Gwangju City "Forms Dedicated Response Team for Hyojeong Nursing Hospital, Transfers Some Asymptomatic Patients"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Gwan-woo] The COVID-19 situation in the Gwangju area has reached a new turning point. Unfortunately, the cluster infection outbreak originating from Hyojeong Nursing Hospital in Gwangju, which was on the verge of setting a new record for the highest number of daily new confirmed cases, triggered this change.

Nursing hospitals, where mainly elderly patients with illnesses are admitted, are known as facilities of special interest to quarantine authorities.

The Gwangju quarantine authorities classify such facilities as infection-vulnerable or high-risk facility groups and have been conducting proactive responses. They have been visiting medical institutions and social welfare facilities every two weeks to conduct comprehensive testing.

Until the cluster outbreak at Hyojeong Nursing Hospital, this operation was considered relatively successful. In addition, an administrative order was issued to completely block the virus from entering high-risk facilities.

However, the firmly built quarantine dam collapsed in an instant. According to Gwangju City on the 3rd, as of 2 p.m. that day, two additional confirmed cases related to Hyojeong Nursing Hospital (Gwangju 1195 and 1197) were reported, bringing the total to 62. This occurred in just two days.

The cause of this mass infection has not yet been identified. However, it is more plausible to assume that it started from workers who at least commute between their workplace and home, rather than hospitalized patients who rarely go out, their families who are prohibited from visiting, or outsiders who cannot enter the facility.

At the COVID-19 briefing that day, the quarantine authorities mentioned the ‘professional ethics awareness’ of the facility workers. This is unprecedented.

Regarding the cluster infection at Hyojeong Nursing Hospital, the quarantine authorities stated, “To prevent cluster infections in vulnerable facilities, since the 21st of last month, administrative orders have prohibited visits to nursing hospitals and facilities, as well as psychiatric hospitals, restricted entry of outsiders, and completely banned visits to other facilities and private gatherings.” They added, “Nevertheless, cluster infections occurred, and we are investigating the cause.”

They further warned, “Due to the nature of nursing hospitals, workers must perform their duties with professional ethics awareness. If violations of the administrative order are confirmed, strong measures such as prosecution, fines, and suspension of operations will be taken.”

This implies that if no connection indicating infection started within the facility is found, they will investigate whether workers violated administrative orders by holding private gatherings.

Additionally, starting from the 4th, the quarantine authorities expressed their intention to respond immediately by shortening the proactive testing cycle for high-risk facilities from once every two weeks to once a week. The testing targets have also been significantly expanded from nursing and psychiatric hospitals and nursing facilities to include elderly care facilities and residential facilities for people with severe disabilities.

That morning, the quarantine authorities held a countermeasure meeting with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters regarding Hyojeong Nursing Hospital and newly announced measures including ▲ formation of a severe patient classification team ▲ separation of confirmed cases and contacts ▲ transfer of some negative patients ▲ PCR testing for patients and workers.

Recognizing the seriousness of the current situation, they formed a real-time response team and pledged to focus on minimizing damage to prevent any deaths.

The quarantine authorities said, “Our city continues to strengthen testing capacity, currently conducting about 5,000 tests daily, and is doing its best to prevent the spread of COVID-19.” They urged, “If you have symptoms, please get tested for free at the screening clinics of each district health center or the temporary screening clinic at City Hall.”

They continued, “We earnestly ask citizens to actively cooperate with the two-week extension of social distancing measures announced on the 2nd to protect the Gwangju community from the COVID-19 crisis.”

Meanwhile, in Gwangju, 26 and 65 new confirmed cases (still being tallied) were reported on the weekend days of the 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

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