Bucheon City to Gradually Reopen Senior Leisure and Welfare Facilities Starting Next Month on the 3rd

Senior Welfare Center Operates Small-Scale Programs with Up to 10 Participants
Elderly Club Presidents Designated as Infection Control Officers and Receive Preventive Education

Bucheon City is conducting infection control officer training with senior center presidents in attendance.
[Photo by Bucheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province will gradually reopen senior leisure welfare facilities such as senior welfare centers, senior citizen centers, and senior classes, which were closed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), starting from the 3rd of next month.

The city announced on the 30th that it plans to open these facilities according to the reopening guidelines for senior leisure welfare facilities issued by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Gyeonggi Province, aiming to reduce care gaps for vulnerable groups.

The city will operate senior citizen centers as cooling shelters during the heatwave and prepare small-scale programs with fewer than 10 participants at senior welfare centers. To this end, it has completed prior preparations such as facility disinfection, stocking quarantine supplies, and training infection control officers.

Senior leisure welfare facilities will operate while complying with quarantine guidelines, limiting usage time and the number of users. Senior citizen centers will be open from 1 PM to 4 PM, but eating food and snacks will be prohibited. Senior welfare centers will operate from 10 AM to 4 PM, and free meals will be suspended.

To prevent COVID-19, the city designated the heads of senior citizen centers as infection control officers and provided them with prior training. Participants in senior job programs and Hope Jobs will be assigned to conduct temperature checks, and a permanent monitoring team will be operated using program managers at key senior citizen centers.

Senior welfare centers will provide prior education on 'COVID-19 behavioral guidelines' to all users, workers, and volunteers within the facility, and have established emergency contact networks and manuals to respond immediately in case of symptomatic or suspected cases.

In accordance with social distancing guidelines, measures such as spacing desks 2 meters apart (at least 1 meter), installing temporary partitions, and operating programs that allow mask-wearing will be implemented. If the number of users increases, the facilities will operate on a time-slot and day-of-week rotation basis.

A Bucheon city official said, "We will strive to prevent infections so that the elderly can use the facilities comfortably and have a healthy summer," and added, "Since the facilities are reopening while COVID-19 has not ended, we ask the elderly to strictly follow preventive behavioral guidelines such as wearing masks."

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