A Dangerous Hashtag Trend Under Criticism for Putting Koreans at Risk for Another Wave of COVID-19
Despite the fact that the government extending the social distancing recommendation by 2 weeks, many photos of cherry blossoms have been flooding social media, eliciting great fear of another potential wave of COVID-19.
What’s especially worrying is the fact that young people of Korea began posting photos of themselves at parks along with the hashtag, “#failedtosocialdistance.”
One woman posted a photo of herself with the cherry blossoms in Ulsan and also captioned it with the hashtag, #failedtosocialdistance.
There were a lot of people even though it was a weekday. The photo would’ve been better if that tent was out of the way. #cherryblossoms
– Netizen
What’s ironic is the fact that the tent that she wanted out of the photo specified, “Please refrain from entering the cherry blossom path.”
Another netizen posted a photo of his son at an arboretum and declared his failure to social distance via hashtag as well.
The flowers aren’t in full bloom yet, but we came out to relieve our frustration at the recommendation of a friend. #failedtosocialdistance
– Netizen
Furthermore, the hashtag, #failedthewitsgame is also trending online, referring to when people go to a place expecting it to be empty, but it turns out to be bustling instead.
One netizen posted a photo at an amusement park and used that hashtag to describe just how crowded it was.
I felt like I was committing a sin, but there were actually lots of people here. I carried a sanitizer with me. #failedtosocialdistance #failedthewitsgame
– Netizen
Following the dramatic decrease in COVID-19 numbers in Korea, more and more people are leaving their houses to enjoy the nice weather with the “What are the chances?” attitude.
But many netizens are criticizing this dangerous trend.
Is this something to brag about? Our situation should be obvious given the fact that our kids can’t go to school. I feel like the stupid one for social distancing now.
People are going around like everything’s okay now.
At this rate, this might be the very last spring in Korea.
– Netizens
In response, one netizen even started a petition demanding stricter enforcement of social distancing in Korea.
There’s no point in just talking about it anymore. Recommendations don’t do anything, and this could potentially lead to making the people who are social distancing stressed. We need stricter enforcements.
– Netizen
The petition gained over 850 signatures in just 3 days.
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