“The government has secured a bed, but our patient can’t go. It’s dying”

In December, a group infection occurred in 14 nursing hospitals in one month, and 996 people were infected, of which 99 were found to have died. The mortality rate reaches 9.94%. It is 6.5 times the death rate of the entire corona (1.53%).

The tragedy of nursing hospitals reveals the backside of K quarantine that the government is proud of. As the winter entered, the government panicked as group infections and deaths in nursing hospitals lined up, and this year, they took measures, but 99 people had already died.

The failure to quarantine in nursing hospitals is the failure to properly operate cohort quarantine. Cohort refers to the same group. It is a quarantine method commonly used in hospitals and nursing homes during MERS and Corona 19. Cohort quarantine is to consider patients, doctors, nurses, and caregivers in the hospital as the same group at the time of the outbreak of group infection, and completely prohibit outside access and resolve the infection inside.

Proper cohort isolation cleans up the infection without spreading it. It is a technique that was successful in Changwon and other places during the first outbreak of Corona 19 in the spring.

However, Daegu does not use cohort isolation. This is because the conditions to apply it properly are not in place, and the early dissipation policy is better. Daegu Metropolitan City Infectious Disease Control Director Kim Shin-woo (Director of Infectious Disease Control Division, Kyungpook National University Hospital) said, “If there is no reliable environment for cohort quarantine, internal cross-infection will occur. There must be enough manpower and workers must have knowledge and training on infectious diseases.” “If you do not meet these requirements, it is difficult to keep the cohort management well, so it is better to remove the confirmed person and observe it at another institution,” he said.

None of the nursing hospitals entered into cohort quarantine meet these conditions. As of the 4th, the largest number of deaths came out at Bucheon Hyo Plus Nursing Hospital. In a recent interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, Director Kim Mo of Lee Hospital criticized the quarantine measures. “Last year, the cohort quarantine began on December 11th, and in the afternoon of that day, an epidemiological investigator and an employee of the Bucheon City Health Center came and looked at it and said,’All stop, never move.’ They were mixed with positive and negative patients, but they told me not to move. In the end, there were four confirmed patients and two negative patients in one hospital room,” he said.

He said, “I had to remove it, but I couldn’t remove it, and there was no space. To remove it, I had to pull it out to the outside. It was not a situation where only the voice patients could be gathered to arrange the ward. If there were several empty wards, we would do that, but we couldn’t do that because we had only one. I couldn’t do it, and the health center guidelines were all-stop.” He said, “The government has secured a bed somewhere, but our patient can’t go. Our patient is dying… We have to transfer this minute soon. If there is a delay, there was no answer,” he said.

Director Kim pointed out the injustice of cohort isolation and the problems of health authorities not to exclude patients. He said, “The 27 people who died while waiting for the hospital bed would have saved 80% even if they were transported to another location quickly.”

In the case of the Misodeul Nursing Hospital in Guro-gu, Seoul, not to mention doctors and nurses, the number of caregivers has decreased significantly. Absolute manpower is insufficient due to off-duty workers during cohort quarantine, caregivers who chose to self-isolate, and confirmed personnel after quarantine. Neurology chief Choi Hee-chan of this hospital told the Blue House national petition, “More things are happening in nursing hospitals than Japanese cruise ships.” “About 100 caregivers left the hospital for fear of infection. Nurses and doctors provide care services such as changing diapers and meals.” He also appealed.

Bucheon Hyoplus Hospital was quarantined in a cohort on the 11th of last month and the Guromisodeul Nursing Hospital on the 15th of last month. A cohort containment technique that failed in Daegu was applied to the winter corona site. On the 3rd, the government came up with measures for a nursing hospital, and the Central Accident Control Headquarters organized an emergency response team for the first time on the 4th and sent it to a nursing hospital in Gwangju Metropolitan City. At a briefing on the 4th, Jung Eun-kyung, head of the central quarantine countermeasures headquarters, said, “Eight emergency field response teams were dispatched to the site due to the outbreak of a group infection in the relevant nursing hospital in Gwangju. Separation of close contacts, securing and all of the confirmed patients bed, and evaluating the quarantine situation, “We promoted medical personnel support and infection control measures for workers.”

It is pointed out that the interpretation is overly optimistic because group infections in nursing hospitals or nursing homes occur within the facility. Tae-ho Yoon, head of quarantine and prevention at the Central Accident Control Headquarters, said that 1,000 confirmed cases occurred at a briefing on the 4th. “The effect of a large-scale group infection in the eastern detention center and nursing hospital the previous day” said, “The average number of confirmed cases for 3 weeks decreased gradually. I think it is being the third fashion management.”

Eun-mi Chun, a professor of respiratory internal medicine at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, pointed out that “the government does not seem to give much meaning to the occurrence of group infections in nursing homes or detention centers, not community infections.” Professor Chun added, “Because asymptomatic infections are increasing in local communities, group infections also occur in nursing hospitals.”

Professor Jeong Ki-seok of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital said, “Since spring last year, we have been saying that we should be prepared for no beds, but we have consistently ignored them.”

Experts point out that the government’s response is easy.
Professor Chun pointed out, “I cannot understand that the quarantine authorities are re-issuing some banning orders for golf courses and ski resorts,” he said. “It was said that a full-scale examination was performed every week for workers in nursing homes and nursing hospitals, but it should be done with patients. If PCR test is difficult, even rapid antigen test needs to be performed periodically.”

Choi Won-seok, a professor of infectious medicine at the University Ansan Hospital, said, “The government said’the medical system can respond,’ but half is right and half is wrong.” “It is only a bed that was barely expanded by reducing the number of intensive care beds in university hospitals, but the normal medical system is in operation. It is not being done.” Also, “I hope not to conclude that there are enough beds unless there are beds that can transport all the patients in the nursing hospital. “Expecting fewer patients and being optimistic is a completely different matter.”

Reporter Woorim Lee [email protected]