Over 1 Million COVID-19 Home Treatment Patients... Complexity in Identifying Early Voting Participants

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Eun-mo] The controversy over the poor management of early voting for COVID-19 confirmed and quarantined individuals has emerged as a last-minute issue in the 20th presidential election. However, with the recent surge in confirmed cases, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ascertain the number of confirmed and quarantined individuals who participated in voting, intensifying the confusion.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH) and the Central Accident Response Headquarters (CARH) on the 6th, the number of home treatment patients as of midnight on the 5th, the early voting day for COVID-19 confirmed cases, exceeded one million for the first time, reaching 1,025,973.

Additionally, as of midnight the previous day, the total number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients nationwide, including mild and severe cases, was counted at 18,249. There were 4,511 beds in residential treatment centers for mild patients, 9,854 beds in infectious disease-dedicated hospitals for moderate patients, 2,415 beds for semi-severe patients, and 1,469 beds for severe patients in use.

As of the 5th, the total number of confirmed and quarantined individuals can be roughly estimated at about 1,044,000. Since household members of confirmed cases have been exempted from self-quarantine starting from the 1st, the number of quarantined individuals who are not confirmed cases is expected to be low.

The number of voters among the total confirmed and quarantined individuals is not separately tallied. However, since about 25% of recent new confirmed cases are under 18, applying this ratio suggests that approximately 75% of confirmed and quarantined individuals, or roughly 783,000, are eligible voters.

Using the same method, as of midnight on the 6th, there were 1,120,050 home treatment patients and 18,898 hospitalized patients, totaling 1,138,948. Assuming about 75% of confirmed cases are aged 18 or older, the number of confirmed and quarantined voters is estimated at approximately 854,000. It is not known how many of these participated in early voting the previous day.

According to the Central Election Commission's election statistics system, from 5 p.m. on the day early voting for confirmed and quarantined individuals began until the close of voting, 990,630 people participated in early voting. This number includes both confirmed/quarantined individuals and general voters.

Among the confirmed and quarantined individuals are severely ill patients who find it difficult to travel to polling stations, those planning to vote on the election day itself, June 9, and foreigners, making it difficult to estimate how many confirmed/quarantined individuals participated in early voting. There is speculation that the number of participants can be determined by tallying the 'Identity Confirmation Forms' completed before voting, but it is expected that the Election Commission will require considerable time to compile this data.

Furthermore, with the continued increase in confirmed cases due to the spread of the Omicron variant, it becomes even more complicated to determine the number of confirmed and quarantined individuals who will participate in voting on the election day, June 9. With about 250,000 new confirmed cases occurring daily recently, the number of home treatment and hospitalized patients is inevitably increasing significantly. Additionally, many voters who were quarantined on the 5th, when early voting was possible, will be released from quarantine by the 9th.

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