[The Fountain] Political quarantine vs. scientific quarantine (KOR)

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[The Fountain] Political quarantine vs. scientific quarantine (KOR)

Published: 30 Jan. 2023, 13:49

SHIM SAE-ROM
The author is a communications team reporter at JoongAng Holdings.

The first controversy over “politically-motivated” disease control started in August 2020, six months after the outbreak of the pandemic in Korea. The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued an administrative order to ban gatherings, citing concerns about the spread of Covid-19, after a conservative civic group applied for large-scale rallies on Gwanghwamun Square on Aug. 15 Liberation Day.

Some right-wing groups such as the Aug. 15 Promotion Committee, the National Struggle Headquarters against the April 15th Election Fraud, and the Korea Freedom Solidarity, all protested the ban on gathering. They resisted the ban, claiming, “It constitutes a political disease control for the city government to allow concerts in closed spaces yet ban outdoor rallies.” It was shortly after the Moon Jae-in administration had a landslide victory in the April 15 parliamentary elections, dominating the central and local legislative powers. As the discord continued, Kim Chong-in, head of the emergency committee of the United Future Party, now the People Power Party (PPP), joined the criticism and said, “I hope the government stops its political disease control and focuses on battling against Covid-19.”

Over the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, slated for Jan. 30, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the governing PPP are now under attack for the political disease control. Opponents of the early lifting of the mask mandate started to attack it for being a premature and populist move. The controversy was fueled by some PPP-affiliated local government heads and lawmakers who advocated the lifting ahead of medical and public health experts.

Then, Jung Ki-suck — a professor of respiratory medicine at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital and head of an advisory committee to the government on the pandemic — said in an interview on Jan. 20 with the JoongAng Ilbo, “President Yoon Suk-yeol said he would respect medical experts’ opinions during the presidential election. He listens to them indeed. […] Scientific disease control has nothing to do with political disease control,” openly calming the controversy.

“Political disease control,” which has become the antonym of “scientific disease control,” is now frequently used to criticize a government’s disease control policies. Whenever a major decision is made on Covid-19 — such as distancing, mask mandates and vaccination — there are suspicions that political interests are involved. As there is no way the virus spreads based on ideology or political affiliation, it is a pity that disease control directly related to people’s lives becomes a fodder for political battles. People are just as frustrated by the disease control authorities which always reiterates a “scientific basis.”

Of course, disease control cannot be politics, and vice versa. In the age of the Covid-19 endemic, I hope paradoxical terms such as political disease control will disappear. But we must not forget that personal disease control to protect ourselves and those around us becomes more important when our personal freedom is less controlled by mass quarantine measures, including wearing masks and stay-at-home measures.

정치방역, 과학방역
심새롬 중앙홀딩스 커뮤니케이션팀 기자

정치방역 논란이 처음 크게 불거진 건 2020년 8월이다. 서울시가 광복절 대규모 집회를 신청한 단체에 코로나19 확산 우려를 이유로 집회금지 행정명령을 내린 게 계기였다. 8·15 추진위원회, 4·15 부정선거국민투쟁본부, 자유연대 등 일부 보수성향 단체들이 “밀폐된 공간에서 보는 음악회는 허가해주면서 집회를 금지하는 건 정치방역”이라고 반발했다. 문재인 정부가 총선압승으로 중앙·지방·의회 권력을 석권한 직후다. 갈등이 계속되자 당시 야당이던 김종인 미래통합당(현 국민의힘) 비상대책위원장도 “지지율만 신경 쓰는 정치방역은 당장 중단하고 코로나방역에 집중하기를 바란다”고 비판에 가세했다.

이달 30일(월)로 예정된 실내 마스크착용 의무해제를 놓고 이번엔 윤석열 정부·여당이 정치방역 비판에 휩싸였다. 일부 방역 신중론자들이 “‘노(no) 마스크’ 정책은 시기상조이자 포퓰리즘”이라고 주장하고 나섰다. 앞서 여당소속 지자체장·의원 등이 보건의료계보다 먼저 해제론을 들고나온 게 논란을 촉발했다.

그러자 정기석 코로나19 특별대응단장 겸 국가감염병 위기대응 자문위원장(한림대 성심병원 호흡기내과 교수)이 지난 20일 본지 인터뷰서 “윤석열 대통령이 대선 때 전문가 의견을 존중하겠다고 했는데, 정말로 잘 들어준다”며 “정치방역을 안 하는 게 과학방역”이라며 논란을 공개 진화했다.

‘과학방역’의 반대말이 된 ‘정치방역’은 이제 진영을 막론하고 정부의 방역정책을 비판할 때 쓰는 단골용어가 됐다. 거리두기, 마스크 착용, 백신접종 등 정부가 코로나19 관련 주요 결정을 내릴 때마다 그 배경이 정치적 이해관계에 연동됐다는 의심이 뒤따른다. 바이러스가 이념·정파를 가려가며 퍼질 리 만무한데, 국민생명과 직결된 방역마저 정쟁소재로 쓰이는 건 안타깝다. 중간에서 매번 “과학적 근거”라는 말만 되풀이하는 방역당국도 국민 보기에 답답하긴 마찬가지다.

당연한 얘기지만 방역은 정치일 수 없고, 정치도 방역일 수 없다. 코로나19 엔데믹(감염병의 풍토병화) 시대에는 정치방역 같은 역설적 용어가 사라지길 기대한다. 다만 마스크 착용, 외출제한 등 개인의 자유를 장기간 일괄 제한하는 집단방역이 줄수록 나와 내 주변을 지키는 개인방역이 중요하다는 걸 잊어선 안된다.