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Indoor mask rule to be in place for 3 more months: health authorities
Chung Ki-seok, head of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's COVID-19 Special Response Team, speaks during a government briefing at the Government Complex Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
By Lee Hae-rin
The government will maintain the current indoor mask mandate for at least three more months, health authorities said Monday.
Chung Ki-seok, the head of the COVID-19 Special Response Team at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said during a regular briefing Monday that the indoor mask mandate could be partially lifted three months from now. However, Chung emphasized that, even if the COVID-19 pandemic is declared over worldwide, it will be a good while before it will be possible to remove masks indoors safely in indoor spaces such as public transportation and medical institutions.
As for the KDCA's key reasons for maintaining the measure, the senior health official said, “Infections are likely to rise from the moment people start taking off masks.”
The country continues to see COVID-19-related deaths and serious cases, while still having a shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. Thus, it is premature and there is no scientific basis yet to lift indoor mask mandate, he said.
In particular, he said that children, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions risk severe infection or death if the indoor mask mandate is eased, particular as it will soon be winter and other viruses are also circulating.
Local health experts agree with the government's decision. According to local news outlet Asia Economy's survey of 13 medical experts, Monday, 70.8 percent said that the coronavirus, as well as influenza or other acute respiratory diseases such as human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), may surge if the indoor mask mandate is lifted.
Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious medicine at Korea University Guro Hospital, who participated in the survey, said, “Prematurely easing the indoor mask-wearing rule could cause the public to lower its guard.” Kim added, “It remains to be seen how the seventh (upcoming) wave of coronavirus infections will play out.”
If the indoor mask mandate is lifted in the future, spaces like restaurants and coffee shops should be the first ones to ease the measure, 39.1 percent of these experts responded when multiple answers were allowed. Preschool facilities such as kindergartens should also be the prioritized for easing the regulation, as wearing masks hinders children's language, emotional and cognitive development, 30.4 percent of the expert respondents said.
Chung encouraged those in high-risk groups to get vaccinated, as the scale and timing of the coming wave of infections in winter is likely to depend on the vaccination rate. While data is still being collected, he said that the updated bivalent vaccine currently in use provides some preventative effect against infection by highly transmissible new Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and XBB.
“Over 10 million people in high-risk groups aged over 60 have not received the updated COVID-19 vaccine,” he said, referring to the bivalent vaccine targeting the original Omicron strain, subvariant BA.1, which is the one currently available here. Chung thinks the vaccination rate has been low because more people believe the coronavirus is no longer a serious threat and many people have been infected with the virus.
As of Monday, a total of 617,464 people have received a dose of the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine, which started on Oct. 11. Only 487,120 people ― or 4.3 percent of people over 60 ― and 54,244 people ― or 4.3 percent of people with low immunity ― both of which belong to high-risk or vulnerable groups, have been vaccinated.
“Not everybody needs to receive the (updated) vaccine,” Chung said, because those who are not in high-risk groups should be able to recover fully if infected with COVID-19. However, vaccination is crucial for advanced age groups and people with chronic respiratory diseases, as infections could become severe or lead to death, he said.
On Monday, the KDCA reported 14,302 additional daily COVID-19 infections, which is 3,277 more than last Monday. Since last Friday, the country has seen a growing trend in daily infections compared to the week before. The country's total number of infections is 25,311,636.