Skip Navigation
Skip to contents

PHRP : Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives

OPEN ACCESS
SEARCH
Search

Articles

Page Path
HOME > Osong Public Health Res Perspect > Volume 11(3); 2020 > Article
Editorial
The Impact of Social Distancing on the Transmission of Influenza Virus, South Korea, 2020
Young June Choea, Jong-Koo Leeb
Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives 2020;11(3):91-92.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2020.11.3.07
Published online: June 1, 2020

aDepartment of Social and Preventive Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea

bDepartment of Family Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

*Corresponding author: Jong-Koo Lee, Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, E-mail: docmohw@snu.ac.kr
• Received: May 4, 2020   • Accepted: May 11, 2020

Copyright ©2020, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

  • 7,213 Views
  • 266 Download
  • 25 Web of Science
  • 23 Crossref
  • 25 Scopus
Since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in the Republic of Korea on January 20th, 2020, a surge in cases has followed, resulting in 10,683 confirmed cases and 237 deaths, as of April 21st, 2020 [1]. Amid the global crisis caused by the pandemic, various public health interventions have been introduced in Korea from advice about social distancing, and personal hygiene, to testing for the virus, contact tracing, and isolation and quarantine measures [2,3].
Social distancing was initiated in South Korea in late February [4] and aimed to reduce disease transmission, thereby reducing pressure on the health services. Empirical evidence during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic has shown social distancing resulted in lowering the curve of the epidemic [5].
In South Korea, national surveillance of influenza comprises of 200 sentinel sites that report the percentage of visits to healthcare centers due to influenza-like-illness (ILI), and 52 sentinel sites that send respiratory specimens from patients with ILI to national laboratories [6]. Between the 2015–2016 and 2018–2019 flu seasons, there were multiple, distinctive waves of influenza epidemics (Figure 1A, line graph).
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, civil movement and social distancing rules were implemented around late February, and included reminders regarding personal hygiene, avoiding mass gatherings, and emphasizing the staying-at-home message. On March 2nd, 2020, the government postponed the planned re-opening of schools, and on March 22nd, 2020, the government announced an intensified social distancing policy by recommending working from home, closure of religious facilities, bars, after-school clubs, and recreational facilities, and avoidance of mass gathering events. Since surveillance Week 6 of the 2019–2020 flu season, the percentage of patients with ILI decreased compared with the previous 4 flu seasons (Figure 1A). In the 2018–2019 flu season, after the first peak of influenza A (H1N1) had diminished during the surveillance Weeks 3–6, a second wave from influenza B and influenza A (H3N2) peaked during surveillance Weeks 9–19 (Figure 1B). In the 2019–2020 flu season, social distancing measures were imposed and a second wave of influenza virus was not observed.
The Korean national influenza virus surveillance data suggests that social distancing measures introduced in response to COVID-19 may have reduced the transmission of the virus and flattened the curve of the epidemic.
In a recent article, Cowling et al reported that non-pharmaceutical interventions were associated with a reduced transmission of COVID-19 and were also likely to have reduced transmission of the influenza in Hong Kong [7]. Nevertheless, surveillance of patients with ILI depends on these patients accessing healthcare, which may have been limited by social distancing and avoidance of seeking medical care. Evidence from other geographical regions could add validity to this finding and further highlight the role played by social distancing in the transmission of circulating respiratory viruses.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

  • 1. Central Disease Control Headquarters [Internet]. Coronavirus Disease 2019, Republic of Korea [cited 2020 Apr 21]. Available from: http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/.
  • 2. COVID-19 National Emergency Response Center. Development and utilization of a rapid and accurate epidemic investigation support system for COVID-19. Osong Public Health Res Perspect 2020;11(3). 118−27.ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 3. Quarantine Management Team, COVID-19 National Emergency Response Center. Coronavirus Disease-19: Quarantine Framework for Travelers Entering Korea. Osong Public Health Res Perspect 2020;11(3). 133−9.ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 4. Pan A, Liu L, Wang C, et al. Association of Public Health Interventions with the Epidemiology of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Wuhan, China. JAMA 2020;323(19). 1−9.ArticlePDF
  • 5. Markel H, Lipman HB, Navarro JA, et al. Nonpharmaceutical interventions implemented by US cities during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic. JAMA 2007;298(6). 644−54.ArticlePubMed
  • 6. Choi WS. The National Influenza Surveillance System of Korea. Infect Chemother 2019;51(2). 98−106.ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 7. Cowling BJ, Ali ST, Ng TWY, et al. Impact assessment of non-pharmaceutical interventions against coronavirus disease 2019 and influenza in Hong Kong: An observational study. Lancet Public Health 2020;5(5). E279−88.ArticlePubMedPMC
Figure 1
(A) Impact of social distancing on influenza activity, and (B) on virus subtype detection in the Republic of Korea.
ophrp-11-91f1.jpg

