UK & US had a chance to learn from South Korea as it was one of the 1st countries hit. Seoul stuck to its pandemic plan with no mass lockdown and it has mostly worked. One misstep was late vaccine procurement but theyโve caught up and have one of the highest vax rates in world.
On Saturday, First Lady Yumi Hogan and I stood on the tarmac at @BWI_Airport to welcome the first ever Korean Air passenger plane, carrying a very important payload of LabGun #COVID19 test kits which will give MD the capability of performing half a million coronavirus tests.
550,000 staff have helped prepare and disinfect 14,000 voting stations across the country.
A lot of preparation and planning.
But it has made voting during this pandemic possible.
Life in Seoul as spring approaches is almost normal. Or what I would describe as the โnew normalโ. Lots of people back out at work or in cafes and restaurants. Itโs a bit more subdued and most people are wearing masks and use hand sanitizer as you walk in restaurant or elevator.
The U.S. and South Korea both confirmed their first cases of coronavirus on January 20.
As of yesterday, South Korea had tested 274,000 people. The U.S. had only tested 25,000.
Trump's failure to provide widespread COVID-19 testing is costing American lives.