The court’s judgment on the application for suspension of the quarantine pass (inoculation certificate, negative confirmation system) is expected to come out as early as the 12th. This is the result of an application filed with the Seoul Administrative Court once morest the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the 31st of last month by Professor Jo Doo-hyung of Yeungnam University Medical School.
Professor Cho and others applied for suspension of enforcement of quarantine passes in most industries except for entertainment facilities. If the court accepts this application, the ripple effect is expected to be incomparable to that of the suspension of quarantine passes at private institutes that came out last week.
● The effectiveness of the quarantine pass is the deciding factor
The court’s decision is likely to be one of three. If the court does not accept the plaintiff’s request at all, the current quarantine pass system will be maintained until a verdict is issued. Conversely, if fully accepted, the quarantine pass will be suspended in all applicable facilities except for a few industries such as entertainment facilities, massage parlors, and indoor entertainment facilities. Currently, there are 1.03 million facilities in 14 industries that apply the quarantine pass. There are also observations in the legal circle that the court may decide to ‘partially quote’ to suspend the application of the quarantine pass only for some industries. The 4th administrative division of the Seoul Administrative Court in charge of this case (Chief Judge Han Won-gyo) asked the quarantine authorities several times on the 7th, the date of the interrogation, “What is the national interest that you want to achieve with the quarantine pass?” It was a question regarding why we should enforce the quarantine pass, which may infringe on basic rights. The quarantine authorities said the logic of reducing the medical burden by protecting those who are not vaccinated, who are likely to become seriously ill if they become infected with the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
However, it is pointed out that the government did not properly explain the ‘effect’ of the quarantine pass. Baek Soon-young, professor emeritus of the Catholic University of Korea (microbiology class), evaluated, “The government failed to provide evidence for the effect of suppressing the epidemic obtained by applying the quarantine pass to essential facilities.”
The quarantine authorities expect that even if the court decides to ‘partially quote’ and suspend quarantine passes for some facilities, restaurants and cafes will remain. There are 864,300 restaurants and cafes nationwide, accounting for 83.8% of the total quarantine pass-applied facilities.
Earlier, the 8th administrative division of the same court (Chief Judge Lee Jong-hwan) decided to suspend the application of the school quarantine pass, saying, “It is expected that users will continue to wear masks and operators will make efforts to comply with quarantine rules.” In industries where masks are removed, such as restaurants and cafes, the application of the quarantine pass may be judged differently. According to the risk classification by the quarantine authorities, academies are a ‘group 3’ with a low risk along with large supermarkets and PC rooms. There are two groups of restaurants and cafes.
● Government “Strengthen distance when quarantine pass is relaxed”
The court’s decision is also expected to affect the social distancing adjustment plan that will be applied from the 17th. At a briefing on the 11th, Park Hyang, head of the quarantine division at the Central Accident Response Headquarters, said, “Social distancing and the quarantine pass are complementary to each other. The government will announce the social distancing adjustment plan on the 14th.
The quarantine authorities plan to strengthen the quarantine rules for facilities that cancel the quarantine pass. The quarantine authorities are basically limiting the number of people entering according to the type of facility, such as ‘one person per 4 square meters of area’. In the case of facilities that apply the quarantine pass, this rule is exempted.
Quarantine experts are concerned that the release of the quarantine pass might reduce the tension between quarantines. Kim Dong-hyun, a professor at the Department of Social Medicine at Hallym University College of Medicine, said, “The easing of the quarantine pass may break social trust in the effectiveness of the vaccine and lead to a slowdown in the increase in the tertiary vaccination rate. .
Reporter Lee Ji-woon easy@donga.com
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