Comprehensive Testing of High-Risk Social Welfare Facilities and Medical Institutions in Gwangju Region Yields 'Negative' Results

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 16th that the results of the proactive COVID-19 mass testing conducted on high-risk social welfare facilities and medical institutions to prevent additional cluster infections all came back negative.

The mass testing was conducted from the 7th to the 14th on 26,263 people, including 17,911 residents and inpatients and 11,352 workers at 260 facilities within the jurisdiction, such as nursing homes for the elderly, long-term care hospitals, mental health facilities, psychiatric hospitals (closed wards), and residential facilities for the disabled. Pooling testing methods were used to expedite the process.

The results of the mass testing on high-risk social welfare facilities and medical institutions showed that all facilities except for nursing homes with previously confirmed cases tested negative.

As a follow-up to this mass testing, the city decided to operate a thorough ‘active monitoring system’ targeting high-risk social welfare facilities and medical institutions.

Compliance with social distancing measures extended until the 29th includes ▲prohibition of visits to nursing homes for the elderly ▲prohibition of workers visiting other facilities and contact with outsiders. In addition, workers are required to refrain from outside activities after work and practice strict self-management, including self-quarantine. Furthermore, high-risk social welfare facilities have made it mandatory for not only new residents but also new workers to undergo COVID-19 diagnostic testing before starting work.

In particular, since COVID-19 infection can be fatal for the elderly, strict control of access to high-risk facilities such as nursing homes and long-term care hospitals for workers is enforced to prevent the spread of infection among the elderly.

Also, all individuals within the facilities, including workers, residents, and inpatients, are checked and recorded twice daily for suspected symptoms such as fever and cough. Workers showing symptoms are excluded from work (prohibited from coming to work), and residents and inpatients with symptoms are immediately isolated in designated isolation areas and reported to the local health center without delay.

The city, together with autonomous districts, has established a hotline with designated quarantine managers for each high-risk social welfare facility and hospital to strengthen real-time monitoring. In addition, quarantine supplies such as protective suits will be provided to ensure safe initial response in case of suspected patients.

Park Hyang, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau, said, “Considering the case of confirmed COVID-19 patients in Gwangju’s nursing homes for the elderly, where infections rapidly spread through workers’ group activities at religious facilities, we urge strict compliance with quarantine rules.” He added, “Although it may be somewhat inconvenient, if you cooperate as one team with the quarantine authorities, we will concentrate all our efforts to end COVID-19 early.”

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