• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.750-756
• /
• 2020

Objectives: After coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic, the South Korean government announced guidelines on wearing masks to prevent its spread. The guidelines have changed depending on the severity of the spread of COVID-19. This study aimed to identify mask-wearing behaviours to counter the spread of COVID-19 in indoor and outdoor environments. Methods: The type of mask worn and proper wearing were observed in cafés, supermarkets, underground shopping malls, and streets in Seoul. Behavioral assessment was repeated in August at social distancing levels 1 and 2, in October at social distancing level 1, and in November after the mask mandates. Results: In August, 22.1% of subjects in cafés, 90.8% in supermarkets, 91.8% in underground shopping malls, and 83.6% on outdoor streets wore masks properly. In October, the proportion of correct wearers increased in all locations. After masks became mandatory in November, about 97% of users of supermarkets, underground shopping malls, and streets wore masks properly. In cafés, the proportion of proper wearers was 61.5% with both social distancing level 2 in August and the mandate in November. The number of KF-certified mask wearers continued to increase from August to November. Conclusion: This study investigated mask-wearing behaviors to counter COVID-19 through observations in indoor and outdoor places in Seoul. Mask-wearing behavior was different depending on the place and the government guidelines in place. The results could be used for evaluation of the current guidelines for COVID-19.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.17-33
• /
• 2021

This study empirically analyzes the effect of the spread of COVID-19 and the implementation of social distancing on the number of park users. To this end, we analyzed the time series data on the number of users and the COVID-19 outbreak at Olympic Park, a large-scale comprehensive urban park located in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and four neighborhood parks in the same municipality. And this was compared with the effect on the change in the number of users around Jamsil Lotte World, a representative indoor complex leisure space in Seoul. The analysis results are as follows: First, in small neighborhood parks located in residential areas, the number of users increased by 3 to 6% on average due to the implementation of the social distancing measures and the increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. In particular, it was found that changes in park use were sensitive to the increase in the intensity of social distancing. On the other hand, the number of users around Jamsil Lotte World decreased by 38% on average, and in the case of Olympic Park, the number of users decreased by 1.9% on average due to the spread of COVID-19. Considering that the number of the vehicle users representing remote users of Olympic Park has decreased by 23% on average, it is estimated that there is little change in the number of users in the surrounding areas. This suggests that urban parks, especially neighborhood parks in residential areas, play a role as a major refuge and leisure space for urban people in the event of a pandemic disaster such as COVID-19, and therefore need to be properly supplied and maintained.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
• /
• v.21 no.7
• /
• pp.365-373
• /
• 2021

Covid-19 posed a serious threat to public health worldwide, especially in the absence of vaccines or medicines. The only viable strategies to combat a virus with a high infection rate were to apply lock-down strategies, transport ban, social and physical distancing. In this work, we provide a domain-specific component model for crisis management. The model allows for building a plan for managing Covid-19 crisis and use the plan as a template to generate a system specific for managing that crisis. The crisis component model is derived from X-MAN II, a generic component model that we have developed for the aircraft industry

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2023

Since the first outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, it has caused a huge blow to the restaurant industry. However, as social distancing was lifted as of April 2022, the restaurant industry gradually recovered, and as a result, interest in restaurant start-ups increased. Therefore, in this paper, big data analysis was conducted by selecting "restaurant start-up" as a key keyword through social media big data analysis using Textom and then conducting word frequency and CONCOR analysis. The collection period of keywords was selected from May 1, 2022 to May 23, 2023, after the lifting of social distancing due to COVID-19, and based on the analysis, the development of a restaurant start-up consulting chatbot service is proposed.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.563-572
• /
• 2021

Background and objective: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restricted daily life, forcing people to spend time indoors. With the growing interest in mental health issues and residential environments, 'pet plants' have been receiving attention during the unprecedented social distancing measures. This study aims to analyze the change in trends of pet plants before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide basic data for studies related to pet plants and directions of future development. Methods: A total of 2,016 news articles using the keyword 'pet plants' were collected on Naver News from January 1, 2018 to August 15, 2019 (609 articles) and January 1, 2020 to August 15, 2021 (1,407 articles). The texts were tokenized into words using KoNLPy package, ultimately coming up with 63,597 words. The analyses included frequency of keywords and topic modeling based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to identify the inherent meanings of related words and each topic. Results: Topic modeling generated three topics in each period (before and during the COVID-19), and the results showed that pet plants in daily life have become the object of 'emotional support' and 'healing' during social distancing. In particular, pet plants, which had been distributed as a solution to prevent solitary deaths and depression among seniors living alone, are now expanded to help resolve the social isolation of the general public suffering from COVID-19. The new term 'plant butler' became a new trend, and there was a change in the trend in which people shared their hobbies and information about pet plants and communicated with others in online. Conclusion: Based on these findings, the trend data of pet plants before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 can provide the basis for activating research on pet plants and setting the direction for development of related industries considering the continuous popularity and trend of indoor gardening and green hobby.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.169-172
• /
• 2023

