This (originally posted by another FReeper, IIRC - I’ve lost track!) is perhaps the best comprehensive discussion I have seen - from an eminent S. Korean Doctor. It should be recommended viewing through as many sources as possible, IMO. Maybe our daily thread posters would be so kind as to add the link to the beginning of each daily thread!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAk7aX5hksU
(If you have even better, please go with that!!!)
Videos are for those who cannot read.
questions this video raises:
1) How does Korea, being 96% homogenous, with a very small Chinese population, and early to close traffic with China, compare to say, Italy or the US, with very large urban Chinese population/tourist flow, that is harder to control?
2) Why is mortality from flu in elderly Koreans so high, if everyone in Korea traditionally wears a mask? how comparable are their rates to say, Italy or the US ?
3) How does Korea’s video surveillance, tracking bracelets, transaction monitoring, cellphone monitoring and other AI-assisted quarantine violation monitoring and forced incarcerations affect their rate of spread, over countries that don’t allow such privacy invasions?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749379715006303
“The impact of influenza on mortality was significantly higher in older people; the overall all-cause excess annual mortality rate per 100,000 people was 5.97 (95% CI=4.89, 7.19), whereas it was 46.98 (95% CI=36.40, 55.82) for adults aged >65 years. It also greatly varied from year to year, ranging from 2.04 in 2009–2010 to 18.76 in 2011–2012.”