting COVID-19, also answered the child’s questions with a serious face, while occasionally smiling.
When a child asked, “I heard my friend had COVID-19. Do I have to keep distance with him?” Jeong offered words of comfort.
“It is a pity that your friend is infected with the virus. But we checked with a health center or a hospital that he is no longer contagious, and then we discharged your friend.”
“It is necessary not to bully or leave your friends behind. Rather we should provide comfort and warmly welcome them. I hope you have that kind of heart,” she added.
When asked, “What was the most difficult thing about the COVID-19 situation?” Jeong answered, “I think every moment was difficult.”
“I had to make guidelines and come up with new approaches because no one knew anything about the virus. We did not know how the virus was transmitted, who is was danger and what symptoms were common,” she added.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
