Friday, November 5th, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic, Korea-Canada comparison: Government response, social welfare, labor, and gender II

Description

Chair and discussant: Yoonkyung Lee (Associate professor in Sociology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Korea, U of T)

Speaker 1
David Pettinichio, “The Impacts of COVID-19 on People with Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions”

Abstract
The pandemic has reeked disproportionate havoc on already marginalized and vulnerable communities. People with disabilities and chronic health conditions are not only more at risk of getting COVID-19, but they are also more likely to be economically disadvantaged, more likely to experience social isolation and negative mental health status, and to be left out of important social and economic policymaking that ultimately affects their daily lives. Not surprisingly, the pandemic has reified and exacerbated these dimensions of disadvantage and inequality. In June of 2020, we conducted a cross-national survey among Canadians with disabilities and chronic health conditions as well as in-depth qualitative interviews. This talk focuses on findings from this project divided into three areas: employment and financial effects of the pandemic, COVID-19’s effects on mental health, and how people with disabilities and chronic health conditions are making sense of government COVID-19 policies and countermeasures.

Bio
David Pettinicchio is an Associate Professor of Sociology and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. His research lies at the intersection of political sociology and inequality. He recently (2021) edited Volume 28 of Research in Political Sociology (Emerald). His book published with Stanford University Press in 2019 titled Politics of Empowerment: Disability Rights and the Cycle of American Policy Reform, examines the back-and-forth relationship between policymaking and citizen participation. Currently, he is working with Prof. Michelle Maroto and a research team of doctoral students on a project focused on COVID-19, disability, and chronic health based on an original national survey and qualitative interviews on which this talk is based. Peer-reviewed articles drawing from this data are already published in Canadian Public Policy, Disability and Health Journal, and Sociological Perspectives.

Speaker 2
Juyeon Lee, “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public healthcare system and socioeconomically disadvantaged people in South Korea”

Abstract
South Korea adopted the test-trace-treat model to contain the spread of COVID-19 and almost all patients with any symptom or underlying conditions have been hospitalized while asymptomatic ones have been isolated in community care facilities. As most public hospitals were designated exclusively for COVID-19 care, patients who had been hospitalized or regularly visited outpatient clinics in public hospitals had to be discharged or transferred to different facilities. In this presentation, I will present the findings from qualitative health research that investigates the processes and implications of the Korean government’s response to the pandemic, specifically the mobilization of public hospitals as dedicated COVID-19 treatment facilities. I will demonstrate how the government’s response devastated the nation’s already fragile public healthcare system and adversely affected socioeconomically disadvantaged people

Bio
Juyeon is a PhD student in the Social and Behavioural Health Sciences program at Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Prior to her doctoral studies, Juyeon worked in a variety of research settings, such as a scholar-activist in People’s Health Institute, a not-for-profit research institute in South Korea, focusing on health inequities, and precarious employment and health. Juyeon’s doctoral research deals with the issue of work-related injuries and deaths in South Korea, critically probing the social, political, and economic structures behind the development of the regulatory regime for health and safety at work in the country. Juyeon is engaged in a variety of projects including the health and health inequity implications of informal employment in a global context, public health activism for health and safety at work, and the Korean government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the nation’s public healthcare system and socioeconomically disadvantaged people.

This virtual event is organized by the Centre for the Study of Korea, University of Toronto and sponsored by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Toronto.