Today at #CSPC2020 I had the privilege of listening to @AsaphChun Director General of Korea’s Statistics Research Institute discuss how #science has been leading Korea’s response to #COVID19
Here are some major lessons to be learned from the Korean experience

First it’s important to acknowledge that Canada & Korea’s geographic & demographic differences do play a role in the pandemic’s trajectory, however their effect is not as great as sound, science-driven policy!
Here, I’ll discuss some of these policies

Learning from the 2003 SARS & 2015 MERS outbreaks, the Koreans instituted legal frameworks to help them deal with the delicate balance of privacy and the greater public health needs/risks Strong & comprehensive contact tracing while maintaining privacy

By now most of you have heard of Korea’s monumental test-trace-isolate efforts!
It is their smart test-trace methods that while ensuring citizen’s privacy, informed them of where the virus was target strategic approach to restrictions minimized the impact on economy

Koreans early on realized that to build trust & public’s compliance w/ public health measure, it’s best to not have politicians communicate data to the people
communications is done ONLY by scientist/doctors who are involved in on-the-ground response to the pandemic

Above all the Koreans got citizens involved in the crisis management:
created advisory groups (civic leaders + scientists) to advise the politicians on on-the-ground realities & devise inclusive, targeted & effective policies further increases compliance w/ measures

For me the was hearing that Koreans have used the expertise of @DFisman & @AshTuite in modelling their epidemic, yet here in we continue to mount responses that are neither guided by the expertise of our best & brightest nor are #science & #data driven!
#lessonlearned