Figure & Data

References

    Citations

    Citations to this article as recorded by  
    • Social Distancing in the COVID-19 Pandemic
      Jianghong Liu, Na Ouyang, Alina Mizrahi, Melanie L. Kornides
      Family & Community Health.2024; 47(1): 80.     CrossRef
    • Effects of the coronavirus disease outbreak on the development of neurological disorders in children: A comparison of the incidence of febrile seizure and epilepsy using an interrupted time-series approach
      Ah-Young Kim, Ji-Hoon Na, Hye-Young Kang, Hankil Lee, Young-Mock Lee
      Journal of Infection and Public Health.2024; 17(1): 102.     CrossRef
    • Application of the Time Derivative (TD) Method for Early Alert of Influenza Epidemics
      Seul-Ki Kang, Woo-Sik Son, Bryan Inho Kim
      Journal of Korean Medical Science.2024;[Epub]     CrossRef
    • Associations of social interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic with cognitive function among the South Korean older adults
      Il Yun, Yu Shin Park, Eun-Cheol Park, Hee-Won Jung, Jaeyong Shin
      BMC Geriatrics.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef
    • Convolutional neural network-based crowd detection for COVID-19 social distancing protocol from unmanned aerial vehicles onboard camera
      Leonard Matheus Wastupranata, Rinaldi Munir
      Journal of Applied Remote Sensing.2023;[Epub]     CrossRef
    • Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions targeted at the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of influenza-like illness in the UK Armed Forces
      George Otieno, Ngwa Niba Rawlings, Siew Ann Cheong
      PLOS ONE.2022; 17(12): e0270438.     CrossRef
    • Impact of COVID-19 Social Distancing Mandates on Gastrointestinal Pathogen Positivity: Secondary Data Analysis
      Tanner Palmer, L Scott Benson, Christina Porucznik, Lisa H Gren
      JMIR Public Health and Surveillance.2022; 8(8): e34757.     CrossRef
    • Exploring the drop in flu cases during the 2020–2021 season: The Italian case study
      Fabrizio Bert, Eleonora Cugudda, Giuseppina Lo Moro, Pietro Francesco Galvagno, Roberta Siliquini
      Annals of Epidemiology.2022; 76: 77.     CrossRef
    • Effect of COVID-19-Related Interventions on the Incidence of Infectious Eye Diseases: Analysis of Nationwide Infectious Disease Incidence Monitoring Data
      Woo-Ri Lee, Li-Hyun Kim, Gyeong-Min Lee, Jooyoung Cheon, Young Dae Kwon, Jin-Won Noh, Ki-Bong Yoo
      International Journal of Public Health.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef
    • Associations Between Conventional Healthy Behaviors and Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the 2020 Community Health Survey in Korea
      Rang Hee Kwon, Minsoo Jung
      Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.2022; 55(6): 568.     CrossRef
    • Solidarity is for other people: identifying derelictions of solidarity in responses to COVID-19
      Peter West-Oram
      Journal of Medical Ethics.2021; 47(2): 65.     CrossRef
    • Impact of social distancing on incidence of vaccine‐preventable diseases, South Korea
      Hyo Eun Yun, Bo Young Ryu, Young June Choe
      Journal of Medical Virology.2021; 93(3): 1814.     CrossRef
    • Nonpolio Enterovirus Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Taiwan, 2020
      Shu-Chen Kuo, Hsiao-Hui Tsou, Hsiao-Yu Wu, Ya-Ting Hsu, Fang-Jing Lee, Shu-Man Shih, Chao A. Hsiung, Wei J. Chen
      Emerging Infectious Diseases.2021; 27(1): 306.     CrossRef
    • Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions targeted at COVID-19 pandemic on influenza burden – a systematic review
      Lara Marleen Fricke, Stephan Glöckner, Maren Dreier, Berit Lange
      Journal of Infection.2021; 82(1): 1.     CrossRef
    • Epidemiological dynamics of enterovirus D68 in the United States and implications for acute flaccid myelitis
      Sang Woo Park, Margarita Pons-Salort, Kevin Messacar, Camille Cook, Lindsay Meyers, Jeremy Farrar, Bryan T. Grenfell
      Science Translational Medicine.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
    • Qualitative Analysis of an influenza model with biomedical interventions
      S.A. Pedro, H. Rwezaura, A. Mandipezar, J.M. Tchuenche
      Chaos, Solitons & Fractals.2021; 146: 110852.     CrossRef
    • The Impact of COVID-19 Interventions on Influenza and Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection
      Yiman Geng, Gang Li, Leiliang Zhang
      Frontiers in Public Health.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
    • Shifting Patterns of Respiratory Virus Activity Following Social Distancing Measures for Coronavirus Disease 2019 in South Korea
      Sangshin Park, Ian C Michelow, Young June Choe
      The Journal of Infectious Diseases.2021; 224(11): 1900.     CrossRef
    • Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis, and Atopic Dermatitis Incidence in Korean Adolescents before and after COVID-19
      Hyo Geun Choi, Il Gyu Kong
      Journal of Clinical Medicine.2021; 10(15): 3446.     CrossRef
    • Impact of Social Distancing on Kawasaki Disease-associated Hospitalization, South Korea
      Jung Hwangbo, Jue Seong Lee, Seung Ah Choe, Young June Choe
      Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.2021; 40(10): e383.     CrossRef
    • Surveillance of seasonal respiratory viruses among Chilean patients during the COVID‐19 pandemic
      Luis A. Alonso‐Palomares, C. Joaquín Cáceres, Rodrigo Tapia, Paulina Aguilera‐Cortés, Santiago Valenzuela, Fernando Valiente‐Echeverría, Ricardo Soto‐Rifo, Aldo Gaggero, Gonzalo P. Barriga
      Health Science Reports.2021;[Epub]     CrossRef
    • The Social Distance Scale (v1): A Screening Instrument to Assess Patient Adherence to Prevention Strategies during Pandemics
      Michaela Prachthauser, Jeffrey E. Cassisi, Thien-An Le, Andel V. Nicasio
      International Journal of Environmental Research an.2020; 17(21): 8158.     CrossRef
    • Psychological Typhoon Eye Effect During the COVID-19 Outbreak
      Guixiang Wang, Yan Zhang, Simiao Xie, Pu Wang, Guanghui Lei, Yueran Bian, Fei Huang, Jingyuan Zhang, Xiaochen Cao, Na Luo, Mingyan Luo, Qiang Xiao
      Frontiers in Public Health.2020;[Epub]     CrossRef

    Figure

    PHRP : Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives