[Q&A] "If Sick, Do Not Attend School; Specific Examples of 'Everyday Quarantine'..."

On the 31st, students are walking around the playground behind a COVID-19 related entry prohibition notice posted at an elementary school in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The quarantine authorities have disclosed part of the guidelines for the 'daily quarantine' system they are planning in preparation for the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected to include making hygiene rules a part of daily life as an extension of the currently implemented 'social distancing,' and refraining from using multi-use facilities if symptoms are suspected. Measures to block transmission to high-risk groups are also being explored.

On the afternoon of the 2nd, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, stated at a regular briefing, "The strong implementation of social distancing can ultimately be seen as a subset of daily quarantine," revealing such plans.

Below is the Q&A with Deputy Head Kwon Jun-wook regarding social distancing and daily quarantine

- When are the specific guidelines related to daily quarantine expected to be released, and what will they include?

▲ Regarding daily quarantine, an internal dedicated team is currently working on the content while forming consultative bodies with experts and various sectors. Daily quarantine includes not only high-intensity social distancing but also general social distancing, such as maintaining a 2-meter distance and reducing close contact in daily life, which can be representative components. Also, in cases of symptoms including fever, avoiding crowded places altogether and conducting fever monitoring of people gathering in such places can be part of daily quarantine. Maintaining hygienic hand cleanliness and preparing hand sanitizers or handwashing facilities at any location are also included.

At the same time, groups that could be severely affected if transmission occurs must continue to be protected even without high-intensity social distancing. For example, measures are needed for groups with very low immunity such as cancer patients, organ transplant recipients, and pregnant women. The quarantine authorities are preparing measures based on these basic concepts through discussions with experts and consultations with related ministries.

More specifically, taking schools as an example, it starts with parents not sending their children to school if they feel even slightly unwell, conducting fever checks at school entrances, and placing hand sanitizers so students can wash their hands anywhere inside the school. Additionally, ensuring sufficient distance between students during meal times and other occasions can be a detailed example of daily quarantine.

- There are foreign reports that many infections are asymptomatic, and in Korea, cluster infections with unidentified sources continue to occur.

▲ One of the biggest challenges in COVID-19 quarantine is asymptomatic infection. Also, virus shedding begins up to two days before symptoms appear, during which infectivity is high. Therefore, thorough self-quarantine is necessary. When explaining daily quarantine, fever monitoring was mentioned, but even with this, some virus shedding can occur before fever appears. Other symptoms may appear first. Therefore, through guideline revisions, the contact tracing criteria, currently set to one day before symptom onset, should be expanded to two days prior. We are also internally discussing strengthened measures to enforce stricter self-quarantine and prevent secondary and tertiary transmission within families during self-quarantine.

- International organizations and countries recommend different physical distances for social distancing, ranging from 1 meter to 2 meters.

▲ Initially, South Korea referred to the guidelines of the U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Regarding the SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2003, guidelines were based on a transmission distance of 3 feet, approximately 91 cm. However, for most respiratory droplet infections, countries using meters generally recommend 2 meters, while countries like the U.S. using feet recommend 6 feet. Two meters is roughly the space of about three steps. This will also be applied in daily quarantine going forward.

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