Option to quarantine, test to be left to certain individuals

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Option to quarantine, test to be left to certain individuals

Published: 27 Feb. 2022, 19:09

People wait in line to take a Covid-19 test at a temporary screening center at Seoul Station on Sunday. [YONHAP]

The mandatory self-quarantine for people living with a Covid-19 patient, including the unvaccinated, will be scrapped starting Tuesday, leaving some worried about a possible crack in the country’s patient management system amid its surge in Covid-19 cases.

The government announced last Friday that it will cut back its monitoring of people living with infected individuals from March, regardless of the individual's vaccination status, and leave it to them to follow the rules on their own. Monitoring refers to the government's process of quarantining and testing individuals.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, quarantine for those living with a Covid-19 patient was waived only for the fully vaccinated — referring to those who received their second dose less than 90 days ago and those who received their third dose — and others had to undergo seven days of isolation. The new change will waive the quarantine term for all coresidents.

The mandatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing rule will also be lifted.

Coresidents originally had to undergo a total of two PCR tests — once when they were classified as a close contact and again before being released from monitoring. Now they will just be advised, not required, to get a PCR test within three days and a rapid antigen test on the seventh day.

“With the lightened monitoring, there will be no separate administrative order or notification, so the guidelines to take two Covid-19 tests are a recommendation, not mandatory,” explained Park Young-joon, head of the epidemiological investigation team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters.

The changes will take effect from March 1, and will be applied retroactively to coresidents who are already in home quarantine.

Schools, however, will be an exception as they decided to apply the changed measures from March 14, thus banning students from coming to school before then if they or someone they live with is infected. The new school year starts March 2.

The government explained the latest revisions should help reduce the strain on health centers amid a surge in new infections.

“The daily Covid-19 tally going from 100,000 to 170,000 means that the number of patients that each public health center [needs to take care of] has increased from 1,000 to 1,700,” said Lee Ki-il, first control officer for the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters.

“It is already very difficult to deal with confirmed patients on the same day, and it is hard to handle the quarantine of their families living together,” he said.

“Our priority is taking care of the confirmed patients.” Park continued, “We need to guide them to receive timely and appropriate treatment, but the monitoring is being delayed due to too much administrative power being put toward the management of others such as the coresidents.”

Health officials admitted that the changed quarantine policies can indeed increase the number of infections and lead to a bigger pandemic wave.

“Additional transmissions within the community will be inevitable following the waiving of quarantine for coresidents,” Park said, citing that the possibility of individuals catching the virus from a person they are living with ranges from 30 percent to 40 percent.

With unvaccinated people left to monitor their condition themselves, the vaccine pass system requiring proof of vaccination to use certain facilities is losing steam.

A Daegu District Court last Wednesday put brakes on the vaccine pass requirement in restaurants and cafes for all people under 60.

Questions were raised over the fairness between regions, leading to a series of lawsuits across the country by people resisting the government’s public health measures. Local governments themselves also demanded the government provide an official guideline on the vaccine pass system.

The government emphasized that vaccination still helps prevent severe Covid-19 symptoms and said it would come up with guidelines for the system after comprehensively reviewing the virus situation and the court’s decision.

It did, however, draw the line at the idea of completely halting the vaccine pass system across the entire country, saying restaurants and cafes remain “places with the highest risk for infection.”

Korea reported 163,566 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, remaining in the 160,000s for three days in a row, and raising the total to 2,994,841.

Forty-nine people died of the virus, bringing the death toll to 7,944.

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