[One Day of an Airport Quarantine Officer] "A Heart on the Line... Barely 2 Hours of Catnap"

Quarantine Waiting Line Over 100m, Fate Decided Every 5 Seconds

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Dae-yeol, Lee Jung-yoon, Yoo Je-hoon (Yeongjongdo)] "If even one person slips through, it would be a big problem. We feel like we are standing on the front line. We have to keep wearing protective suits and masks, so we are also fighting the heat."

At around 10 a.m. on the 30th of last month, at the quarantine checkpoint on the west corridor of Terminal 2 at Incheon International Airport, considered the frontline of the novel coronavirus (Wuhan pneumonia) prevention, quarantine officer A was busy checking the health status of all travelers entering Korea from China. He worked in pairs, in two shifts, measuring the temperature on the forehead and neck of travelers passing through the checkpoint. Another quarantine officer was busy checking the health questionnaires filled out by travelers.

At around 2 p.m. that day, when a passenger plane from Dalian, China arrived at Incheon Airport, a line over 100 meters long formed at the fixed quarantine checkpoint on the west side of Terminal 1. As travelers arriving from Shanghai, Beijing, and other cities also gathered, the area was crowded with people waiting for over an hour to undergo quarantine. The quarantine officers were busy dealing with the continuous influx of travelers.

◆ "Fate changes in a brief 5 seconds" = The time a quarantine officer spends checking the health status of a Chinese traveler at the checkpoint is about 5 seconds. Although brief, since the government designated all regions in China as contaminated areas starting from the 28th of last month, all travelers coming from China to Korea must be quarantined. Therefore, quarantine officers are always short-staffed. Previously, only four provinces with fewer arrivals, such as Guangdong Province, were subject to this.

The only time they can rest is briefly when the number of travelers from China decreases slightly. Due to the lack of comfortable resting spaces, they can only take short naps or catch their breath on chairs set up next to the quarantine checkpoint. However, even this is difficult due to the constant work-related phone calls. The tension continues even after work hours. They always carry their mobile phones in hand, not knowing when an emergency might occur.

Epidemiological investigators who conduct in-depth investigations of travelers’ conditions also complained about the strain from continuous work. Epidemiological investigator B, met at the fixed quarantine checkpoint on the west side of Terminal 1, said, "When a situation arises, work continues even after leaving work," adding, "Since the Lunar New Year holiday, I have only been able to sleep two hours a day." He also said, "We have to keep wearing protective suits and masks, so we also have to fight the heat." Even during short breaks, he held his mobile phone, checking travelers’ conditions and continuing to give work instructions.

◆ Medical staff also exhausted at their limits = Quarantine personnel working to prevent the domestic inflow of the novel coronavirus, including at Incheon International Airport, perform high-intensity work daily. Long working hours are standard, and they must always remain alert. Professor Lee Jae-gap of Hallym University’s Department of Infectious Diseases appeared on the YouTube broadcast 'Yoo Si-min’s Alileo' on the 28th of last month and said, "Medical staff on the front lines are very tense and mentally exhausted. Employees of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not been able to go home for almost 20 days," showing tears.

Voices about the shortage of quarantine personnel have existed in the past but remained only as criticism. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of last year, the number of staff at national quarantine stations was 453. The CDC estimates that about 533 personnel are needed for regular quarantine plus 'targeted quarantine' for managing contaminated areas like this case. Currently, there are 80 fewer personnel than the estimated appropriate number.

Also, considering shift work characteristics and special duties such as responding to symptomatic individuals and biological terrorism standby, a total of 739 quarantine personnel are required. Compared to the final required number, there is a shortage of nearly 300 people. The current government requested budget increases to hire more quarantine personnel, but the National Assembly opposed it citing financial burdens, and in fact, cut the budget for increasing quarantine personnel by 50 over the past three years.

In this shortage of quarantine personnel, with the surge in quarantine demand due to the novel coronavirus, there have been cases at Incheon International Airport where private airline staff performed quarantine duties late in the afternoon or during late night and early morning hours. Korean Air dispatched some employees to the transfer area of Terminal 2 at Incheon Airport, where they conducted fever checks on transfer passengers. Although quarantine station staff are present, fever checks in the Terminal 2 transfer area are only conducted from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., so Korean Air employees took on the duties before the quarantine staff arrived for work.