Boseong-gun, All-Out Effort to Minimize COVID-19 Damage

Blocking COVID-19 Community Transmission, Boosting Local Economy

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Yong-chul] On the 17th, Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do announced that it is making an all-out effort with a two-track strategy to simultaneously block community transmission and boost the local economy in order to minimize the damage to the local community caused by COVID-19.

Since the 1st of this month, the Boseong-gun Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and the village chiefs have formed an emergency response team to ensure the successful implementation of the five-day mask distribution system, actively engaging in areas requiring citizen cooperation. The public and private sectors are closely linked to respond to COVID-19 and actively share the burden of suffering.

To block community transmission of COVID-19, about 500 locations including county-operated facilities and senior citizen centers have been closed, and active disinfection of multi-use facilities is being carried out together with the public health center and the disinfection team.

The spring integrated festival was completely canceled, and various sports events were postponed. Fever screening booths have been set up at multi-use facilities such as the train station and county office, and the public health center’s screening clinic introduced a ‘drive-through’ system where doctors can collect specimens from patients in their vehicles.

In preparation for emergencies, at the end of January, Jeamsan Natural Recreation Forest was designated as an isolation facility, and daily necessities have been purchased and stocked in preparation for group quarantine. Measures such as securing 45 infectious disease isolation beds at Boseong Asan Hospital and Beolgyo Samho Hospital have also been taken. The county office posts a daily COVID-19 status board on its website to guarantee citizens’ right to know and to conduct transparent administration.

Proactive mask welfare also draws attention. At the end of January, Boseong-gun distributed 110,000 masks to low-income groups, and on February 5th, cloth masks were provided to all residents. As mask supply became unstable, the county released its stock to urgently support 2,000 masks for pregnant women and high-risk groups, and also supplied 700 masks to island areas such as Jangdo and Haedo, striving to stabilize mask supply.

As economic revitalization measures for the local economy depressed by COVID-19, the county is working hard to revive the economy by implementing ▲rent reductions for county-operated facilities, ▲a one-team-one-restaurant system for public officials, ▲operation of safe citizen restaurants, ▲additional issuance of local currency with a 10% special discount (2 billion KRW, scheduled for March 25), ▲early payment of farmers and fishermen’s public service allowances (5.4 billion KRW, mid-April to May), ▲rapid execution of 201.1 billion KRW in the first half of the year, and ▲emergency injection of an additional supplementary budget of 48.8 billion KRW.

Cooperation from volunteer groups and religious communities continues. Since the 11th, about 100 volunteers have gathered at the Boseong Agricultural Technology Center to produce 42,000 cloth masks. They are working hard with the goal of distributing one mask per citizen to resolve mask supply instability. The religious community is also actively cooperating by refraining from religious events such as weekend services, with nearly 96% of religious organizations canceling gatherings in the first week of March and replacing them with home or online services.

Donations from citizens wishing to overcome local difficulties caused by COVID-19 are also continuing. Personal donations including those from religious groups have exceeded 10 million KRW (11.75 million KRW), and more than 10,000 masks have been donated.

Not only sharing the burden within the region but also actively engaging in inter-regional sharing, starting on the 4th of last month, Boseong green tea worth 24 million KRW was provided to Asan and Jincheon, where Wuhan evacuees were quarantined. On the 20th, green tea beverages (250 boxes) were supplied to Buk-gu, Daegu Metropolitan City, and on March 5th, love lunchbox beverages were delivered to medical staff and related personnel in Daegu and Gyeongbuk, leading the way in sharing.

Kim Cheol-woo, the governor of Boseong-gun, said, “We will respond to COVID-19 with the safety of our citizens as the top priority,” adding, “We will not let our guard down until COVID-19 is over and will proactively respond to reduce the damage to our citizens.”

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