After COVID Isolation Recommendation... 3 to 4 out of 10 People Do Not Isolate

Temporary screening clinics dismantled last month following the endemic declaration

Since the quarantine requirement for COVID-19 positive cases changed to a quarantine recommendation last month, a survey found that 3 to 4 out of 10 people do not self-isolate even if they have COVID symptoms.

The research team led by Professor Yum Myung-soon at Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health conducted a perception survey on the downgrade of the COVID-19 crisis level among 1,000 adults aged 18 and over from March 23 to 26 last month, and announced the results on the 4th.

Since the COVID-19 crisis level was downgraded from 'Severe' to 'Alert' last month, confirmed COVID-19 cases are given a 5-day quarantine recommendation instead of a 7-day quarantine requirement. From this point, 13.5% (135 people) of respondents reported experiencing respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 such as cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever. When asked whether they quarantined, 60.7% of these respondents (51.1% voluntarily, 9.6% involuntarily) answered that they did quarantine. However, 34.8% said they did not quarantine. Among them, 'voluntarily not quarantining' was the largest group at 29.6%, and 'involuntarily not quarantining' was 5.2%.

When asked whether they took a COVID test when experiencing respiratory symptoms, the most common response was 'tested at a hospital or clinic' at 41.5%. This was followed by 'did not test' at 32.6% and 'self-tested' at 25.9%.

Overall, 55.4% of respondents reported not paying attention to recent domestic COVID-19 infection status information. 'Not paying attention at all' was 14.9%, and 'not paying much attention' was 40.5%. The health authorities provide COVID infection status information once a week every Monday after the downgrade of the crisis level. The percentage of respondents who said they 'pay attention' was 44.3% ('somewhat pay attention' 38.3%, 'pay close attention' 6.0%).

While mask-wearing is still mandatory in hospital-level or higher medical institutions and residential infection-vulnerable facilities, 84.4% of respondents agreed with these mandatory measures.

Regarding perceptions on maintaining the mandatory measures, the most common response was 'maintain for the time being and lift when the situation stabilizes' at 55.8%. 'Continue to maintain the mandate' was 31.0%, and 'lift the mandate as soon as possible' was 10.5%.