From a global pandemic to local containment: the changing form of infrastructure in controlling infection

Keywords: Pandemic, Infrastructure, ICT, Seoul, South Korea
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 4/9/2021 11:10 AM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/9/2021 12:25 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 7

Abstract

In a matter of weeks in January 2020, Covid-19 turned from a health emergency in China to a pandemic, spreading rapidly across international borders. As governments struggled to limit the number of infections, a plethora of measures were enforced which ranged from partial to full lock downs. As things spiraled out of control in Europe and the US, three governments in Asia were able to contain the virus’ spread. Particularly astonishing was the case of South Korea, where the government successfully reduced the number of infections in only 20 days and without imposing draconian measures. The Korean approach thus became a sought-after model. Korea attributed its success to the use of ICT and other innovative technologies, supporting both temporary and permanent infrastructure, in implementing social distancing, testing, tracing, and treatment. Their advanced infrastructure had and has been undergoing development for several decades, transforming its capital, Seoul, into a smart city and its people into one the most connected and tech-savvy societies in the world. More recently, however, a surge of COVID-19 cases, concentrated in clusters in the Seoul Capital Region, has shifted the focus towards social infrastructure with behavioral and social distancing guidelines gaining ascendancy. This paper is an examination of this shift in the form of infrastructure by focusing on socio-spatial processes in response to the changing geography and scope of this health crisis. It argues that infrastructure is critical to the understanding of the public health system, and its level of preparedness to deal with any threat.