South Korea has started to leave the Covid years behind them as citizens aren’t required to wear masks both indoors and outdoors.

On January 20th, 2023, South Korea’s law changed the regulations so that masks weren’t a requirement on public transportation, one of the most common ways viruses can be spread. 

Face masks prevented citizens from better communication causing our daily lives to be more problematic. 

Masks were already erased in most countries’ laws, but South Korea still had the rules as the nation is strict about ways to prevent illnesses from spreading. 

Despite this, just by removing the required masks, people were able to recognize that the Covid years are starting to disappear completely in South Korea. 

Additionally, multiple events that were stopped because of Covid already resumed or are planning to be hosted starting this year.

One good example was the recent marathon in Jeju. 

On March 26th, 2023, South Korea hosted the Jeju MBC International Peace Marathon, which had been stopped for the past four years. 

The marathon consisted of  5km, 10km, 21.0975km, and 42.195km, and over 3,000 people participated in this marathon in total. 

I participated in the 5km marathon in this event, which was also my first marathon ever.

They allocated a maximum of 2 hours to finish the 5km marathon. 

My final personal record was 00:35:28, which seemed fine for a first-time marathon runner. 

Running without a mask on felt wonderful, as I felt free and open to this world again. 

Sadly, this feeling had been gone for a while before, starting when Covid impacted South Korea significantly. 

If  I had to wear a mask while finishing this race, my time wouldn’t be as close to this, as running with a face mask on can be very challenging. 

However, before the law changed, I would’ve been required to run with a mask on; whether it was a marathon, jog, and more, the harshness of the run would’ve greatly increased.

The struggle runners would’ve had before from covid regulations would’ve been crucial as I find the run very difficult even just by running normally. 

Also, while running the marathon, numerous people communicated with others and encouraged them. 

This pep talk wouldn’t have been possible with Covid around. 

Overall, the fact that this event was hosted again shows that this disease is vanishing from our lives. 

Covid is not talked about as often as it had been. 

For example, just a year ago, Covid would be in most of the headlines on news channels, and all over the social media.  

The information still exists now, but we don’t see it much compared to previous years.

Of course, Covid didn’t die out entirely yet. 

However, people can clearly see that it’s not impacting South Korea as strongly as it once did, and the country is “escaping the Covid years.” 

Yuna Cho
Grade 7
St. Johnsbury Academy Jeju