"COVID-19 now surges by 350,000 cases at a time"… 'Already experiencing cluster infections' Emergency during the school reopening period

There are a lot of COVID cases around me too ㅠㅠ

Since there's no quarantine, if you don't speak up, you won't even know you have COVIDㅠㅠ

It's just a recommendation; going to work and school are both still happening...

You should wear a mask, always maintain cleanliness, and ventilate frequently.

Everyone, please take care of your health~

 

[Anchor]

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has increased ninefold in a month, and it is expected that next week, 350,000 confirmed cases will be reported weekly. Schools are reopening, which is particularly concerning. In one boarding school, dozens of students have been infected in a cluster.

This is Reporter Seonghwa Sun.

[Reporter]

A group of COVID-19 confirmed cases occurred at a high school that reopened last week.

Approximately 170 students in the entire school live in the dormitory, and one in four students has tested positive.

A/Health Teacher: (The boarding school) is very crowded, with four children sharing a single room, which is a classic example of the '3M' (close contact, enclosed space, crowded). I think about 70% of the children showing cold symptoms are testing positive for COVID-19.

Twenty-four elementary, middle, and high school students have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 over the past week since the 4th.

The growth is rapidly increasing as we pass mid-July.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has even predicted that by the end of this month, the weekly number of cases could reach up to 350,000, the highest level of the previous year.

However, at the frontline schools, even self-diagnosis kits for testing students have run out.

B (Health Teacher): I want to conduct a test, but the self-diagnosis kits currently at the school were distributed in large quantities by the Education Office during the COVID-19 outbreak, and most of them are past their expiration date. Most of them need to be discarded now...

Even if you have symptoms, you cannot immediately determine whether it is COVID-19.

Kang Ryu-kyo / President of the Health Teachers' Association: (Health teachers) have already seen prices triple in the market, and even if they try to buy, it is either impossible or very difficult to purchase.

In the school setting, authorities are demanding that the education department urgently distribute diagnostic test kits to prevent large-scale infections within the school.

 

<Source JTBC>