With the government restricting access to information on the recent Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak ― two weeks after the country’s first patient was diagnosed ― the public is taking matters into its own hands to stay informed.

Scores of social media messages have dominated traffic in recent days as netizens grab at whatever information they can. Quoting unnamed medical experts or health professionals, the messages range from the list of hospitals in question to ways to prevent infection. The overflowing exchange of the often incongruous information appeared to show the level of public distrust against the government, which has been urging people to stay calm.


Most recently, a website carrying the names and locations of 14 hospitals that have treated MERS patients was created under the name “MERS proliferation map.”

The website, created with data contributed by registered Facebook users, showed the public’s growing hunger for information after two people died of the disease.

The scare only intensified after tertiary infections were confirmed earlier this week, despite the health authorities saying it was highly unlikely.

Earlier in the week, a message advising people to rub Vaseline inside their nose to prevent MERS went viral via social media and mobile messenger sevices. The myth was quickly debunked by experts, but it was followed ― and preceded ― by a myriad of rumors that spread across the country.

On Wednesday, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced Daechi Elementary School became the first Seoul-based school to cancel classes due to MERS. The news, however, had been circulating via social media and media outlets hours before the announcement.

Parents in the affluent Gangnam district in southern Seoul have been sharing texts on supposed MERS patients and hospitals that treated them. But they were also accompanied by a series of groundless rumors.

Busan police on Thursday took into custody a 34-year-old man on suspicion of spreading a false rumor that a MERS patient was admitted to one of the city’s hospitals.

“The (rumors are) not completely groundless, but a lot of them are exaggerated. Understandable though as people are panicking and have no information,” 44-year-old doctor Yoon Choon-shik said.

Yoon, whose fifth-grade son is attending an elementary school in Gangnam, said his son’s school was just about the only one in its area still left open amid mounting fear up epidemic. Over three dozen schools and kindergartens in Seoul canceled classes, while most private institutions have followed suit.

Schools left open are pelleted with a hailstorm of demands from concerned parents.

“The initial government report emphasized how MERS had a low infection rate. Look at what’s happening now,” said a woman surnamed Choi, whose son attends an elementary school in Seoul. “What are we supposed to do if one of the kids in class ends up infected?”

Outdoor playgrounds are as empty as the classrooms, as parents are seeking to ensure that their children come into as little contact with others as possible. Some companies are even telling their employees to come in late, so that they can avoid jam-packed subways and buses at rush hour.

The Education Ministry recently advised nursing students to refrain from hospital training.

Despite the public craving more information, the Ministry of Health and Welfare maintained that it would continue limiting information, including the names of hospitals.

The ministry’s secrecy has seen even more criticism since it was revealed that it locked down the public relations department after the first MERS death was reported on Monday.

“I think the government is restricting information to prevent panic, but they don’t realize that the control itself has been making the anxiety among people even worse,” Yu said. “The government should open up and offer directions for people to follow. Right now, neither the government nor the people have faith in each other.”

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)