Gwangju City Cancels Opening of Citizen's Forest Water Playground This Year

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 16th that it will cancel the operation of the Gwangju Citizens' Forest Water Playground, which has been operated every year from July to August, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Gwangju Citizens' Forest Water Playground is a very popular place, attracting more than 25,000 visitors last year alone. However, due to the ongoing occurrence of COVID-19 cluster infections nationwide following the metropolitan area, the city decided to prevent the spread of local infections by canceling the event.

In the case of water play-type water facilities, many users stay in a limited space for a long time, and there is a risk of droplet transmission through contact between people. Especially since water playgrounds are mainly used by young children, it is difficult to control, and it was judged that compliance with the 'social distancing in daily life' guidelines would not be possible.

Also, since an unspecified number of people enter the water, there is a potential risk of infection exposure, and because masks cannot be worn in the water, the risk of exposure is considered high.

Kim Seok-ung, Director of the Environmental Ecology Bureau of the city, said, "It is regrettable that we cannot open the Citizens' Forest Water Playground, which has been popular as a summer retreat for many citizens, but we will create better conditions next year to open the water playground." He added, "Since there is still a risk of COVID-19 spread, we ask everyone to strictly follow personal quarantine rules such as wearing masks."

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