[W Forum] Social Distancing Level Reform, the Starting Point of Communication and Coexistence Quarantine

Shin Hyun-young, Member of the National Assembly of the Democratic Party of Korea

The government has unveiled a draft plan to reform social distancing measures for disease prevention. While last year’s first half of the COVID-19 crisis focused on treating confirmed cases, this year’s latter half is shifting policies toward acquiring immunity through vaccination, minimizing life disruptions caused by prevention measures, and creating an environment where people can live safely and with dignity until the end of COVID-19.

The author has long argued that the top-down approach to COVID-19 prevention guidelines must change. The voices from the field, heard as the desperate cries of self-employed and small business owners, called for a bottom-up approach to ‘everyday prevention’ based on evidence, field conditions, and the characteristics of gatherings, rather than uniform, administratively convenient, and irrational guidelines.

The social distancing guidelines, a path no one had taken before and thus lacking overseas precedents, are now at a point of being restructured from three-step, five-step, and four-step systems. After several industry-specific meetings, public hearings, and parliamentary discussions, we expect a more rational reform plan based on ‘autonomy and responsibility.’ Especially if the guidelines are revised to be more professional and explainable based on the evidence accumulated from the past year of COVID-19 experience, it could alleviate some of the pain felt by local businesses due to restrictions on multi-use facilities.

The process of the government gathering opinions from groups and communicating to create guidelines that satisfy the majority and that citizens practice itself is possible based on mature civic consciousness and democracy in the era of infectious diseases.

However, social distancing guidelines must continuously evolve until COVID-19 ends. In an endless infectious disease era, guidelines should demonstrate flexibility to enable life rather than restrict it.

Several requirements are necessary to make this possible. First, local governments should be granted authority to revise guidelines according to regional characteristics, excluding common rules. Second, expert consulting support is needed to improve still unreasonable elements across various industries, including school facilities. Third, a system for continuously collecting and reflecting field opinions to supplement the reform plan should be kept open. Fourth, participation in the guidelines based on autonomy and responsibility must be enforced with strong sanctions for violations. Fifth, as vaccination rates increase, social distancing measures should be applied more flexibly by including vaccination rate indicators in the step relaxation criteria. Sixth, prior research based on overseas cases and evidence is needed regarding whether to differentiate social distancing standards between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

The latter half of COVID-19 will inevitably diversify by local government, industry, and individual characteristics. While maintaining focused management of high-risk facilities and activities, a transition process is needed to restore our daily lives to normal so that people can live humanely and enjoyably.

Equity, rationality, autonomy, and responsibility will be the key keywords in this year’s COVID-19 response.

Shin Hyun-young, Member of the National Assembly, The Democratic Party of Korea

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