If you haven't already hear all the hype and talk of fear that's flowing out of the mouths and flooding the ears of most here in Korea, MERS has entered Korea.
MERS = Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome
35 cases have been confirmed by the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.3 people have died after contracting the virus.1,369 people have been placed in quarantine.900+ schools have closed so to help prevent the spread of it.
These are the facts according to CNN reports.
This means that out of 49.3 million people that live here only 35 people have it and out of those 35 people only 3 have died. It's important to note here that those three who did die, God rest their souls, had respiratory problems before they even contracted MERS so their bodies weren't strong from the get go. A death is a death, I know, and it's not to be disregarded as nothing but when you compare the amounts of death that have resulted from this compared to, I don't know, say car accidents, I don't understand the fear. The odds of catching MERS isn't one in a million but one in 1.4 million.
Schools have closed temporarily, sales in face masks have skyrocketed and paranoia has hit many. We had a parent call the club to ask if any Middle Eastern foreigners trained at Hulk's. One parent put their son's membership on hold while they wait to hear more about the MERS situation and some members didn't come into training the past few days because of wanting to take precautionary measures.
I read in some of the Cheonan Facebook pages of more random people spreading more random fear. Fear breeds fear. Some urged people to go out and buy a medicated mask, to be extra careful, to cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze, and to make sure people wash their hands. Ummm, beyond the medicated mask, doesn't the following "advice" sound more like common hygienic practices?! Another person urged people not to go to crowded places and to "only go out when you have to". Ummm, we live in Korea. Where is there a place not populated by people?! And to "only go out when you have to", so life as I know it has to pause while I do what exactly, wait this virus out?
In 2014, there were 5869 reported fatal car accidents in South Korea.
Odds of getting killed by MERS is 1 out of 16.4 million
Odds of getting killed by a car is 1 out of 8,400.
You have a greater chance at getting killed in a car accident then by MERS but you'll freak out and close over 900 schools and avoid public transportation because of MERS but resume driving your car that could potentially lead to your death. You might even be one of those many who don't wear their seatbelts and/or drink and drive despite knowing such statistics, the risks and even the legal implications with doing so.
I'm not saying don't drive your car but I'm also not saying to go crazy over MERS.
This all sounds rather silly if you ask me but what do I know. I'm just a boxer and but I'm a boxer whose boxing club was driven into by a car. Yup, that's right and you know it. About a week ago a car crashed into the side of our building. Now if that doesn't tell you how honest to God crazy the driving here in Korea is then I don't know what will, but I'll tell you this, I am a lot more afraid of getting killed in a car accident than I am by MERS. Yes, it has no known vaccine yet and yes it's in the same family as SARS but maybe that only gives me about a minute of two of fear and then that too passes because I lived through the whole crazy SARS outbreak in Toronto and it passed.
It's all so very annoying how people are just feeding the fear that's attached itself to MERS, the fear that's getting stronger by the second it seems. I'm not afraid, more annoyed and wanting to slap people across the head because of it if anything.
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