Increase in Deaths at Care Facilities... Isolation Period for Care Workers Reduced to 3 Days

Revision of BCP for Care Facilities
Asymptomatic Care Workers with 3rd Dose, Isolation Shortened

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] The government has revised guidelines to minimize COVID-19 deaths in nursing facilities and hospitals by prioritizing bed allocation for elderly patients with underlying conditions even if their symptoms are mild, and allowing confirmed care workers to return to work after a 3-day quarantine.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) announced these measures in a regular briefing on the 30th under the "Strengthening Management Measures for Nursing Hospitals and Facilities." This comes as the spread of the Omicron variant has increased fatalities in nursing hospitals and facilities. In March, nursing hospitals and facilities accounted for 32.7% of COVID-19 deaths.

Accordingly, the government will strengthen hospitalization measures to prevent residents in nursing facilities, where medical personnel are insufficient, from worsening to severe conditions. Patients who test positive in nursing hospitals and then deteriorate to severe conditions will be quickly transferred to dedicated severe care beds through a bed allocation hotline.

Additionally, confirmed cases aged 65 or older in nursing facilities will be actively allocated beds even if their symptoms are mild. Confirmed cases in nursing hospitals and facilities will be transferred to infectious disease-dedicated nursing hospitals (41 institutions, totaling 3,174 beds). Park Hyang, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters (CARH) quarantine team, explained, "Since patients need to be transferred to beds where more active treatment such as severe care beds is possible when symptoms worsen, we are strengthening the allocation method to prioritize patients whose condition deteriorates, mainly through the metropolitan area bed allocation team."

Measures have also been prepared to address care gaps caused by the large number of confirmed cases among care workers such as nursing assistants, caregivers, and nurses. On the same day, the government revised the BCP (Business Continuity Plan) to shorten the quarantine period for directly caring workers confirmed positive in nursing hospitals and facilities to 3 days.

Son Young-rae, head of the social strategy team at CARH, explained, "Hospitals could shorten the quarantine period according to the existing BCP, and now the guidelines have been revised so that nursing facilities can also shorten the quarantine period to 3 days for workers who have completed the third vaccination and are asymptomatic."

The government will resume on-site training for nursing assistant training courses from April 1, allowing trainees to be utilized as auxiliary care personnel. Park said, "We are considering advancing the date to grant qualifications to those who meet care qualifications so they can be deployed to the field sooner, or having volunteers participate together in the care sector."

In addition, the government plans to strengthen support for medical personnel such as doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, clinical pathologists, and nursing assistants for nursing hospitals and facilities. As of the 29th, a total of 4,500 people are working as support personnel in medical and quarantine fields.

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