COVID-19 Public Health Measures During National Assembly Elections of the Republic of Korea

The general elections for the 21st National Assembly in the Republic of Korea were scheduled for April 15th, 2020, which was during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. To ensure a safe election, the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) recommended several public he...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Eun Young Kim, Eun Kyoung Kim, Minwon Lee, Hye Kyung Park
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention 2020-08-01
Series:Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ophrp.org/upload/pdf/ophrp-11-158.pdf
Description
Summary:The general elections for the 21st National Assembly in the Republic of Korea were scheduled for April 15th, 2020, which was during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. To ensure a safe election, the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) recommended several public health measures. The KCDC developed key interventions after reviewing the general election strategy that targeted COVID-19 patients and individuals isolating at home. Four voters who participated in the election tested positive, but did not contract COVID-19 during voting. The results demonstrated that the KCDC minimized the spread of infection in the community during the election. The measures implemented by KCDC during the election held under a COVID-19 outbreak cannot be generalized to elections as a whole because cultural and national consciousness vary between countries. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that the systemic strategies and applications against the pandemic can minimize the possibility of viral spread.
ISSN:2210-9099
2210-9110