Will In-Person Visits at Nursing Hospitals Open During Chuseok Holidays? Social Distancing and Special Quarantine Measures to Be Announced Tomorrow

Announcement of Special Chuseok Quarantine Measures Tomorrow (3rd)
Temporary Expansion of 'Vaccine Incentives' for Family Gatherings and Nursing Hospital Visits Discussed
Possibility of Extending Seoul Metropolitan Area Social Distancing Level 4 for Up to One Month

On the morning of the 1st, at Seonhanbit Nursing Hospital in Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi Province, Kim Chang-il (83) is having an in-person visit with his wife, Gu Mo (77), after either the patient or the visitor completed vaccination, allowing face-to-face visits at nursing hospitals and care facilities. From today, face-to-face visits are permitted if either the patient or the visitor has completed vaccination at nursing hospitals and care facilities. However, in facilities where the first-dose vaccination rate of residents and workers is below 75%, visitors must undergo a COVID-19 test in advance and confirm a negative result.
Photo by Joint Press Corps

The government is considering expanding visitation allowances at nursing hospitals and facilities during the Chuseok holiday period. There is also discussion about temporarily allowing family gatherings of up to 6 or 8 people by excluding those who have completed vaccination from private gathering limits.

On the 2nd, Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, stated in a briefing, "Every year before holidays such as Seollal and Chuseok, we always discuss COVID-19 prevention measures including visitation standards for nursing hospitals and facilities, and this Chuseok is no different." He added, "Various related measures are being proposed and reviewed by the Living Prevention Committee." The health authorities are discussing easing quarantine rules for nursing hospitals and facilities from multiple angles, including allowing in-person visits only for those who have completed vaccination or submitted a negative test result.

Currently, visits to nursing hospitals are prohibited in areas under Level 4 social distancing such as the metropolitan area, and only non-contact visits with partitions are allowed in Level 3 areas. The government strengthened visitation standards for these facilities on the 9th and then banned in-person visits in all regions under Levels 1 to 4 on the 11th. Due to breakthrough infections occurring after vaccination in nursing hospitals, in-person visits that were partially allowed only for vaccinated individuals have been temporarily suspended.

The government plans to announce quarantine measures including special Chuseok prevention measures at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting on the 3rd. The special prevention measures are expected to include expanding 'vaccine incentives,' such as excluding vaccinated individuals from private gathering limits. There is also discussion about temporarily extending operating hours for restaurants and cafes in Level 4 areas from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., and expanding places where gatherings of up to 4 people are allowed after 6 p.m. to all business types beyond just restaurants and cafes if vaccinated individuals are included. Son said, "Various measures are currently under review. Nothing has been finalized yet, and decisions will be made after tomorrow’s Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting."

The social distancing levels to be applied in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas from next week will also be decided. Since this decision covers the Chuseok holiday period, unlike the previous practice of announcing extensions every two weeks, applying measures for four weeks is again under consideration. For now, it is likely that the current Level 4 in the metropolitan area and Level 3 in non-metropolitan areas will be extended. The key indicator for adjusting distancing measures, the number of domestically transmitted cases, recorded 1,685 cases in the past week (August 27 to September 2). This week, after the weekend effect disappeared, the daily cases reached the 1,900s for two consecutive days. Son explained, "The weekly average number of cases is similar to the past three weeks, but Seoul has slightly increased, so the metropolitan area is not decreasing." He added, "Based on cases per 100,000 population, the metropolitan area exceeds the Level 4 upgrade threshold of 4 cases with 4.4 cases, while all non-metropolitan areas remain below 3 cases."

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