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| A medical worker at Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Hospital in Seoul talks over the phone with a COVID-19 patient in home treatment, Nov. 18. Courtesy of the Ministry of Health and Welfare |
By Lee Hyo-jin
Six out of 10 people negatively viewed home treatment for COVID-19 patients, a treatment strategy the government has largely expanded since late November to cope with a shortage of hospital beds.
In a survey of 1,002 adults conducted between Dec. 7 and 9 by Gallup Korea, when asked about their thoughts on COVID-19 home treatment, 62 percent of participants responded negatively, while 29 percent replied positively. Another 9 percent declined to respond.
As hospitals have been overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus patients, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been introducing home treatment for all patients not in critical condition, reserving hospitalization only for people aged 70 and above and those suffering from chronic illnesses.
In further data from the survey, nearly half of the respondents negatively assessed the government's overall COVID-19 response measures.
Of the respondents, 44 percent gave a positive assessment of the government's response to the pandemic, a 13 percent point drop from the figure in November. The proportion of those who disapprove of the government's response stood at 47 percent, a 15 percent increase compared with the figure last month.
When asked about their expectations for when life would return to pre-COVID-19 normalcy, where people would be able to live without mandatory face masks, 23 percent expected things to return to normal within the next 12 months, while 21 percent replied that they expected a change after 2022.
Nearly half ― 46 percent ― of respondents were more pessimistic about the prospect of returning to normalcy. They viewed that it will be impossible to return to pre-COVID-19 daily life, in which faces masks were not mandatory.
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