Too many emergency text alerts? Gov't to halt daily COVID-19 notifications

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Thu, December 7, 2023 | 22:38

Health & Science

Too many emergency text alerts? Gov't to halt daily COVID-19 notifications

Posted : 2023-02-03 16:02

Updated : 2023-02-05 16:50

A man enters a COVID-19 screening center in Yongsan District, Seoul. Friday

Over 145,000 alerts sent during 3 years of pandemic

By Lee Hyo-jin

It's no exaggeration to say that emergency text alerts have become a part of daily life in Korea since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early stages of the pandemic, local governments notified residents on a daily basis of the number of new cases in their area as well as contact tracing information on virus carriers.

The alert system has also been actively used by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency to inform the public about adjustments in the government's virus curbs and to encourage people to sign up for coronavirus vaccinations.

Since being adopted in 2005, the nationwide mobile notification system has been used by various government agencies to issue warnings about disasters and to provide guidelines in emergency situations. The notifications are sent to people in affected areas to warn about infectious diseases, fine dust, torrential rain, typhoons, extreme weather conditions and earthquakes. Last month, phone users were alerted about possible falling debris from a U.S. satellite, and warned to be careful while outside.

But the repetitive alerts about the coronavirus have been shifting public opinion on the system, with many growing increasingly weary and skeptical of the "excessive" number of messages.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, over 145,000 COVID-19-related text alerts were sent nationwide by the central and local governments for three years between 2020 and 2022.

These text alerts received on Aug. 30, 2020, are disaster notifications about new coronavirus infection cases sent from multiple local governments and strengthened social distancing measures from the health authorities. Korea Times file

December 2020 logged a record high of 10,490 messages, and March 2021 had the lowest figure with 2,351. Recent months have been averaging 3,600 messages per month.

Lee Young-joo, a professor at the department of fire and disaster prevention at the University of Seoul, pointed out that growing public fatigue over emergency alerts may lower their awareness of disasters.

"It is somewhat true that the notification system has been overused in the pandemic. And after the massive crowd crush in Itaewon, municipal governments have become highly sensitive about any possible disasters. They seem to be sending messages even when they are deemed unnecessary, out of concern that they might be held responsible for failing to notify residents in advance," he told The Korea Times.

"But this may make the public develop tolerance to disaster alerts and not act appropriately in the event of an emergency of greater magnitude."

He expressed worry that that the notification system might become a scenario like the well-known fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," ultimately undermining any protection provided by disaster warnings.

Against this backdrop, the interior ministry has recently recommended local governments to refrain from sending text messages about the number of daily new infections in their respective areas. Following the recommendation, municipalities including Seoul and Daejeon have halted sending daily alerts. Among metropolitan cities, only Busan and Jeju are still sending the text messages, according to the ministry.

Safety authorities are also seeking to operate the text alert scheme more efficiently and will come up with a revised manual by the end of this month.

Among the revisions being discussed is lowering the sound pressure level of alerts at nighttime to between 20 to 30 decibels (dB). Currently, the government issues a 40 dB alert in the case of an earthquake of 3.5 to 6.0 magnitude or a terrorist attack, while a 60 dB notification is issued for an earthquake of over 6.0 magnitude or an air raid alert.

lhj@koreatimes.co.kr