Comparison of Covid-19 Crisis Responses between the United States and South Korea

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic spreads through direct contact with an infected person, usually when they cough and sneeze. It also spreads through surfaces where the infected has touched as the virus has transferred. All social and business operations have come to a halt as countries urge citizens to stay inside to flatten the curve. During these troubling times, the government needs to step up to minimise the impact of the pandemic towards its economy and overall wellbeing of the citizens. This paper will compare the pandemic response between two countries: United States and South Korea. This paper will be discussing the actions taken by both countries as well as the comparisons between the approaches based on Coomb’s crisis responses model. United States and South Korea provides a contrast in how countries are handling this situation. Although these countries have received their first cases of COVID-19 on the same day, South Korea has been more successful in containing and mitigating the effects of the outbreak. South Korea was able to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus outbreak by practicing transparency, providing maximum services to sufferers, providing adequate health equipment, and most importantly having a mass tests to stop the spread of the virus quickly. All in all, both the United States and South Korea has implemented various policies to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak. Similar approaches have been executed by both countries with different degrees of success. One of the lessons that can be taken from this comparison is that, for a containment plan or policy to be successful, it needs to be fully understood by the public. Transparency is the best strategy that can be implemented by governments in achieving their policy goals.