A sign installed in a shopping mall in Seoul, Thursday, reads that visitors are required to wear a face mask inside the store. Yonhap

Country may go mask-free from end of January at the earliest: KDCA chief

By Lee Hyo-jin

The government unveiled, Friday, a detailed roadmap on lifting the indoor mask mandate, cautiously predicting that it may be scrapped by the end of January at the earliest. Yet medical experts are still debating whether the country is ready to ditch the indoor mask rule, one of the last remaining COVID-19 restrictions in Korea.

While some doctors viewed that masks should now be more of a personal choice, others expressed concerns that the premature lifting of the mandate may put vulnerable groups at risk.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced that the relaxation of the mask mandate will come in two phases. In the first phase, masks will no longer be a requirement ― but a recommendation ― in public places except for high-risk facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies and public transportation.

The country will enter the first phase if two out of four criteria are met. The four criteria are: a stable number of daily infections and specifically continuously declining numbers over a two-week period, reductions in the number of critical cases and the fatality rate, a sufficient capacity of ICU beds to treat critically ill patients, as well booster vaccination rates of at least 50 percent among the elderly and at least 60 percent of those in high-risk facilities such as nursing homes.

Currently, only one criterion ― the capacity of ICU beds ― has reached its target figure, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The government will also decide whether to enter the second phase, where the mask mandate will be fully lifted in all indoor spaces, if the coronavirus is downgraded to the lowest level of its four-tier infectious control system. The disease is currently classified at Level 2.

Announcing such plans, KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee was cautious about giving an exact date for the country being able to implement the first phase.

Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jee Young-mee speaks during a briefing held at the agency's headquarters in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Friday. Yonhap

"There are a lot of variables involved. The latest variants seem to be showing different characteristics and the changes in quarantine policies in other countries such as China should also be taken into account," she said.

"The current wave of infections is expected to reach a mild peak in January. And considering that we should monitor the situation for about two weeks after that, the appropriate timing (to enter the first phase) may come after the Lunar New Year holiday, or at the end of January."

Kim Woo-joo, an infectious disease specialist at Korea University Guro Hospital, was critical of the government's push to ease the indoor mask mandate.

"I don't understand why our government is going against the global trend in terms of quarantine policies," he said, mentioning that some U.S. states are moving to reinstate indoor mask mandates, bracing for a surge of infections during the cold winter season.

"The numbers of daily infections, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks are very concerning. Premature removal of the mask rule will put the elderly population, who are insufficiently immunized, at risk," he said.

According to KDCA data, the daily numbers of infections have climbed to over 75,000 for Wednesday, and the number of critical cases came to 547, the highest figure in the last 100 days. About 50 to 60 deaths are being reported daily.

On the other hand, Chon Eun-mi, a respiratory disease specialist at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, viewed that wearing face masks should now be more of a personal choice.

"It is true that masks are very effective in preventing infections. But considering that we saw about 600,000 daily infections this spring when strict mask requirements were in place, masks may not be the only tool we should use against the virus," she said. "Plus, I think that many people will still choose to wear the mask even if the requirement is lifted."

Chon advised that the government should more actively use oral treatments as a measure to protect the vulnerable population from falling into critical condition.

Meanwhile, a proposal made by the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday that the government should consider shortening the mandatory self-isolation period to three days, from the current seven, is unlikely to materialize in the near future.

"The duration of virus shedding is measured to be seven days on average. Many other countries still have the seven-day quarantine rules in place, while some cut it to five. We view that seven days is appropriate for the time being in Korea," Jee said during Friday's briefing.