Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Nurses at greater risk of coronavirus infection than doctors
By Bahk Eun-ji
Nurses are at greater risk of contracting coronavirus than doctors because they come into contact with patients more often, according to data submitted to Rep. Choi Youn-suk of the People's Party by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Monday.
Nurses in full protective suits line up to enter the treatment ward for novel coronavirus patients at Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital in Daegu, March 23. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
The data showed 159 medical workers have been infected with COVID-19 over the nine months since Jan. 20 when the first patient was reported here. Until July 13, the number of medical workers infected with the virus was 133, but it increased by 26 in the last two months during the second wave of the pandemic.
By occupation, 101 nurses were infected, followed by 33 nursing assistants, 11 doctors and 14 radiological technologists and physical therapists.
Among the 101 nurses, 39 were infected through direct contact with COVID-19 patients while 44 were involved in group infections at hospitals. Sixteen nurses were infected while attending COVID-19 patients at treatment wards in hospitals, and two were infected at screening centers.
“The anxiety of medical workers on treatment wards for coronavirus patients has been intensifying as the number of infections keeps increasing although they wear protective equipment. The government should find out the causes of the increasing infections among medical workers whether it is from problems with the working environment or from personal negligence while taking care of patients,” Rep. Choi said.
In response to the increasing infection risk among nurses, calls are growing for health authorities to come up with active safety measures for those working at the forefront of the fight with the virus. The nurses' community also points out that they are likely to be more exposed to infection risk, but the increased intensity of their work due to the prolonged pandemic is also a major problem.
“The number of nurses working on hospital treatment wards for coronavirus patients should be increased significantly in order to guarantee adequate break times,” Korean Nurses Association President Shin Kyung-rim said in an official statement.
“In addition, the government should deploy nurses specializing in infectious diseases at each hospital to prepare for and educate about such risks.”