[Q&A] Yongin COVID-19 Patients and Contacts 57+α..."Increased Risk of Additional Infections"

Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters (Director of the National Institute of Health)

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The health authorities announced on the 7th that 57 people have been identified so far as close contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 patient living in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Among the contacts, one person was confirmed positive on the same day. Since there is a high possibility of transmission before symptom onset and the patient visited indoor crowded facilities, the authorities anticipate the possibility of additional infections.

At a briefing on the same day, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, said, "Epidemiological investigations are currently underway, but about 57 contacts have been identified so far. This number is very likely to increase, and among the contacts identified so far, one additional person has been confirmed positive."

According to Yongin City, the patient, a man in his 20s, began experiencing symptoms such as fever and diarrhea from the 2nd. Concerns about additional infections grew after it was revealed that he visited clubs in Itaewon, Seoul, in the early hours of the day. Facilities like clubs are environments where mask-wearing and social distancing are practically difficult, and being indoors facilitates transmission to those nearby.

Deputy Director Kwon stated, "Even in places where close contact can occur for more than 15 minutes, it is difficult to definitively identify factors that determine whether secondary or tertiary transmission is low or high, as it depends on the closeness of contact, duration, and the patient's symptoms and timing of onset." He added, "In the past, when tracking about three-digit numbers of close contacts, there were cases with no additional infections, but conversely, in high-risk facilities such as nursing hospitals, large-scale secondary and tertiary transmissions occurred."

He continued, "The reason COVID-19 is considered a difficult pathogen to handle is that the virus is actively shed from two days before symptom onset, and during that period, the transmission scale from one infected person can reach up to 44%. If symptoms have appeared, it is judged that sufficient infections could have already occurred in crowded environments or places before symptom onset."

Below is a Q&A with Deputy Director Kwon from the briefing on the same day.

- Please update us on the epidemiological investigation of the patient who entered from Kuwait.

▲ The investigation is still ongoing, but it is currently assessed that COVID-19 cases are increasing locally without any specific common factors. The patients are not affiliated with any particular institution or company, and there are no commonalities among the cases.

- There are reports that opening one-third of classroom windows while using air conditioning in schools is allowed. Is there scientific evidence supporting this?

▲ Regarding air conditioning use in schools, on the 4th, government officials and experts in health and environmental fields met to discuss school prevention management guidelines. During the discussion, experts concluded that when air conditioning or similar cooling devices are inevitably used due to rising temperatures, it is most reasonable to operate them while keeping windows open about one-third or more.

- Regarding quarantine guidelines for multi-use facilities like clubs, what sanctions are in place if fever checks or social distancing are not enforced?

▲ Depending on administrative orders from local government heads, there may be exceptions by region. Currently, these measures rely on active public participation and cooperation, and no legal sanctions are immediately prepared.

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