The “vaccine pass,” which took effect on December 13, 2021, was abolished from March 2022. Now, you can go to restaurants without providing QR codes. In addition, many quarantine guidelines have changed. These include the fact that only those who test positive on a rapid antigen test or self-diagnose kit can take PCR tests. Confirmed patients must isolate at home for seven days, but confirmed patients’ families don’t have to quarantine.

These new politics have been put in place as part of the reorganization of the Omicron response quarantine system. The hope is that this will help alleviate the concentration of core quarantine tasks at public health centers, and the imbalance in applying the quarantine pass system between regions.

Meanwhile, the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases surged on the day of lifting the quarantine pass. Newly confirmed cases reached 138,933 on March 1st, growing to 219,241 on the 2nd, 381,454 on the 18th, and more than 9 million cumulative confirmed cases on the 18th. Contrary to experts’ opinions that the number of confirmed cases will peak soon and gradually decrease, the number of confirmed cases continues to rise.

Public opinion differed in two ways. Some people felt that the policy changes are evidence that the state abandoned residents. On the other hand, others felt that it was time to accept COVID-19 like the flu and live freely as people have done in other countries. The reporter interviewed two students at Daegu university and asked for their opinions on the changed quarantine rules and the abolition of vaccine passes.

Q1. What do you think about vaccine pass cancellation and the relaxed quarantine guidelines?

Student 1: The decision seems to have some problems. The first thing is about multi-use facilities. The government canceled pass applications in 11 multi-use facilities, including entertainment establishments. It is somewhat incomprehensible to terminate the pass at entertainment establishments that have been blamed for the rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases but had been on the late side of control. There are also gambling establishments such as horse racing tracks, and I think it is necessary to reconsider canceling the regulation of these places, which are not used by the majority of the people and whose purpose is not sound.

In addition, omicron’s symptoms are relatively mild compared to delta, not to say that omicron is not dangerous. However, this kind of stance made people too complacent, Even professors say too lightly, “Omicron is like a cold.” Too many individuals have this perception, and they have been using such multi-use facilities. Those who take the same classes with them could become confirmed patients or contact persons. Then it comes to spread to a third party who did not use such facilities. It may end up as just a cold for some, but it’s a virus that can be dangerous for people like those with underlying diseases. Some people have died of COVID-19 even if they were vaccinated. As I mentioned earlier, people’s perception became like that because of the careless termination of the vaccine pass. Easing quarantine rules and the official government position on the virus are also responsible to some extent.

Student 2: I'm very much in favor of the revised policies. First of all, so many people have been confirmed even though they have been vaccinated. And the number of confirmed patients increases incredibly rapidly, making it difficult to know where and how they were infected. So, I don't think the vaccine pass had any effect. We don't have to continue the useless system. Even though the number of confirmed omicron patients is increasing, I heard that omicron is weaker than the original COVID-19 virus, so it is not much different from common influenza. However, if the quarantine guidelines were restrictive as before, small business owners would suffer more damage and also individuals. I'm a junior now, and if the omicron quarantine guidelines were the same as before, I wouldn't have had face-to-face classes for three years. Also, there is a shortage of medical personnel. If the nation continues to follow the strengthened quarantine guidelines, it will be difficult for them. As a result, it becomes difficult for everyone. I think it's right to think of omicron as a natural thing, and to have each person quarantine themselves well and maintain their daily lives.

The reporter recently visited the otolaryngologist a few times, and due to the task of writing a self-quarantined survey, the waiting time for treatment was an hour. So, the application had to be closed an hour before the actual treatment deadline. Compared to the number of confirmed patients, the number of medical staff in hospitals and public health centers is far short of what is needed. The hospital the reporter visited had only three. The situation was similar in other hospitals.

Despite the frightening spread, it seems that the government had no choice but to ease the quarantine guidelines. At first, I also suspected that the regulations were eased excessively, but I understood the government's guidelines after looking at the shortage of workers. It is necessary to relieve the stress on medical personnel and find better ways to improve this situation.

L.L.F reporter Yu-jin Kim