It was eaten at Shincheonji, but now it is not…

Although the number of new coronavirus infections (Corona 19) has recently occurred around 1,000, the government has decided to extend the 2.5 stage to January 3 next year instead of raising the’social distance’ in the metropolitan area to stage 3. I heard it as a reason for the special quarantine measures for the year-end and New Year holidays that are in effect from the 24th to the 3rd of January. Kwon Deok-cheol, the first deputy head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Minister of Health and Welfare), said on the 27th, “I will observe the situation for about a week and make a comprehensive judgment on whether or not to upgrade to the third stage.

The government has introduced additional quarantine measures instead of immediately raising the level even when upgrading the metropolitan area by 2.5 levels. At the end of November, when the third corona19 epidemic began in earnest, the average number of confirmed cases per week exceeded 400 and met the standard of 2.5 stages (average of 400-500 confirmed cases per week), but instead of upgrading, he chose the strengthened stage 2. It was a so-called’two-step + α’measure. However, when there was no effect, it was raised to the 2.5 stage on December 6, a week later.

The problem is that step 2.5, which started on the 8th, is not producing much effect. The number of new confirmed cases per day continued to increase, reaching the early 1,000s.
Infectious disease experts say, “It is time for the government to thoroughly check and supplement why social distancing is not working.”

Social distancing was first established during the first epidemic in Daegu and Gyeongbuk in February. At that time, it successfully suppressed the corona epidemic by implementing high intensity distance. As the number of confirmed cases decreased to double digits, from May 6, it was reorganized into a relaxed distancing system in daily life. Then, the current distancing system, which divided the existing three stages into five stages (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 stages) through the second epidemic from August to September, began on November 7.

However, Jae-wook Choi, a professor at the Department of Preventive Medicine, Korea University Medical School, said, “The current social distancing is based on the outbreak of specific group infections through the first and second epidemic of Corona 19. Now, it has become a pattern of community outbreaks occurring throughout the country. . The distancing system created based on the previous fashion situation is not working.”

Professor Choi said, “The current distancing system has taken measures by classifying workplaces with group infections into low-risk facilities. But now, infections are occurring wherever people gather,” he said. “There is a limit to suppressing the current epidemic with the existing distancing system.”
He said, “Now, it is necessary to decide step-by-step how to follow the daily life quarantine rules. “It is not limited to specific industries and facilities, but it should be honed in general so that it can be applied to all types of meetings where social life takes place.”

Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious medicine at Korea University’s Guro Hospital, said, “It is time to check the quarantine system including distancing in accordance with the changed environment such as the appearance of a mutant virus.”
Prof. Kim pointed out, “It is a defensive response to not complying with the standards that the government has been trying to create and to come up with additional measures.” He said, “The people are confused because we are only introducing ad-hoc policies, and the fairness between industries is not right,” he said. “In the situation where the number of confirmed cases is rapidly increasing, the government will give a strong signal so that the people will join in to distance.”

Kim Dong-hyun, president of the Korean Society of Epidemiology (Professor of Hallym University School of Medicine) also pointed out that “the government is not able to deliver the message of a crisis situation with impact.” He regretted, “The site of hospitals and nursing facilities is truly an exhibition situation, but the government seems to have an optimistic view to watch for a week.”

Professor Kim said, “The ski resort is closed, but there is also a’balloon effect’ that people crowd in the shopping mall. He added, “If it is burdensome to go to step 3, we must intensively analyze why step 2.5 is not working and reorganize or supplement the distance.”

However, Kim Mo-ran, a professor of preventive medicine at the Graduate School of National Cancer Center, diagnosed that “It is more effective to take advantage of the quarantine strength that Korea is good at, rather than correcting the current distance.”
Professor Ki said, “The fashion doesn’t decrease just by keeping distance. It is important to preemptively perform tests and lower the positive rate from 2 to 3% to 1%,” he said. “Korea can afford to test up to 100,000 cases a day.” He said, “If you go to the third stage, two million business sites must be closed, and only socio-economic damage will increase.” “We must gradually reduce the size of the outbreak by adding complementary measures such as preemptive inspection and banning meetings with more than 5 people while keeping distance.” He emphasized.

Reporter Baek Minjeong [email protected]