Hand Sanitizer Present but Ineffective... Persistent COVID-19 Blind Spots in Department Stores and Cafes Amid 4th Wave

On the afternoon of the 11th, customers were eating food without maintaining social distancing at a street food stall near Gangnam Station in Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporters Donghoon Jeong, Jeongyun Lee] Although COVID-19 has entered its fourth major wave, many areas remain blind spots in quarantine measures. As the possibility of infection through physical contact increases, hand sanitization when using multi-use facilities is still being neglected.

On the 14th, Asia Economy inspected multi-use facilities such as department stores, cafes, and gyms, and found that less than 50% of users participated in hand sanitization. At a cafe near Samseong Station, over a 30-minute observation period, only 3 out of 32 visitors sanitized their hands. Only 10% of users sanitized their hands. Although hand sanitizers were placed throughout the store, no staff guided their use. Visitors touched tables, chairs, and displayed products with their hands, and some touched their faces with masks lowered, but those who sanitized their hands were hard to find.

At the entrance of Hyundai Department Store Trade Center Branch, which had temporarily closed due to a cluster infection, staff continuously guided visitors with "Please check in with QR code and sanitize your hands." On the afternoon of the 13th, at an exit on the basement first floor, only 21 out of 41 people?about half?sanitized their hands before entering the department store. At a gym in Seocho-gu, 14 out of 20 users sanitized their hands following staff guidance before starting their workouts.

Professor Eunmi Cheon of the Respiratory Medicine Department at Ewha Mokdong Hospital said, "Infections through droplets and air are most common, but physical contact is also one of the main sources of infection," adding, "Since people unconsciously touch many things with their hands in daily life, hand sanitization and washing should be habitual, and efforts should be made to avoid touching the face and other body parts."

Street vendors where eating takes place also show a disappearance of social distancing. On the afternoon of the 13th, in front of the cup rice street vendors in Noryangjin, Seoul, examinees and middle and high school students were seen eating cup rice mixed together. Because the space around the vendors was narrow, people sat closely packed. Eating together without maintaining distance greatly increases the risk of infection.

At around 9:50 p.m. on the 11th, social distancing was also not properly observed at a street food vendor near Gangnam Station, Seoul. Eight customers were eating food sitting closely together. Some were wearing masks below the chin or completely removed even when not eating. This raised concerns about COVID-19 virus transmission through droplets. Even after 10 p.m., when bars and restaurants are closed due to gathering bans, food consumption at street vendors continued. The area was crowded with people eating or taking out street food before heading home. Even then, social distancing and mask-wearing were distant concepts. According to quarantine authorities’ guidelines, when outdoors, people must maintain a distance of 2 meters (at least 1 meter) from others and wear masks at all times.

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