Issue 6: 2020. 3. 27. – “A Setback in Korea”

Greetings from PACOM! This is Yu Bum Kim with our twice-a-week coronavirus situation update. I have a hunch that I’ll be telling my yet-to-be-born grandkids about the happenings of early 2020.

I think it might be best to start with an overview of Korea as a whole, because it sheds light on how thinking “no big deal” can have some incredibly large ramifications. While the general trend in Korea was that the rate of new cases was going down, a student who had been studying in the US returned to Korea and proceeded to travel to Jeju Island (the southernmost part of Korea) and wander around extensively, expressly breaking the rules of self-quarantine. Jeju Island has now been hit by a new wave of cases, and the Jeju governor is pressing charges against the student for willful negligence and endangerment.

So, while other regions are beginning to see decreases in new cases, the Jeju region has been hit with a new batch of cases, eliciting a lot of frustration from both the authorities and the general populace. Hopefully they can lock it down in Jeju.

As for PACOM, things have stayed the same—all personnel who reported as feeling a bit under the weather got themselves tested, and all tests have been negative. We’re still maintaining preventative measures around the workspace and have set up partitions in the cafeteria to prevent any potential transmission. Production remains unaffected, as do the PMs.

I’m personally very grateful that we’ve been able to send out a lot of messages that say essentially the same thing (“We’re fine”) because I know that other places are not so fortunate, and would be eternally grateful to have that sense of repetitiveness. As such, we’ll keep vigilant and diligent throughout these times, and wish for speedy resumption of normal activity to all of you.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to stop receiving these updates, let me know and we will accommodate your request.

Lastly, let’s remember that each day means we are one day closer to the end of this situation. Stay safe everyone!

Best regards,
Yu Bum Kim