"Restlessness and impatience are two diseases," said Mahatma Gandhi, "and both of them shorten life." The words of India's martyred independence leader have taken a grimly prophetic turn in 2020. As the world struggles to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, the responses of different nations have cast the deadly side effects of impatience into stark relief. By the time you read this, the United States will have exceeded 2 million confirmed cases, or one in every 160 Americans. By contrast, the Republic of Korea (commonly referred to as South Korea) has fewer than 12,000 cases in a population of nearly 52 million, or roughly one in every 4,300 Koreans. South Korea's aggressive testing early in the outbreak is credited with limiting the outbreak to a few unregulated social activities such as churches, door-to-door sales and "multilevel marketers" (i.e. pyramid schemes). Public gatherings such as the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships, originally scheduled for March in the South Korean port city of Busan, have been cancelled or postponed out of an abundance of caution. The preventive measures largely proved effective, as only 1,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Seoul, a city of 10 million. Table tennis clubs across the nation fell silent. One such club was in Yangcheon, a district in western Seoul. As the months passed, however, people grew restless and yearned to return to normal life. As Canadian author Janette Oke wrote, "Impatience can cause wise people to do foolish things." Hoping that the worst was over, players returned to the Yangcheon table tennis club. Soon, 29 cases of COVID-19 were traced back to the club. Park Won-soon, mayor of Seoul, immediately asked all of the city's 350 table tennis clubs to close. Those who insisted on remaining open would have to abide by strict hygenic and social distancing protocols. "The municipal government will step up its monitoring of table tennis rooms and other indoor sports facilities," said mayor Park. "The government will take much tougher measures in the future, if necessary." Thinking the battle was won, many around the world have celebrated too soon, with deadly consequences. The case of the Yangcheon table tennis club is a frightening reminder that patience is a virtue, and virtue is its own reward. "Impatience for victory," said King Louis XIV of France, "guarantees defeat."

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