South Korea's rapid coronavirus testing is getting a lot of acclaim — but it's also been engaging in an aggressive public campaign to publicize the whereabouts of each and every early COVID-19 patient to seek out additional potential infections. My latest: latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Were you on this bus, at this church service or yoga class at this specific time window? They're retracing the movements of each patient based on interviews, credit card statements and CCTV footage — and publicized them through push alerts and blog posts
Data from this detailed contact tracing is an epidemiologist's dream. At the same time, in terms of releasing it to the public, it's a delicate balance between public safety and potentially identifying the infected and violating their privacy — as well as causing undue panic.
South Korean authorities were criticized for withholding information about the location of the infected during a local outbreak of MERS in 2015. That could be behind the current radical transparency. news.v.daum.net/v/201506021651…
Patient 31, the first case detected in the Daegu area that marked the beginning of a surge of infections, has been the subject of much scrutiny, rumors and vilification. Many have asked if she can be criminally prosecuted.
Will this effort help South Korea get a handle on the virus' spread? Remains to be seen — as of Thursday PM, South Korea is at 1766 infections and 13 deaths. For the foreseeable future it seems the numbers will continue to rapidly mount.
Also: whoever it was in Gumi who was at "Hotel America" at 6pm on a Monday night, grabbed something at a convenience store and played pool from midnight till 1:30 a.m. into Tuesday — hats off to you and your life 👏👏👏
So many questions 
