Church-Outside Gatherings and Small Group Trips Triggering Cluster Infections... "Difficult to Inspect Each Case" (Update)

COVID-19 Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Regular Briefing
There Are Blind Spots in Quarantine Rules for Religious Small Gatherings
It Is Impossible to Mobilize Administrative Power to Check Each Individual Meeting Daily

On the 1st, a citizen who came with a child is waiting for a diagnostic test at the screening clinic of Manan-gu Public Health Center in Anyang-si, Gyeonggi Province. Recently, nine church members and related personnel from churches located in Anyang and Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, who traveled to Jeju, were confirmed positive for COVID-19. Among them, five are family members of church members from Church A located in Manan-gu, and it has been confirmed that a student from Yangji Elementary School in the district is also included.
/Anyang=Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Daeyeol] Among the 35 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the 1st, 30 are presumed to have been infected within the local community. Of these 30 new patients, 24 were classified as cases related to religious small gatherings. While large-scale infections rarely occurred during official schedules such as large churches or worship services where quarantine rules were followed, sporadic transmissions are occurring in small gatherings where rules were not properly observed.

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' quarantine team, said at the briefing on the 1st, "Among the 30 community infections, 24 are related to religious small gatherings," adding, "Face-to-face and contact small gatherings tend to have characteristics where droplets can easily spread, such as people sitting closely together in enclosed spaces, talking, or eating together."

According to the quarantine authorities and local governments, as of 0:00 on the same day, 18 newly confirmed COVID-19 patients in Incheon were all community infections. The authorities estimate that the infection was transmitted at a revival meeting held at a church in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on the 28th of last month. A pastor from another region who had previously tested positive attended the event. A pastor from a church in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, also traveled to Jeju Island with church members and family in late last month.

On the 31st, two enrolled students were confirmed positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), leading to the closure of Yangji Elementary School in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. On the 1st, the school gate remained firmly shut. The confirmed students are grandchildren of the pastor of Ilsim Vision Church in Anyang and had traveled to Jeju Island from the 25th to the 27th with pastors, church members, and families from 12 churches in the Gunpo and Anyang areas. In particular, after it was confirmed that one of the two confirmed students, a second grader, attended school on the 28th, health and education authorities decided to suspend attendance for two weeks from that date to prevent the spread of the infectious disease and to protect the health of students and staff. / Anyang ? Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Previously, under social distancing and the subsequent everyday distancing, known as the everyday quarantine system, quarantine rules such as online worship and mask-wearing were emphasized to prevent cluster infections within religious facilities like churches. In one church in Incheon, although a confirmed patient had visited, there were no additional infections thanks to strict adherence to quarantine rules. However, in external church gatherings, these rules have become 'looser,' leading to successive additional infections.

Head Yoon said, "It is realistically difficult to take administrative measures for each small gathering (in case of quarantine rule violations)," but added, "We are considering ways to enhance quarantine enforcement related to various forms of small gatherings and to prepare applicable measures for the field."

Son Young-rae, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' strategic planning team, said, "Small gatherings are so diverse that it is difficult for the government to conduct daily administrative inspections and guidance," and added, "The reason we included content about designating a quarantine manager in the guidelines was to recommend that even in small gatherings, someone should take the lead in quarantine management and be responsible for checking and guiding adherence to necessary quarantine rules within the gathering."