Seocho-gu, COVID-19 Mass Testing for Elderly Care Facility Workers and Users

From the 22nd to the 29th, a total of 464 workers and users at 12 local facilities including care centers and senior day care centers were tested

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] As COVID-19 cases continue to occur daily in elderly care facilities nationwide, Seocho-gu has dispatched medical staff to 12 elderly nursing facilities from the 22nd to the 29th to conduct comprehensive testing on 464 workers and users.

Following the identification that the cause of cluster infections in elderly care facilities, mainly in the metropolitan area and Busan, was due to transmission from external sources, Seocho-gu has proactively decided to conduct COVID-19 testing for all workers and users of elderly day care facilities.

Since many of the test subjects are elderly with limited mobility and living in high-risk facilities, medical staff from the public health center are dispatched to these facilities to collect specimens and conduct testing using an efficient pooled testing method to prevent possible cross-infection.

The pooled testing method mixes specimens from multiple individuals into one sample for testing; if the result is positive, only those individuals are retested to identify infected persons. This method is suitable for quickly testing a large number of people.

In April, Seocho-gu was the first among Seoul’s autonomous districts to introduce the pooled testing method, conducting tests on 1,108 patients and workers at four nursing hospitals in the area.

A representative from an elderly nursing facility said, “It was difficult for elderly people with limited mobility and vulnerable to infection, as well as the workers caring for them, to all visit screening clinics in cold weather. We were also worried about getting infected at the clinics, so we are really grateful that the public health center came directly to conduct the tests.”

Jo Eun-hee, Mayor of Seocho-gu, stated, “Elderly nursing facilities are vulnerable to infection, and since many elderly residents have underlying conditions, even one infection can be uncontrollable. We will do our utmost to block the spread of COVID-19 through proactive testing and thorough quarantine measures.”