David of Staypuff.net fame reports the following (paraphrased) interaction at a meeting yesterday at his place of employ:
‘There has been a lot of talk of H1N1 in Korea, especially about all the foreign teachers getting it…
A lot of the parents have been asking if their children are in danger of receiving it because they are being taught by foreigners here at the academy’.
Now that in itself is pretty hard to swallow (Notwithstanding your sore throat) but then there is this :
‘…because of this, we’re asking you not to interact and meet with any other foreigners for the unforeseeable future as they could be carriers of the disease…”
WTF!?
Yes because foreigners are the vector not only for the ills of Korean society, but quite literally it’s physical ills as well.
Asshats!
David points out that this is something that has been passed down the chain of command and that his boss and his co-workers equally found the last part ridiculous.
That being said it bears reporting here so that you know that cool heads are not always prevailing at the moment. (Notwithstanding your fever!)
26/05/2009 at 8:19 pm Permalink
Some cooler heads are prevailing… So far it seemed scattered and limited to a small number of schools…
By the by, rumors are floating about CDI is / will be closed for some length of time. Anyone out there working for CDI that could confirm?
27/05/2009 at 9:46 am Permalink
We were also made to take a test at a medical clinic to clear ourselves.
http://staypuff.net/?p=3109
27/05/2009 at 12:41 pm Permalink
Which, as you point out on your blog Dave is redundant anyway since you haven’t been out of the country in what? 6 months.
(Plus I know you avoid foreigners like the plague anyway…ㅋㅋㅋ)
27/05/2009 at 1:27 pm Permalink
“Plus I know you avoid foreigners like the plague anyway…ㅋㅋㅋ”
No… that’s not true. I avoid people of all countries equally.
And it’s been more like 12 months.
Chris: I was told they will go back on the 8th June, but that was secondhand information.
27/05/2009 at 6:24 pm Permalink
Hopefully tonight ATEK will have a page devoted entirely to this issue.
I have contacted all of the reporters covering the spread of the virus and any stories connecting it to foreigners. I have contacted embassies, EPIK, and several hagwons. We have researched the WHO guidelines for handling quarantines, and are looking at the rights of foreigners in this matter.
Our page will have Korean phrases that might be useful on this subject, links to all news stories and most blogs, and things one can do to help out and stay healthy.
Most importantly we are observing how those quarantined are being treated and we want them to know we are available to help in any way we possibly can.
27/05/2009 at 7:54 pm Permalink
Why would ATEK be even remotely interested in this? This is a matter of Public health rather than employment relations or an immigration matter I would think.
There are some (understandable) concerns amongst parents about exposing children to the flu, and I think deep down these are justified for the following reasons:
1) Schools are a massive vector for infection because of the close proximity of students and teachers alike, irrespective of who the teachers are or where they’re from.
2) People entering the country may well have been exposed to the flu even in transit (as is the case with some of the quarantined teachers) and should be prevented from entering a classroom.
Thus our friends in Seocho-gu were quarantined, lawfully and with their good health in mind. Reports of Korean teachers being sent home to be quarantined, if true, are justified by the fact that all of them will have relatives etc. to keep an eye on them. At the beginning of the month when cases were found in New Zealand, New Zealand citizens were quarantined in their homes, symptomatic individuals were hospitalised and foreign nationals were quarantined for the same reasons. The same has happened here.
In neither case has anyone called “discrimination”, nor would they be justified in doing so.
If anything, Korean officials seem to be over zealous (as is their wont) and in this case who would blame them, and isn’t that a good thing anyway?
3) despite what David says (heehee!) foreigners congregate with other foreigners here in Korea. So even though Dave hasn’t left the country in a year there is a reasonable likelihood that he, or foreigners like him, might have come into contact with a new arrival who has the flu. Anecdotally speaking there is a higher chance of intra-foreigner infection. What do the majority of foreigners do in Korea?
That’s right, make LCD TVs in Chonan, or TEACH! (cf. point 1)
From what I understand of Public Health regulations in Korea, foreigners (let alone any other group) don’t have any rights in this case anyway, and I put to you Greg, that this is the case in most countries. Any liberties denied here are trumped by the needs of the government to prevent an outbreak.
I think your comment has tones of “Woe the down-trodden, discriminated, held-against-their-will foreigners” about it that is, in this case, unwarranted. I would say too, that it is this tone that has seen a number of your detractors come out in force previously, reacting to what they perceive to be a holier than thou sort of stance.
That being said, information is useful and as long as ATEK can provide information in an objective and dispassionate manner all should be well, otherwise I really don’t think this is a battle ATEK should be picking.
28/05/2009 at 4:09 am Permalink
I think ATEK should be involved in this… not necessarily in lobbying for quarantines to be dropped unless there’s clearly discrimination and unwarranted quarantining going on — it certainly hasn’t come to a “round up the foreigners” attitude yet, but on the other hand, a group like ATEK should be watching the media (especially Korean language) for articles or quotes that try to pass H1N1 off as a “foreigner’s disease” (which has been done before), or government actions that clearly DO discriminate against foreigners (for example, while this isn’t the case, if all the Koreans were sent home for home quarantine, and only the foreigners were rounded up to be quarantined at a center).
They’ve put a note on their main webpage, including a link to WHO information pages. Providing information useful to and English teachers is one thing pretty much everyone has agreed ought to be one of ATEK’s main jobs.