Gwangju City Implements 'Preventive Cohort Isolation' in Social Welfare Facilities Until the 22nd

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 10th that it will pilot a 'preventive cohort isolation' for local social welfare facilities to protect vulnerable groups to infectious diseases, such as the elderly who are susceptible to COVID-19.

'Preventive cohort isolation' is a preemptive measure to protect vulnerable facilities without infected individuals from infection sources in situations where confirmed COVID-19 cases are increasing, raising concerns about community transmission, especially in living facilities for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and disabled, where group infections are feared if external infection sources enter.

The city first decided to pilot preventive cohort isolation at Happy Mom Nursing Home, a nursing facility for the elderly located in Dong-gu, and Gwangju Hope Center, a rehabilitation facility for the homeless, from the 9th to the 22nd, placing residents and essential service personnel under facility isolation under the responsibility of the facility managers.

Happy Mom Nursing Home houses 45 elderly residents, and Gwangju Hope Center accommodates 74 residents including elderly and disabled individuals, with 30 and 23 staff members respectively.

Earlier, on the 6th, the city held a meeting with the city council and heads of social welfare living facility associations by sector, designating Happy Mom Nursing Home and Gwangju Hope Center as pilot sites. The decision to expand the implementation to other social welfare living facilities will be made later, reflecting the trend of community infection spread and opinions from medical experts.

Once cohort isolation is implemented, workers are completely prohibited from going out or leaving work and must live only within the facility. Residents are also not allowed to go out, and visits from outsiders are entirely blocked. Additionally, temperature checks must be conducted at least twice daily.

Shift workers on standby are also required to follow self-quarantine guidelines, such as avoiding contact with outsiders and refraining from using public transportation, to minimize the possibility of infection source inflow.

The city plans to prioritize the distribution of quarantine and relief supplies to isolated facilities and minimize damages from cooperation with quarantine measures by providing allowances, meal expenses, and snack costs to workers.

Furthermore, the city will continuously monitor compliance at participating facilities and conduct ongoing on-site inspections to ensure that non-participating facilities strictly adhere to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s social welfare facility response guideline manual.

Lee Pyeong-hyung, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau of the city, said, “This measure is a preemptive protective action to prevent COVID-19, aimed at blocking virus inflow and preventing infection. We thank the stakeholders who made this difficult decision for the safety of social welfare facility residents, who are vulnerable to infectious diseases, and we will do our utmost to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by mobilizing all available resources.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.