As group infections from nursing homes, facilities for the disabled and detention centers continued, the government decided to improve the’cohort isolation’ method for nursing hospitals only. Among them, it was pointed out that the definition of cohort isolation used by the government itself violates international standards and has no medical basis. Health care and disability officials urged the government to remove the current cohort quarantine in all group facilities, not just nursing hospitals.
On the 3rd, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced the’nursing hospital emergency medical response plan’ and improved the existing cohort quarantine system in the case of nursing hospitals, promptly transferring non-contact persons to other nursing hospitals in the event of a large-scale confirmation from nursing hospital I decided to take action. “There has been a problem of spreading Corona 19 to contact or non-contact patients as confirmed patients and non-confirmed patients have been quarantined at the hospital,” said Son Young-rae, head of the strategic planning division of the Central Accident Control Center.
The government calls cohort quarantine when people who have the potential to come into contact with corona19 are grouped together and quarantined. On the website of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, “Cohort quarantine is a concept of a ward or ward in which a group of patients (cohorts) exposed to the same pathogen or with infection are placed together, based on clinical diagnosis and microbiological test results according to the epidemiology and transmission method of the source It is set as”.
Based on this definition, the government banned access to collective housing facilities with confirmed cases in detention centers, nursing hospitals, and facilities for the disabled on a per building basis. On the other hand, there were no separate guidelines for separating confirmed and non-confirmed, suspected infection, and contact persons in the facility.
However, the “cohort quarantine” regulations that the government has operated are in violation of international standards such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WebsiteLooking at the’definition of commonly used terms’ disclosed in’Cohort isolation’, it means “isolating multiple confirmed patients together in case of insufficient single room”. The CDC definition also stated that “a cohort of confirmed patients is allowed, but a cohort of suspected patients is not recommended because of the high risk of transmission”, and “the facility should not cohort both the confirmed person, the contact person, and the non-contact person”.
The government reported that all of the facilities in the facility with confirmed cases were reported as’same group’, but the policy that has been quarantined is an arbitrary measure without medical grounds.
As a result of this cohort containment, the number of confirmed cases from the facility exploded. In December, 996 people were infected and 99 people died in 14 nursing hospitals isolated in a cohort for a month. The fatality rate is 10%. As the number of deaths increased rapidly from last month, the government also announced that it would exclude the number of deaths in nursing hospitals from the number of deaths in waiting beds.
When the first 45 confirmed cases occurred in Shinawon, Songpa-gu, Seoul, a facility for people with disabilities, the government cohort quarantined the facility. The number of confirmed cases surged to 76. The city of Seoul promised to disperse the residents against the opposition from the disabled, but re-entry began on the 14th. Even in the eastern detention center, the government did not separate the confirmed, contacted, and non-contact, so far, 1,200 people have been confirmed. A total of 26 residents and workers were confirmed as of the 12th at Ansan Peace House, a residential facility for the disabled in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, and the residents who were currently tested negative were quarantined in a cohort.
On the 4th, the Korea Disability Forum and the Association of Attorneys for Democratic Society sent emergency petitions to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Health Rights, and Housing Rights, respectively. The stadium lover discrimination abolition solidarity held a press conference on the 13th and called for an emergency removal facility. The Seoul Disabled Discrimination Solidarity and the like have been protesting for the 17th day, calling for’emergency evacuation facilities’ for facilities for the disabled, including Shinawon, at Haechimadang in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.
The Federation of Health Care Organizations for the Realization of the Right to Health released a press release on the 13th, saying, “The government-implemented cohort quarantine is an unfounded, non-medical practice and violates international standards. The current situation was only concealed with the word’cohort quarantine’ for the failure to all confirmed patients due to a shortage of beds,” he said. “Because it is against the principle of same-group isolation, it should be stopped at all facilities.” They said, “The government should immediately apologize and take measures to prevent recurrence.”
The group said, “Emergency de-installation measures for group accommodation facilities and proper infection control measures are needed. He emphasized that the handicapped need to take support measures so that they can settle safely in the local community, not re-entry to an quarantine facility that cannot be distanced.” The emergency medical response plan for nursing hospitals announced by the government cannot be kept without increasing public beds. “The decentralization plan should be realized by strengthening public medical care, and urgent situations should be resolved through active mobilization of private hospital beds and personnel.” Urged.
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