Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong Appeals for Strict Quarantine Compliance to Prevent Daily Recovery from Going to Waste

Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jung is conducting an online emergency briefing on COVID-19 response at the city hall last month. Photo by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] “Since the phased recovery of daily life, the number of confirmed cases has been increasing. I urge all citizens to join forces in overcoming this crisis by strictly adhering to basic quarantine rules.” Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong said this during an emergency briefing held on the 23rd.

According to the city, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the region, which was in the single digits at the start of the recovery of daily life three weeks ago, increased to 68 on the 22nd.

Above all, the occupancy rate of COVID-19 intensive care unit beds, one of the key indicators for transitioning to daily life recovery, has risen to 79% (96% including 5 patients from the metropolitan area), reaching a dangerous level for maintaining daily life recovery.

Regarding this, Mayor Heo diagnosed, “The ‘quarantine laxity,’ which perceives the phased recovery of daily life as if all quarantine measures have been eased, is threatening our safety. Moreover, the fact that the proportion of confirmed cases among the elderly, whose vaccine effectiveness has waned over time, and children and adolescents who have recently started vaccination, exceeds half of all confirmed cases is a seriously concerning point.”

He especially emphasized, “Daily life recovery is a path chosen by the community based on autonomy and responsibility, trusting each other. Conversely, when autonomy and responsibility are not upheld, the city and the medical community alone may face situations that are difficult to manage.”

Mayor Heo also highlighted the importance of each citizen’s thorough compliance with quarantine rules to overcome this crisis.

“Although everyone has been struggling and exhausted while implementing social distancing for the past 1 year and 10 months, it is very important for individuals, families, institutions, and organizations to voluntarily follow quarantine rules to overcome the current difficulties and fully restore daily life,” said Mayor Heo, appealing, “I ask for citizens’ cooperation so that the hard-won daily life will not collapse due to quarantine laxity.”

He also listed the basic quarantine rules that citizens must follow as ▲keeping a visitor log when using multi-use facilities such as restaurants ▲wearing masks indoors and outdoors ▲prompt diagnostic testing when symptoms appear ▲continuous indoor ventilation ▲vaccination (including booster shots).

Mayor Heo concluded, “Just as we have overcome difficulties so far, I believe that with the power of the Daejeon community, we can wisely overcome the current crisis. I earnestly ask all citizens to join forces once again to overcome this crisis.”