Gokseong-gun - County-Run Geriatric Hospital Conducts COVID-19 Simulation Drill

Proceed According to Situation-Specific and Stepwise Protocols for Effective Infectious Disease Response

[Gokseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-sun] Jeonnam Gokseong-gun (Governor Lee Sang-cheol) announced that it conducted a joint COVID-19 simulation drill with the county-run Geriatric Specialized Hospital on the 27th to prevent group infections in nursing hospitals.

The drill was carried out according to protocols for each situation and stage to ensure effective infectious disease response. The Jeollanam-do Infectious Disease Management Division and the Jeollanam-do Infectious Disease Management Support Group also participated in the drill, raising the level of alertness.

Gokseong-gun views this drill as an opportunity to review the COVID-19 response system and strengthen its internal response capabilities.

The drill was a discussion-based tabletop exercise designed to derive a system tailored to each institution’s characteristics based on scenarios of infectious disease outbreaks.

Through this, the focus was on discussing continuous infection prevention and management, as well as response measures in case of confirmed cases.

Participants discussed response systems aligned with three stages: ▲before confirmed cases occur, ▲when suspected COVID-19 patients (symptomatic individuals) appear, and ▲when confirmed COVID-19 cases occur.

Before confirmed cases occur, discussions covered ▲establishing a continuous infectious disease prevention and management system and appointing infectious disease managers ▲management of patients and caregiving personnel ▲assignment and management of staff duties ▲management of visitors, quarantine supplies, and environment (facilities) ▲standards for personal protective equipment use by location ▷and compliance with other mandatory requirements.

For responding to suspected COVID-19 patients (symptomatic individuals), systematic measures were sought for ▲isolating suspected patients ▲symptom verification ▲diagnostic testing ▲management of users sharing the same hospital room as the patient ▲and methods to identify symptomatic individuals.

In preparation for confirmed COVID-19 cases, discussions included ▲epidemiological investigations ▲contact tracing in case of group infections ▲staff measures ▲space separation and ventilation checks ▲environmental sampling and management and manpower support ▲and response measures related to risk assessment through local governments.

The Jeollanam-do and Jeollanam-do Infectious Disease Management Support Group emphasized the role of facility staff, stating, “Since infections were more frequently caused by workers than inpatients, it is important to remember that group infections can occur at any time. Staff must faithfully perform their roles, including facility ventilation and disinfection, and visitor management.”

A Gokseong-gun Health and Medical Center official said, “Management of infection-vulnerable facilities is very important to reduce the risk of severe illness and death in nursing hospitals. For the safety of high-risk elderly, not only workers but everyone must strictly adhere to personal quarantine rules.”

Gokseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-sun hss79@asiae.co.kr

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