Marine Police Officer Confirmed COVID-19 Positive After Hiding Visit to Entertainment Venue Placed on Standby
All 31 Including Venue Workers and Customers Confirmed Positive
Earlier, Confirmed Cases Also Reported at Gangnam Entertainment Venue
Citizens Criticize, "Is It Really Necessary to Visit Venues in This Situation?"
Reference photo. An entertainment district in the city center. The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] Although the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has recently been recording an average of about 300 new confirmed cases per day, there have been cases that have sparked public outrage, where some people not only ignore quarantine rules but also visit enclosed entertainment establishments and end up testing positive.
In particular, in cases of visiting entertainment establishments, some hide their movement paths due to fear of social criticism, making epidemiological investigations very difficult for health authorities.
By hiding their movement paths, a recent entertainment establishment saw a string of confirmed cases. Citizens have urged people to refrain from visiting entertainment establishments altogether.
On the 24th, Coast Guard officer A, who tested positive but concealed the fact that he visited an entertainment establishment during the epidemiological investigation, was placed on standby. Including A, a total of 31 people, including employees and customers of this entertainment establishment, have tested positive as of that day.
A underwent a COVID-19 test on the 20th and tested positive, but it was found that he concealed his visit to the entertainment establishment during the initial epidemiological investigation.
The epidemiological investigation confirmed that A visited an entertainment establishment in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on the 13th of this month with B (57), a person related to a gravel extraction company. B also tested positive on the 21st following A but did not disclose the visit to the establishment.
Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, is considering filing a police complaint against A for violating the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act for hiding his movement path.
This is not the first case of testing positive after visiting an entertainment establishment during the COVID-19 spread phase.
In April, a COVID-19 confirmed case occurred at an entertainment establishment in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. At that time, Gangnam-gu announced that C (36, female), residing in Nonhyeon-dong, tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the district, C had contact with an acquaintance who tested positive on April 1st on March 26th and self-quarantined from the 29th due to symptoms. She visited the Gangnam-gu Public Health Center on April 1st for testing and received a final positive result on the morning of the 2nd.
The confirmed case was reported to have worked at an entertainment bar located in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu. She worked at the establishment for about 9 hours from March 27th to 28th. Afterward, she informed those she had contact with on the 3rd about her positive status, which led to further spread.
The establishment is a large entertainment venue with over 100 employees. It is estimated that about 500 people visited on the day the confirmed case worked, raising concerns about a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Medical staff are heading out for work at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. [Photo by Yonhap News]
As a result, citizens have voiced criticism about visiting entertainment establishments during the COVID-19 spread period, where close contact and infection risks are high.
Lee, a university student in her 20s, said, "I can't understand why anyone would go to an enclosed establishment in this situation. Ultimately, they are putting others at risk of infection just for their own entertainment. They are selfish." She added, "For such people, measures like continuous disclosure of movement paths are necessary."
Kim, a company employee in his 30s, said, "If you go to an entertainment establishment and then come home, your family becomes the first at risk. It seems like they don't consider anyone but themselves." He continued, "I don't understand why they go to these places even if it harms others. The recent COVID-19 case involving the Coast Guard officer visiting an establishment in Incheon is also causing significant harm to the community."
The reason visiting entertainment establishments poses a high risk of COVID-19 infection is due to the '3Cs' environment: closed spaces, close contact, and crowded places. Moreover, while enjoying drinking and dancing inside, people inevitably remove their masks, one of the quarantine rules, leaving them virtually defenseless against the virus.
Therefore, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters has repeatedly urged people to refrain from visiting entertainment establishments.
At a regular briefing on May 8th, the headquarters emphasized, "Please refrain from using indoor multi-crowded facilities such as entertainment establishments and clubs. If unavoidable, we earnestly ask you to strictly follow quarantine rules such as leaving visitor records, maintaining 1-2 meters of distance, and wearing masks."
Nevertheless, COVID-19 continues to spread uncontrollably due to some citizens visiting entertainment establishments.
Meanwhile, the recent one-week average of daily new domestic cases is 299.42, indicating that the nationwide social distancing level 2 may soon be implemented.
Son Young-rae, head of strategic planning at the Central Accident Response Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated at a briefing on the 24th, "If the one-week average of new confirmed cases maintains at 300, it corresponds to the criteria for considering raising social distancing to level 2 nationwide."
He added, "Currently, about 70-80% of cases occur in the metropolitan area, and other regions have roughly between 80 and 100 cases. We will observe the effects after raising the level to 2 in the metropolitan area."
Son said, "Since the effect of social distancing appears 10 days to 2 weeks later, the metropolitan area was raised to level 2 today (24th). We expect the increase in cases to continue this week, and the effect to appear next week."
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