South Korea’s rapid response to COVID was not a coincidence. The country’s public health system was well prepared. Like the US, South Korea identified its first case of COVID in mid-January. However, the two nations would experience divergent trajectories. South Korea was prepared to deploy widespread testing from the very beginning, and would identify, isolate, and largely eliminate its outbreak. Even before South Korea had its first cluster of cases, it had developed a battery of diagnostic tests and established high-volume testing facilities. It never ran out of testing supplies or
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