Indoor mask mandate could be next rule to be eased

Social Affairs

Published: 18 Sep. 2022, 17:39 Updated: 18 Sep. 2022, 17:42

Indoor mask mandate could be next rule to be eased

Children participating in the Han River Paper Airplane Festival fly paper planes at Yeouido Hangang Park in western Seoul on Sunday. The festival was resumed for the first time in three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. [JANG JIN-YOUNG]

Korea is inching toward ending its requirement to wear masks indoors, taking into consideration similar moves by other countries such as the United States and France.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Korea is the only country among major Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development nations that mandates face masks in all indoor facilities.

Face masks are not mandatory in the United States, Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey, France, Hungary or the Netherlands. In countries such as Germany, Australia and Italy, face masks are only required at indoor facilities such as social welfare centers, medical facilities, nursing homes and on public transportation. In Japan, people are not required to wear masks indoors unless they are talking or cannot maintain a distance of two meters.

Countries around the world started to ease or lift their mask mandates in line with the decreasing mortality rate of Covid-19 and after dealing with the less-severe Omicron wave.

On May 2, Korea ended its outdoor mask mandate. Masks are still required while attending outdoor events with more than 49 participants, on public transportation and in all indoor spaces. Other Covid-related measures in Korea are a mandatory seven-day quarantine for infected patients and a PCR test requirement for all arriving passengers after entering the country.

The government acknowledged that Korea is lagging behind when it comes to a return to normalcy.

“It is time for Korea to discuss transitioning into a daily routine response to Covid-19,” said Jung Ki-suck, head of the National Infectious Diseases Consulting Committee, in a press briefing on Friday, citing the waning daily Covid case counts and fatality rate.

On Sunday, the country reported 34,764 new Covid-19 infections, which was less than half of the 72,122 cases added on the same day two weeks ago. The total caseload stands at 24,394,466.

Korea’s fatality rate recently dropped to 0.04 percent, which is one-fiftieth of what it was in the early days of the pandemic when the rate reached 2.1 percent.

Jung said, “Korea should not be left behind” while countries around the world continue to end their Covid-19 emergency response systems and called for an “exit strategy” from the pandemic.

“Since Korea is a country where most of the people's wealth is achieved through trade, if it falls behind from the global trend, it will be delayed even more,” Jung explained, adding “economic, social and cultural activities, in particular, should not lag behind”.

World Health Organization Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press briefing on Sept. 14 that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic “is in sight.”

Some are now questioning whether the mandatory quarantine for infected Covid patients will be the next rule to be eased.

In June, when the number of daily Covid-19 cases fell below 10,000, the government reviewed dropping the quarantine requirement but eventually decided to maintain it due to worries over another virus wave.

However, with the rigorous monitoring of patients no longer in place, there is no way of checking whether Covid-19 patients are actually staying at home.

In late August, KDCA commissioner Peck Kyong-ran mentioned that the quarantine of confirmed patients and the indoor mask mandate were “the most important measures in controlling the current virus wave,” and that “the government needs to be cautious about easing such rules.”

In addition, the country is bracing for a “twindemic,” when seasonal influenza and the coronavirus circulate simultaneously.

The KDCA issued an influenza warning for the first time in three years on Friday, given that an average of 5.1 among 1,000 outpatients from Sept. 4 to 10 showed influenza-like symptoms. The figure is higher than the threshold of 4.9 expected for the 2022-2023 season.

“We should discuss the timing, speed, and extent of easing the antivirus measures, but the basis of Korea’s pandemic strategies that have been well maintained shouldn’t be dissolved,” Jung added.

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