Increasing 'Dolpagamyeon' in Nursing Hospitals and Facilities... Complete Suspension of In-Person Visits and Contact Meetings

Since June 1, when in-person visits at long-term care hospitals and facilities resumed exclusively for those who have completed COVID-19 vaccination, in-person visits have been taking place.
Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] As COVID-19 vaccinations have been completed, breakthrough infection cases (confirmed 14 days after vaccination completion) have been frequently occurring in nursing hospitals and facilities, which were considered "safe zones," prompting the government to strengthen quarantine rules for these nursing hospitals and facilities.

On the 11th briefing, Park Hyang, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters' quarantine team, stated, "We plan to strengthen quarantine management in nursing hospitals and nursing facilities," announcing that PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing for workers will be intensified and that contact visits will be suspended in all regions from levels 1 to 4.

Accordingly, although vaccinated workers were previously excluded from preemptive testing, from this day forward, PCR testing will be mandatory regardless of vaccination status. Workers in level 4 regions must undergo PCR testing once a week, and those in level 3 regions once every two weeks. This measure will be implemented until the 3rd of next month, and its extension will be reviewed after analyzing the results.

Currently, Busan and Gimhae City in Gyeongnam, where many breakthrough infection cases have occurred, plan to complete comprehensive testing of all nursing hospital and facility workers within their jurisdictions by the end of this week.

Visitation standards will also be significantly strengthened. Park said, "In level 4 regions, in-person visits will be suspended, and in regions under level 3 or below, only non-contact visits with partitions will be allowed." This measure has been in effect since the 9th.

Additionally, outpatient treatment rules will be tightened. When hospitalized patients visit other hospitals for treatments such as chemotherapy, the number of accompanying guardians will be limited to one or two, and visits to non-essential places will be prohibited to minimize movement routes.

These measures come in response to recent breakthrough infection cases in some nursing hospitals and facilities, despite vaccination completion. Epidemiological investigations confirmed transmissions from workers' families or cases confirmed after outpatient visits by hospitalized patients. It was also found that quarantine rules were inadequately followed, including failure to test despite mild symptoms after vaccination, insufficient mask-wearing within facilities, and lack of regular ventilation after air conditioner operation.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters plans to verify compliance with these rules daily via phone calls through local government officials assigned one-to-one to nursing hospitals and conduct on-site inspections if necessary. They also plan to expedite vaccinations for unvaccinated new inpatients and workers, which began on the 27th of last month.

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