After One Month of Home Treatment... 1% Household Member Infection, 0% Severe Cases

Gangnam-gu Hana ENT Clinic Hospital, Home Treatment Center Operation Results Released

The Home Treatment Team at Hana ENT Hospital in Gangnam-gu, Seoul is managing COVID-19 home treatment patients. (Photo by Hana ENT Hospital)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The government announced a policy of 'mandatory home treatment' for COVID-19 confirmed cases starting from the 26th of last month. In this context, a hospital that actually implemented home treatment management revealed the results of home treatment. Transmission to cohabitants, which raised concerns, was extremely rare, and there were no cases of severe symptoms progressing during home treatment.

Hana ENT Hospital, designated as a home treatment cooperation hospital in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and operating a home treatment center, disclosed statistics on 298 patients managed under home treatment for one month starting from the 1st of last month on the 7th. The hospital formed a dedicated team consisting of three ENT specialists and eight nurses to carry out home treatment management.

According to the hospital, the biggest concern regarding home treatment?the risk of transmission to cohabitants of confirmed patients?was found to be significantly low. Among the hospital's managed cases, 16 patients (5.4%) had cohabitants who were confirmed positive. However, most of these cohabitants were diagnosed on the same day as the home treatment patient (2 cases) and received home treatment together, or were diagnosed within three days of the start of home treatment (11 cases). This suggests that transmission likely occurred before home treatment began.

The cases confirmed after three days from the start of treatment, which are more likely to have been newly infected during home treatment, accounted for only 1.0% (3 cases). The hospital explained, "However, it is not possible to determine whether these individuals were infected by family members undergoing home treatment," and added, "It is judged that cases where a home treatment patient becomes the source of infection leading to additional confirmed cases are minimal."

Among the 298 home treatment patients managed by Hana ENT Hospital, there were no cases transferred to the hospital due to severe symptom deterioration during home treatment. A total of 278 patients (93.3%) completed home treatment without any particular issues, and only 20 patients (6.7%) were transferred to dedicated COVID-19 hospitals.

Among these 20, 17 were transferred according to the manual because mild symptoms such as sore throat, cough, and fever did not improve for three days. Of the remaining three, two were transferred at their own request unrelated to symptoms, and one case involved a mother voluntarily transferring together with her son during home treatment because the son's mild symptoms did not improve. In other words, there were no cases of transfer due to severe symptom worsening among the hospital's home treatment patients.

Symptoms reported by patients during home treatment included cough, fever, sputum, runny nose, muscle pain, and diarrhea. Accordingly, prescriptions mainly included antitussives and expectorants, antipyretics/analgesics/anti-inflammatory drugs, and antihistamines. Independent of COVID-19 treatment, sedatives for chronic disease management or conjunctivitis treatments were also prescribed.

The hospital evaluated that video call consultations, conducted with the consent of about 25% of confirmed patients, were very helpful in patient treatment. It was self-assessed as effective in alleviating patient anxiety and particularly useful in diagnosing pediatric patients who have difficulty expressing their condition verbally.

Lee Sang-deok, director of Hana ENT Hospital, said, "Through one month of operating the home treatment center, we confirmed that home treatment is the only safe and effective way to manage the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 confirmed cases," adding, "Since it is impossible to secure facilities to accommodate more than 5,000 confirmed cases per day, the expansion of home treatment is inevitable."