Does the group banned industry drastically decrease? New outbreak variables ahead of the new distance adjustment

Input 2021.02.10 14:23 | Revision 2021.02.10 14:46

A proposal was made to change the current 5-stage distancing back to a 3-stage system for the reorganization of the sustainable social distancing system. The plan is to improve the business in the direction of ensuring the operation of various facilities as much as possible and prohibiting dangerous behavior. The government is scheduled to announce on the 13th whether to ease some quarantine measures and lower further steps based on the trend of confirmed cases this week and the quarantine situation.

In the future, the government plans to reorganize the distance system to minimize restrictions on the operation of multi-use facilities such as cafes, academies, and gyms, while strengthening quarantine rules such as wearing masks, managing access lists during business hours, and disinfecting and ventilating. On the 9th, the Central Accident Control Headquarters held a’second public discussion for reorganization of social distancing stages’.

Kim Moran, a professor at the National Cancer Center, proposed a three-step distance plan. The steps Prof. Ki suggested are steps 1 to 3 to keep distance from life quarantine. The first step is to apply when the medical system shows a stable decline in epidemics within the scope of the medical system, the second step is when the risk of spread is high, and the third step is when the medical system is threatened by the rapid spread of the epidemic.

The biggest change in this system is to move away from banning business by industry, to banning behaviors with high risk of infection. According to this, almost no facilities are banned from gathering. Instead, activities such as dancing and moving tables are prohibited from the second stage instead of closing the business. Exercising exercise is prohibited in sports facilities, and steam and drinking are prohibited in saunas. Business hours are banned after 12 p.m. in the second stage, and after 9 p.m. in the third stage.

The reason why the government is considering reorganization of distance is because complaints of self-employed people have reached their limits. At the debate, Lee Seong-won, secretary general of the Korean Federation of Small and Medium Business Owners, said, “K-quarantine has already reached the end of its life. The next action that self-employed people who are currently demonstrating will be denied tax payment.”

Experts emphasized that even if a new distancing reorganization proposal is issued, the distancing policy should not become rags as a supplementary measure. Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious medicine at Daegu Guro Hospital, said, “As the distance system continues for the first year, we need to analyze the risk factors and major places of group outbreaks to make a reasonable reorganization plan.” “We need to consistently apply distancing measures while keeping the principles.”

Joong-sik Eom, a professor of infectious medicine at Gachon University Gil Hospital, said, “Because the amplitude is expected to be much larger when the 4th epidemic comes, the situation must be sufficiently prepared to relieve the distance.”

The government will decide and announce the social distancing steps and whether to ease the quarantine regulations on the 13th, the day after Lunar New Year. Following the non-metropolitan area, a plan to operate the facility until 10 pm in the metropolitan area is expected to be considered. However, as cases of group infections are still continuing in the metropolitan area, the government’s consideration of adjusting the distance stage is deepening.

On the 10th, the Central Defense Response Headquarters (Bangdaebon) announced that as of 0 o’clock on the day, the number of new coronavirus confirmed cases in Korea increased by 444, up 141 from the previous day (303). The measures to extend the operation of multi-use facilities until 10:00 p.m. depend on the trend of confirmed patients until 0:00 on the 12th, before the announcement on the 13th.

The number of new confirmed cases has decreased until the last week, and the average value for a week has declined. In the last week (February 4-10), an average of 374 new cases per day occurred. The number of confirmed cases of local outbreaks, which is a key indicator of adjusting the social distancing stage, was 346 on average per day, 2 fewer than the previous day (348), maintaining the range of the second stage (more than 300 nationwide). The reason that the number of new confirmed cases has increased again is that new group infections have occurred in various places.

Although the number of confirmed cases has recently increased, the announcement of the social distancing reform plan on the 13th will proceed as scheduled. Tae-ho Yoon, head of the Central Accident Control Headquarters, said at a briefing on the 10th, “As we are taking measures while looking at the overall trend and the situation over the past week, we are currently taking steps to adjust social distancing on the 13th as planned. We will announce the action.”