Cho Hee-yeon "Need to Establish Disease Control Agency's School-Dedicated Department... Rapid PCR Introduction Required"

1879 Students in Seoul Confirmed COVID-19 Positive in One Week... 230 Fewer Than Last Week
Cho Hee-yeon: "Different Quarantine Systems by Districts Cause Confusion in School Quarantine"
"Need to Establish a Quarantine System for Frequent and Easy COVID-19 Testing"

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among students in Seoul over the past week was 1,879, a decrease of 230 compared to the previous week. With the start of winter vacation and restrictions on school density, the number of student cases has shifted to a downward trend. On this day, Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, argued that the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) needs to establish a dedicated school department and build a multi-layered quarantine system including saliva specimen collection.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the 28th, from the 20th to the 26th, there were 1,879 confirmed student cases and 175 confirmed staff cases, totaling 2,054.

The infection route proportions were highest in family infections (37.5%), followed by in-school infections (26.2%), and out-of-school infections (9.1%). Cases with unknown infection routes accounted for 27.2%. In-school infections totaled 492, a decrease of 26 from the previous week, but the proportion increased by 1.6 percentage points.

The infection rate relative to the total number of students by school level was ▲Elementary school 27.0% ▲Kindergarten 22.4% ▲Middle school 19.1% ▲High school grades 1-2 12.9% ▲High school grade 3 8.4%.

There were two major cluster infection cases. At A Elementary School, after the initial confirmed case, 18 additional cases were confirmed, totaling 19 cluster infections. At B Middle School, the first confirmed case appeared on the 19th, and with 23 students and 5 staff members additionally confirmed, a total of 29 infections occurred.

About half of elementary schools began winter vacation from last week, reducing the attendance rate to 46.4% (382,657 students). As of the 27th, the current attendance rates are ▲Elementary school 35.5% ▲Middle school 58.9% ▲High school 54.5%. This week, 76% of high schools, 57% of middle schools, and 25% of elementary schools will start their vacations.

On this day, Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon requested the KDCA to establish a dedicated school quarantine department to stabilize school quarantine. This is due to confusion caused by differing quarantine systems across autonomous districts and the inability to receive support for epidemiological investigation tasks.

Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, stated, "To provide systematic support and prompt response for school quarantine, I propose the establishment of a dedicated school quarantine department within the KDCA and the deployment of experts. When confirmed cases occur in schools, thorough measures must be guaranteed through rapid epidemiological investigations. However, recently, with a large number of confirmed cases, health centers are overwhelmed and understaffed, resulting in frequent cases where schools do not receive proper support for epidemiological investigations and other tasks even when confirmed cases arise."

He continued, "Since quarantine systems differ by autonomous district, there is confusion in school quarantine, and some districts do not share confirmed case information with schools citing concerns about causing anxiety. Therefore, schools must rely on voluntary information provision from students and parents to prepare quarantine measures. To prepare for 'with COVID-19' rather than 'post COVID-19,' a new quarantine management system tailored to school situations must be established," he emphasized.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is collaborating with Seoul National University to review multi-layered quarantine system establishment plans, including rapid PCR saliva specimen collection, through the 'Policy Research on Comparative Efficiency of COVID-19 Testing Methods.' This aims to detect confirmed cases early and reduce infection risk through saliva specimen collection.

Superintendent Cho said, "If the KDCA recognizes the establishment of a quarantine system that allows frequent and easy screening tests, it is expected to create safe schools from infection risks amid high resistance to the youth quarantine pass."

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