Yeoju sets benchmark for free COVID-19 tests for residents

Quarantine workers prepare to conduct coronavirus tests at the Nightingale Center, a makeshift testing facility at Yeoju Detention Center in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Yeoju City Government

By Bahk Eun-ji

Local government officials in Yeoju, a small city located around 65 kilometers east of Seoul, have been trying to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among its 115,000 residents by providing quick polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for free. Yeoju is the first local government here to do so.

Since December when the third wave of COVID-19 infections began, the city government has offered the test which takes only about an hour from specimen collection to diagnosis.

It started a pilot operation of the free testing by setting up a temporary testing facility called Nightingale Center, named after Florence Nightingale, and has expanded the project to establish more centers at 10 locations across the city.

The testing centers were set up to conduct preemptive diagnostic tests to find asymptomatic virus carriers. More than 19,000 Yeoju residents, or around 17 percent of the city's total population, received the tests in the first 15 days since the first Nightingale Center was set up at City Hall on Dec. 23. Seven of them tested positive by Jan. 6.

The city also offered the virus tests at Yeoju Detention Center by setting up a makeshift testing facility there, where a total of 1,892 inmates and correctional officers were tested. All of them tested negative. Employees of large-scale business establishments such as Shinsegae Simon Premium Outlet and KCC's Yeoju plant were also tested through another makeshift facility at the venues.

Yeoju Mayor Lee Hang-jin took the lead in these antivirus measures, allocating 1.5 billion won ($13.6 million) at the end of last year and 3.5 billion won this year for the free test project for all residents, and seeking to enact an ordinance to provide legal grounds for the Nightingale Center.

Yeoju Mayor Lee Hang-jin speaks at a briefing on the city's coronavirus situation at City Hall in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Yeoju City Government

“We will make every effort to prevent the virus from spreading in the region through rapid and accurate PCR tests to protect our citizens' health to make a safe city,” Lee said in a press release.

Meanwhile, Yeoju City was the first local government in Gyeonggi Province to provide its own disaster relief payments, apart from the one provided by the central government, for those whose livelihoods have been jeopardized during the pandemic.

The city government also offered allowances for small businesses and farmers facing financial difficulties due to the coronavirus.