Minor point because I agree with all the other things you said: While it’s true that South Korea didn’t have a China-style lockdown, I think the behavioral changes at the city level must have been really quite extreme. Perhaps in part also culture-driven rather than government imposed (maybe South Koreans actually followed government recommendations almost perfectly?), but I think it could be overupdating on the evidence to assume that South Korea didn’t need some kind of “lockdown” (loosely spoken) to get the situation under control initially. I’m not 100% sure this is what happened, but I heard at least one expert say that people who claim South Korea didn’t have a lockdown are being misleading, and that point also seems to make sense based on priors.
Minor point because I agree with all the other things you said: While it’s true that South Korea didn’t have a China-style lockdown, I think the behavioral changes at the city level must have been really quite extreme. Perhaps in part also culture-driven rather than government imposed (maybe South Koreans actually followed government recommendations almost perfectly?), but I think it could be overupdating on the evidence to assume that South Korea didn’t need some kind of “lockdown” (loosely spoken) to get the situation under control initially. I’m not 100% sure this is what happened, but I heard at least one expert say that people who claim South Korea didn’t have a lockdown are being misleading, and that point also seems to make sense based on priors.
Point taken!