코로나 완치자와 확진자 다녀간 업체들... 따뜻하게 보듬어줘야
People affected by COVID-19 have suffered social stigma long after they have recovered from the virus.
Kim Yeon-seung looks into people who have suffered... and businesses that have been damaged due to these social side-effects of the virus.
Back in April, university student Lee Jeong-hwan was diagnosed with COVID-19 on his way back from Istanbul.
He was cured after two months of hospitalization, but had lasting side-effects such as extreme hair loss.
But it wasn't just the physical side effects that caused him pain.
"Sometimes I would talk about my COVID-19 experience in cafes, but the cafe owner would often ask me to leave once they found out what I was talking about."
He now has his own YouTube channel, where he posts videos to raise awareness of the side-effects of the virus.
Others have suffered from fake news related to COVID-19.
This restaurant owner in Gangnam-gu District saw her business suffer when one of her workers became COVID-19 positive in May.
The worker hadn't worked in her restaurant for almost two weeks before she was confirmed to have the virus, but that didn't matter.
News outlets reported the case as if the worker had contracted the virus from the restaurant's kitchen.
For more than a month, she lost most of her customers and sales fell by almost 70 percent.
Even other restaurants in the same chain suffered a drop in sales.
But the fake news continued.
"Even a month after this incident, an article wrongfully reported that one of our delivery staff had COVID-19. I had such a hard time telling customers that this wasn't the case because so many of them called to ask."
"These people only fell victim to the whims of the coronavirus.
But the consequences they had to suffer were too harsh.
It's time to realize that anyone could be just as unlucky and welcome back those who have been in the grip of Covid-19.
Kim Yeon-seung, Arirang News"
