A Retrospective Comparative Analysis Regarding Strategies for Early COVID-19 Pandemic Mitigation in the US and South Korea

Abstract

—The purpose of this report is to retrospectively analyze and compare the early COVID-19 pandemic mitigation strategies of South Korea and the United States as the insights and knowledge gained can be applied to subsequent pandemics to minimize devastation. Additionally, this report will specifically give attention to the role of new emerging technologies in the detection, prevention, and treatment of this virus, as well as their role in the future and addresses early mitigation strategies that are implemented within two months of each country’s first detected case. First, we present a basic historical background regarding the nature of pandemics, as well as previous early mitigation techniques and their respective outcomes. This contains a background regarding the characteristics of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the COVID-19 disease; additionally, we analyze the global spread of the virus prior to the imposition of universal travel bans. The second section provides comparative analysis regarding the different preparatory measures invoked by South Korea and the United States, the country in which COVID-19 cases are most prevalent. We examine a plethora of statistics, such as the rate of spread and percent of people tested, in order to reach a holistic conclusion about the effectiveness of each country’s mitigation strategy. In the third section we bring to light technological advancements that have been developed or are under development that have immense potential for application in virus detection, prevention, and mitigation.