Effect of Information Disclosure Policy on Control of Infectious Disease: MERS-CoV Outbreak in South Korea

Noh, Jin-Won; Yoo, Ki-Bong; Kwon, Young Dae; Hong, Jin Hyuk; Lee, Yejin; Park, Kisoo

This study showed that the Korean health authorities' decision to disclose information regarding hospitals exposed to MERS-CoV contributed to the prevention of further MERS-CoV infection during the outbreak, despite the criticism that the disclosure occurred too late. In addition, findings of this study indicate that health authorities should disseminate information regarding facilities affected by an outbreak of infectious diseases as soon as possible to ensure that people are able to avoid the risk of infection. This confirms the risk communication principle of timely provision of information in coping with outbreaks is so important. It is inappropriate to withhold information that is crucial to decision making for members of the public not only from a communication perspective, but also from epidemiological and clinical perspectives. Therefore, authorities should pay greater attention to risk communication [15] . Following the outbreak of SARS in Singapore, most people emphasized the importance of current study results and the disclosure of crucial information to the public and the media, as to what would have helped during the crises. This should be documented legally as soon as possible to ensure that all disease-related information is provided to the public and the media automatically and systemically when outbreaks occur. It should be noted that on January 6 2016, the newly implemented Infection Disease Prevention Act provided the KCDC with the power to release lists of medical facilities affected by infectious diseases automatically when outbreaks occur.