Deaths challenge at-home treatment policy

Vehicles wait at a drive-through Covid-19 testing station in Incheon on Thursday, when the city reported a record number of 13,863 new cases. [YONHAP]

With Korea’s daily virus count topping 170,000 for a second day on Thursday, two vulnerable Covid patients were found dead on the street, raising worries about blind spots in the country’s system for handling patients.

According to police on Thursday, a woman in her mid-80s was found not breathing and unconscious on the sidewalk of a residential area in Gangdong District, eastern Seoul, at around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

She was taken to a nearby hospital after being given CPR from a paramedic, but died. She was confirmed to have Covid-19 and the cause of her death is believed to be the virus, according to the medical examiner.

The woman was a dementia patient who lived alone. Her relatives said they were not aware of the woman's infection.

On Tuesday, a 53-year-old visually impaired man was found dead on a street just 30 meters from his home in Seoul’s Gangdong District.

According to a police investigation, the man collapsed and died on his way to a Covid-19 screening center to receive a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test after his parents were diagnosed with Covid. Under national guidelines, cohabitants of a Covid-19 patient are required take a PCR test.

He tested positive postmortem.

His younger sister was later found to be infected with the virus after his death. The dead man's mourning altar was set up by a group for the handicapped. His blindness was category 3, the third most severe.

Lately, a series of deaths have been reported among patients being treated at home.

Under the new Omicron response system adopted in Korea, Covid-19 patients aged under 60 — who account for the majority — are put under at-home care and have been treating themselves, often referred as “self-treatment.” If they feel symptoms, they can receive medical consultation over the phone, and in case of an emergency, they will be transferred to a hospital.

Along with soaring infections, a total of 587,698 Covid-19 patients in Korea were receiving home treatment as of Wednesday night, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

That system leaves single patients vulnerable if their conditions suddenly deteriorate.

A man in his 50s in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, who was under home treatment was found dead alone last Saturday. He was diagnosed with the virus two days before. In his last phone call with his family at around 9:40 a.m. Friday, he reportedly told them he was not feeling well.

There have even been fatalities of infants and children receiving at-home care.

Among 82 new Covid-19 fatalities added on Thursday, two were below the age of 10, according to the KDCA. They were a seven-year-old girl from North Gyeongsang and a four-month-old boy from Suwon in Gyeonggi.

In Yecheon County in North Gyeongsang, a seven-year-old girl died while receiving Covid-19 treatment at a hospital in Daegu on Tuesday. She is believed to have died of acute myocarditis.

After testing positive last Friday, she was put under home care. She was transferred to a general hospital two days later due to worsening chest pain.

Also on Tuesday, a four-month-old Covid-infected boy died.

He also was diagnosed with the virus last Friday, but was sent to the hospital four days later after suffering cardiac arrest.

Earlier on Friday, a seven-month-old in Suwon who was being treated at home died while being transferred to a hospital.

The paramedics who arrived at his home contacted about ten hospitals to find a bed, but none were available. The infant was eventually transferred to a hospital 17 kilometers (10 miles) away in Ansan, but had cardiac arrest during the 38-minute trip and was declared dead on arrival.

The government recently warned of a surge in infected children and adolescents.

The proportion of patients under the age of 20 among the daily tally has been in the upper 20 percent range over the past one week, hitting 27.9 percent on Thursday.

According to health authorities, children and adolescents accounted for 27.3 percent of the infected population from Feb. 13 to 19, which was double the number from the previous week. The increase was also notable compared to that of other age groups, which rose by 1.7 times compared to the week before.

“Infections among children who are not eligible for vaccination are increasing, and the only solution is for families to try as much as possible not to catch the virus,” Son Young-rae, senior epidemiological strategist at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, said in a radio interview on Thursday.

The country reported 170,016 new Covid-19 cases Thursday, the second day in a row over 170,000.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]