‘Living with coronavirus' strategy too risky for low-vaccinated Korea’

The government implemented the strictest quarantine measures to contain the fourth wave of Covid-19, but some people called for embracing the coronavirus as a fact of life and relaxing social distancing.

They claim that the risk of the pandemic has been exaggerated. Although daily cases surpass 1,000, the number of the severely ill or deaths is not rising fast. So, Covid-19 can be regarded as if it were influenza, they claim.

However, such a way of thinking is dangerous, given the nation’s low vaccination rates, and it could give a wrong signal that the health authorities are easing quarantine measures, experts said.

The concept of “With Corona(virus)” life was out of focus of discussion, experts said. People are talking about simply relaxing social distancing rules rather than discussing how to prepare the healthcare system to respond to new infectious diseases, they added.

Some people call for embracing the coronavirus with relaxed distancing rules, but their assertion is focused only on easing quarantine measures, critics said.

“‘With Corona’ does not mean taking off masks. People calling for relaxed rules do not talk about detailed strategies. We should discuss how to change our system or hardware, but there is no such talk,” said Eom Joong-sik, a professor of infectious disease at Gachon University Gil Medical Center. “Above all, the vaccination rate should go up. We should establish a strategy on how to continue vaccination and how to secure vaccines.”

To live with the coronavirus, the entire Korean society should change, Eom went on to say. The nation should make a system and hardware to minimize the influx of new infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and prevent the spread even if they enter. “How can we live with the coronavirus without such discussions,” he asked.

Also, people should talk about possible things, such as allocating the workforce in the workplace in our society, how to standardize infection control in office space, and how to reduce density, he pointed out.

Eom noted that the government should come up with ways to reduce the workload on medical workers.

“The government can raise reimbursement rates so that hospitals can hire more staff or support a fund for hospital operation,” he said. “They should create an environment where healthcare workers can work with sufficient pay and satisfaction.”

However, the government has not made any investment but demanded hospitals hire more employees, which is almost impossible in a country where 90 percent of hospitals are privately run, he said.

Medical institutions in the U.S. and Europe, which suffered a more severe spread of the Covid-19 pandemic than Korea, could overcome the crisis because they had sufficient human resources and space, Eom said.

Hospitals in the advanced nations replace front health workers frequently to deal with Covid-19, but those in Korea cannot do so. Hospitals need to make or eliminate space for Covid-19 treatment often. In such a situation, people should not talk about living with the coronavirus and relaxing quarantine rules, he added.

Jung Jae-hun, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University, said, “With Corona,” life with eased social distancing will face a limitation and that the government should control infections first.

Jung said if the number of severely ill Covid-19 patients stays below 300, the Korean health system can provide the best treatment for them. However, if infections spread too fast and the number of severe cases rises further, there could be a shortage of ventilators, wards, and medical workers, he warned.

“It is important to keep the epidemic under constant control. It is hopeful that the number of critically ill and deaths are not increasing rapidly. Based on this, we need to plan our future strategy,” Jung said.

The authorities should control the situation, raise the vaccination rates as much as possible, and inoculate the risky groups with the second dose of vaccines so that the nation can go “to the next step,” he went on to say.

“There are more people who make an absurd claim that people don’t need masks and vaccination. It is too risky to say so.”