COVID-19: An ESSEC Alumnus Reports From South Korea

South Korea’s response to the pandemic is considered a model by many other countries. Michael Gambert (M01), President of ESSEC Alumni’s South Korea Chapter, tells us more about the situation on the ground. 

ESSEC Alumni: What is the current situation in South Korea?

Michael Gambert: South Korea experienced the first wave of COVID-19 infections outside of China and has been a model of transparency ever since. This has helped build trust and agreement over preventative measures such as social distancing and key hygiene practices. Information on COVID-19 cases is shared on a no-name basis by health authorities through mobile phone, allowing the user to be alerted to any potential exposure risk. Overall, these measures seem to have been very effective, as the country never had to impose a confinement of the population. 

EA: Did COVID-19 impact your life at all? 

M. Gambert: I have led a task-force team to address the impact of COVID-19 on our activities in China, Korea and India, and we have improved our processes and our ability to respond to various scenarios. As we recover from the health and supply chain challenges, our focus has switched to market demand. 

EA: How is the post-crisis period shaping up in South Korea?

M. Gambert: Health authorities will remain on high alert for the months to come, but the country seems sufficiently well prepared. However, South Korea is a major export country, so we are quite dependent on the world economy’s recovery. 

EA: What news from the local ESSEC community in this context?

M. Gambert: We scaled back our physical events and organized many webinars. We are still talking about and developing plans on how our future events will be managed in 2020.

Interview by Veary Ngy, International  Community Manager at ESSEC Alumni, and Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni

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