It has been the 18th day since the government took out the highest level of quarantine card for social distancing in the metropolitan area, but the Corona 19 epidemic is hardly caught. At this rate, it is predicted that the number of new confirmed cases per day will soon exceed 2,000. Experts are arguing that stronger additional measures such as full implementation of telecommuting and partial lockdown at night are necessary, increasing the government's concerns.
According to the Central Quarantine Countermeasures Headquarters, as of 00:00 on the 29th, there were 1,674 new confirmed cases, continuing the four-digit number for the 23rd consecutive day. 1632 cases occurred locally and 42 cases were imported from abroad. Although it decreased from the previous day (1895) when the record was rewritten, the number of regionally-occurring confirmed cases, a major indicator of the epidemic, increased by 100 from the same day of the week last week (22nd, 1532). In order to block the epidemic in the metropolitan area where the spread is severe, the government has been applying the 4th stage of distancing since the 12th, but it has not been able to reverse the trend of decline even now, the third week. On that day too, 1,062 patients, including 508 in Seoul, 460 in Gyeonggi, and 94 in Incheon, were reported in the metropolitan area alone.
As a result, discussions about ‘after the 4th stage’ became inevitable. The government has decided to consider 'slightly stronger quarantine measures' if the spread of the virus does not stop even after observing the effect of the fourth stage of distancing until next week.
However, the general opinion of experts is that it is difficult to catch the spread with the current quarantine measures. The reason is that the 4 steps of social distancing for over two weeks have not seen much effect. Eom Joong-sik, a professor of infectious disease at Gachon University Gil Hospital, said, "It has been confirmed that even if the rapid spread of the virus is suppressed, it cannot be turned back to a decreasing trend with the 4th stage in the past two weeks. We have no choice but to strengthen it,” he said.
Some point out that the reorganized distancing system from this month has lowered the level of quarantine too much. Ki-seok Ki-seok, a professor of respiratory medicine at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital (former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) said, "The current stage 4 is insufficient to say that it is the best stage. It is weaker than the previous stage 2.5, so the effect is insignificant as it allows multi-use facilities to open until 10 o'clock." He explained, "The highest level of the distance system must contain measures to prepare for the last, so that the people's predictability increases."
The first step is to expand telecommuting as a ‘plus alpha (+a)’ measure in the fourth stage. Cheon Eun-mi, a professor of respiratory medicine at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, pointed out, "There is a concern about sharing a vehicle during lunchtime or getting infected through public transportation, so it is necessary to block contact by encouraging telecommuting as much as possible." Professor Um also argued, "If you do not work from home for no specific reason, you can reduce the amount of daytime travel by spreading telecommuting by giving a penalty."
There are also voices calling for a lockdown that was used overseas to block the pandemic. However, if the lockdown measures are introduced in full, the social and economic damage will be large, so it is necessary to set a time period and enter a partial lockdown. Professor Jeong emphasized, “Strong measures such as a ban on traffic from midnight to 4 am are necessary.