The importance of the manufacturing sector and locally specific epidemic responses: Lessons from the South Korean experience

ABSTRACT

This article sheds light on less discussed but critically important two elements of successful COVID-19 responses without a complete lock-down in South Korea. By exploiting various data, this article shows that fortifying individual sanitation and devising locally specific responses are the most effective response against multiple massive outbreaks in South Korea. This article also shows that the manufacturing sector undergirded the comprehensive virus containment measures through the constant supply of testing kits and personal sanitization products. In the time of an epidemic, while the central government’s epidemic response and medical systems are important, local industry and planning capacity still play a significant role both in outbreak control and minimizing the economic impact of an epidemic to low-income people and vulnerable population.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• epidemic response
• the role of government
• local planning
• the manufacturing sector

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In-depth interview with the KCDC field investigator, March 2020.

2. In-depth interview with the KCDC field investigator, March 2020.

3. In-depth interview with the KCDC field investigator, March 2020.

4. In-depth interview with a city official at the City of Seoul, January 2021.

5. In-depth interview with the city official at the City of Seoul, January 2021.

6. In-depth interview with the city official at the City of Seoul, January 2021.

7. The Seoul Metropolitan Areas consist of the City of Seoul, the City of Incheon, and Kyung-gie Province.