Experts Begin to Question Indoor Mask Mandates in South Korea

It seems to me that the mask mandates should be limited to places with high risk individuals such as nursing homes and hospitals:

A sign posted in a cafe in Jung District, Seoul, May 3, reads that customers are required to wear a face mask. Newsis

After nearly two years since the indoor mask mandate was first implemented in Korea, experts are debating whether the government should review lifting the requirement, as a number of countries have lifted or eased the mandate.

To help curb the spread of the coronavirus, the government required mask wearing both outdoors and indoors starting from Oct. 13, 2020. The outdoor mask mandate was lifted on May 2 of this year, as the number of new infections showed a downward trend after the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 wave peaked in March.

But the requirement to wear masks in indoor spaces such as offices, cafes, hospitals and public transportation has remained in place, with violators subject to a fine of 100,000 won ($72).

However, now that other countries such as Denmark and Singapore, along with states in the U.S., have removed or eased the mask requirement for indoor spaces, some are urging the Korean government to make similar adjustments.

“Ultimately, the indoor mask mandate, as well as the mandatory self-isolation rule for virus carriers should be scrapped,” said Jung Jae-hun, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon Medical School. “There could be differing views (among experts and authorities) on when would be the right time to remove the measures, but Korea is at a stage to begin discussions on it.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

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setnaffa
setnaffa
2 years ago

Continuing with the masks implies Koreans are weaker and dirtier than waygooks in Sweden and Texas…

Say it ain’t so!!!

mcnut
mcnut
2 years ago

most still wear them outside….these brainwashed sheep will not give it up easily

Kevin Kim
2 years ago

Just go full-on UK and do away with the mandate entirely.

TOK
TOK
2 years ago

Just go full-on UK and do away with the mandate entirely

They can.

But the Yoon administration is afraid of possible blowback from lifting the mask mandate. Also, the so called medical experts are probably advising the government to exercise caution and if you consider the above, the Yoon administration don’t want to be possibly accused of ignoring the medical experts during a time when its approval rating is 30%.

Why do you think Yoon is following the previous Moon-era COVID-19 policies, despite the current Head of the Korean CDC previously stating that the Moon-era COVID-19 policies were “unscientific?”

Kevin Kim
2 years ago

TOK,

Those are all good points. We generally can’t look to politicians for courage and initiative.

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