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) pandemic began in December 2019. Many countries have implemented restrictions such as mandatory mask wearing and social distancing. These measures have caused diverse and complex health problems, particularly in women's health, anxiety, and depression. This review examines an alternative approach to the treatment of endometriosis during the COVID pandemic. The efficacy of ginseng with anti-inflammatory activity and ability to relieve or prevent symptoms of endometriosis is discussed and reviewed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.223-233
• /
• 2022

In addition to optimistic bias which can be a biased phenomenon in perceived susceptibility, including illusion of control which is a distorted phenomenon, the current study attempted to demonstrate the influential relationship between these two important variables and COVID 19 personal preventive behaviors and social distancing practice. Conducting Survey utilizing online pannel from Macromill Embrain, the present study performed regression analysis, setting personal preventive behavioral variables such as mask wearing, hand washing, using hand sanitizer as independent variable, and analyzed how these independent variables influence control illusion and optimistic bias. As a result, COVID 19 personal preventive behavior didn't have direct effect on optimistic bias and control illusion except for hand washing. Finding, also, showed that control illusion affected optimistic bias, and the relation between these variables was different depending on demographic variable such as gender and age.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2021

The Korean government's strategy to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has focused on non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing and wearing masks, along with testing, tracing, and treatment; overall, its performance has been relatively good compared to that of many other countries heavily affected by COVID-19. However, little attention has been paid to health equity in measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to examine the unequal impacts of COVID-19 across socioeconomic groups and to suggest potential solutions to tackle these inequalities. The pathways linking social determinants and health could be entry points to tackle the unequal consequences of this public health emergency. It is crucial for infectious disease policy to consider social determinants of health including poor housing, precarious working conditions, disrupted healthcare services, and suspension of social services. Moreover, the high levels of uncertainty and complexity inherent in this public health emergency, as well as the health and socioeconomic inequalities caused by the pandemic, underscore the need for good governance other than top-down measures by the government. We emphasize that a people-centered perspective is a key approach during the pandemic era. Mutual trust between the state and civil society, strong accountability of the government, and civic participation are essential components of cooperative disaster governance.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.17-27
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of change of social relations due to COVID-19 on life satisfaction and to examine mediating effect of leisure satisfaction in the relationship between change of social relations due to COVID-19 and life satisfaction of older people. This study utilized 2021 Social Survey data and 7,203 older persons aged over 65 years were analyzed. Multiple regression analyses were used for the analyses and significance of mediating effect was tested using bootstrapping methods. Study findings showed that change of social relations due to COVID-19 had a significant effect on life satisfaction of older people. That is, those who experienced increasing distance from neighbors and friends reported lower level of life satisfaction. Also, leisure satisfaction partially mediated the effects of change of social relations due to COVID-19 on life satisfaction. Results of this study suggest that various interventions are needed to prevent a decrease of quality of life of older people in times during which social distancing can be necessary like COVID-19 pandemic.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.353-360
• /
• 2023

This paper explores notable shifts in the restaurant startup market following the lifting of social distancing measures. Key trends identified include an escalated interest in startups, a heightened focus on the quality and diversity of food, a relative decline in the importance of delivery services, and a growing interest in specific industry sectors. The study's data collection spanned three years, from April 2021 to May 2023, encompassing the period before and after social distancing. Data were sourced from a range of online platforms, including blogs, news sites, cafes, web documents, and intellectual forums, provided by Naver, Daum, and Google. From this collected data, the top 50 words were identified through a refinement process. The analysis was structured around the social distancing application period, comparing data from April 2021 to April 2022 with data from May 2022 to May 2023. These observed trend changes provide founders with valuable insights to seize new market opportunities and formulate effective startup strategies. In summary, We offer crucial insights for founders, enabling them to comprehend the evolving dynamics in food service startups and to adapt their strategies to the current market environment.