On the 5th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government Inspection Team is inspecting the corona 19 quarantine regulations for entertainment facilities in the area of Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, on the 5th. Newsis
The government decided to extend the social distancing for the second stage in the metropolitan area and 1.5 stages in the non-metropolitan area, which ended on the 11th, by three more weeks. In consideration of the rapid increase in confirmed cases, a group ban was imposed on entertainment bars in the metropolitan area and Busan, and restaurants, cafes, karaoke bars, and gyms in the metropolitan area also decided to consider shortening the operation by one hour when the average number of confirmed patients per day exceeds 600. In terms of the number of confirmed cases, distance distancing has already exceeded the 2.5-step standard, but it means that it will continue to take tweezers quarantine measures for the time being.
With around 700 confirmed cases a day, it is questionable whether it is desirable to postpone the adjustment of the distance step. The government also admits that this adjustment alone is not enough to prevent the momentum of the 4th epidemic, or that there is a concern about an explosion of confirmed cases in a week or two. Corona 19 infection behavior is also better than in the past due to fewer severe patients, but there are many new factors of concern, such as an increase in mutant viruses. It is a mutant virus that is a problem now in foreign countries where the corona is rapidly increasing again. This is why preemptive measures to prevent spread are necessary.
If we raise the distance, we do not know that it is difficult for self-employed and small business owners who have already suffered from a decrease in sales for more than a year. It is not irrelevant to this situation that the government first responds with tweezers quarantine. However, it should not be overlooked that if the 4th outbreak, which started before the 3rd outbreak was properly settled, could not be controlled at an early stage, it could incur greater social costs later.
It cannot be overemphasized that it is important for each citizen to comply with the rules of voluntary quarantine. The problem is that it is not easy to expect effective autonomous quarantine like last year due to fatigue caused by prolonged social distancing. It is the same in the case of anxiety over the supply and demand of vaccines and distrust over some vaccines, but if tweezers quarantine was unavoidably chosen rather than strengthening the distancing step, the government should convince the government that it could catch the spread of the corona with more elaborate and meticulous additional measures.
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