Photologue @theuostimes7
Starting in November, the Korean government decided to enact a “With Corona” policy and to lower social distancing level. The purpose of this policy is recovery of people’s lives. This is possible because about 80 percent of Korean citizens have had primary vaccination, and the completion of vaccination rate has reached 70 percent.
Until this November, every store, restaurant, café, and theater closed at 22:00. This certainly has depressed the economy, and a lot of restaurants and cafes had to be closed. However, from November, the owner can operate their store 24/7 if they want to. Moreover, vaccinated people can gather up to ten people in restaurants or pubs.
To conduct this policy more effectively, the government also enacted so-called “Vaccine Pass.” When people go to placeㄴ such as restaurant, bar, café, or kareoke, they must prove that they are vaccinated. For non-vaccinated people, they should get COVID-19 test at least two days before the visit.
There are a lot of opinions about this policy. Some people agree with it and think it is time to go back to daily life. However, there are concerns that the affirmative cases will increase because of this policy. Moreover, some might say that this policy is a kind of discrimination of non-vaccinated people, since they can go to kareoke, gym, and public bath.
Still, citizens have waited about two years and have fought with the COVID-19, and now it is time to restore our normal life. To make this policy work properly, all of us should keep in mind that the pandemic situation is not over and there are people who are not yet vaccinated. Whenever and wherever you go, please do not forget to sanitize your hands, and keep your mask on.