Daegu is South Korea’s fourth largest city, it is home to two and a half million people, famous for its apples and COVID-19. It is the epicenter of the country’s growing novel coronavirus outbreak. It is also, perhaps, a model for how other cities and towns in the free world might try to deal with the virus.

There is no panic here; no rioting, no fearful mobs opposing the housing and care of hundreds of infected patients in their city. Instead there is a stoic calm and quiet. Most businesses and stores are shuttered. All schools are closed. Most people stay at home.

The city has been declared a “special management zone” but there’s no total lockdown. People can leave Daegu and go out to walk their dogs or get their groceries and they do. The city streets are surprisingly busy. But there is worry here, people are concerned, perhaps a little fearful

Yes, it is highly contagious. The rate of infections will likely get worse before it gets better but he reminds me that more people die in Korea and America from the flu and that no one is too scared of that.

Daegu may be the model for life for many of us in 2020 where living with COVID-19 is the new normal.