"‘The darkest place is under the lamp’ Damyang-gun, Has It Let Its Guard Down on COVID-19 Prevention..."

7-8 Main Building Entrances Wide Open, Only One Equipped with Thermal Camera

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The entrance door of Damyang County Office, which should set an example for COVID-19 prevention, is wide open without any special preventive measures.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] The proverb "It is darkest under the lamp" is being mentioned in reference to Damyang-gun, Jeonnam.

Although government offices nationwide are making efforts to minimize entrances to one or two doors to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Damyang-gun Office not only leaves all its entrances wide open without any special measures but also only complains about budget issues.

Moreover, despite the recent strengthening of prevention measures due to COVID-19 infections related to Itaewon clubs, Damyang-gun is drawing criticism by only expressing general positions such as "There are many entrances to the office building and an annex, making control difficult," and "There is a lack of budget."

According to Damyang-gun on the 21st, the county has installed and operated one fever detection camera at the entrance of the civil service office building since the end of March.

This is to block the entry of civil petitioners showing suspected COVID-19 symptoms to prevent any possible spread at the source.

However, this camera is installed at only one of many entrances, so it cannot check the condition of officials or petitioners entering through other entrances, which is problematic.

In fact, around 11 a.m. that day, all the entrances of the Damyang-gun Office building were open, allowing free access.

The back door of the civil service office building, where the camera is installed, was open, and all four entrances of the main office building were also open. The problem was that there were no personnel controlling each entrance.

A bigger issue is that most petitioners park in the parking lot behind the office and can enter the county office through the open back door.

This is quite different from other local governments that close all but one or two entrances or allow entry only after staff with non-contact thermometers check the temperature at each entrance.

A petitioner, Mr. Kim (44), said, "When I went to a district office in Gwangju Metropolitan City, all entrances were closed except one, which gave a sense of security that some prevention was being done, but this place is not like that. People come and go through multiple entrances, so if a confirmed case visits, wouldn't that be a big problem?" he sighed.

In response, a Damyang-gun official explained, "We check the temperature of all employees twice a day using thermometers provided in each department," and added, "We will discuss entrance control with the relevant departments."

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