[Corona Behind] Why do they hide 'infection'?

※ 'Corona Behind' is a report by Park Soo-jin, a reporter from the Life and Culture Department of SBS Press Headquarters, who is running at the forefront of the Corona 19 coverage.

Once a week, reporters Park's articles and thoughts that were not included in the article are released to readers.

[Editor's note]

Obviously, there was one line when I checked in the morning, but in case I was on the way home from work, two clear lines were printed on the self-test kit I did in the parking lot of the apartment.

I had a mild fever in the morning, but it became clear only in the evening.

Mr. A called his wife.

"Just leave your clothes, cold medicine and toiletries out at the door."

I was in a hurry to find a place to stay alone, and I went into 'self-isolation' on the way with the luggage that her wife had put out.

Today is the fourth day since Mr. A left home and started self-quarantine.

He has not yet undergone a PCR test or a professional rapid antigen test.

He described himself as a "suspicious person."

He didn't go to work because he had a job that allowed him to work from home.

However, he attended one meeting outside the company that he could not postpone due to work.

I tried to avoid meeting other people as much as possible, but I visited convenience stores and restaurants a few times to pack food.

I haven't seen 'one line' yet.

Spontaneous hidden infection, 'Shai Omicron'

'Hidden Infected' or 'Shai Omicron'.

It refers to people who, like Mr. A, are not caught in the government statistics because they have not been formally tested even though they have symptoms of coronavirus.

It is more accurate to express it as 'voluntarily hidden infection'.

This is because those who pass by without recognizing the fact of infection are classified as hidden infections.

Although it is not an accurate count, experts believe that the number of confirmed cases in Korea will be two to three times higher than now if voluntary and involuntary hidden infections are combined.

The term 'Shai Omicron' was first used in the domestic media.

This word first appeared in the article on March 7th in the Hankook Ilbo's <"I'd rather not take PCR test"...the increasing number of 'Shai Omicron'>.

We asked reporter Ryuho, who wrote this article, what motivated him to use this expression.

Reporter Ryu said, "In Korea, when we say 'Shi~', it is commonly used as people who hide their condition or disposition. I realized that there are people who think it would be better to hide the

There was also a representative incident (?) that made the public deeply aware of the so-called 'Shai Omicron', and it was an article and a photo posted on an Internet bulletin board on the 1st of last month.

The author, who introduced himself as a delivery man, wrote a picture of a self-test kit with clear 'two lines' and said, "If you get a PCR test and become confirmed, you can't go outside, so I'm not going to get it."

"I went to delivery, and a customer gave me a snack to say he was sorry he had Corona, but he took care of it even though I said it was okay because I also got Corona."

Articles citing this article as it was, flooded with controversy, and the article was deleted.

I have not been able to confirm whether this information is really true as I have not been able to contact the person concerned.

However, it seems clear that this article was an opportunity to awaken the society's awareness of 'Shai Omicron'.

A "suspected confirmed case" in self-quarantine

Why hide the infection?

I was curious about that.

The investigation was not easy.

It was difficult to find someone who could reveal and tell 'I am a hidden infection'.

I tried sending messages to people who left similar posts on blogs and bulletin boards, but I didn't get enough feedback.

Then I found out about Mr. A.

He is an office worker in his 30s.

He said that no one but his wife knew that he was a “suspected person.”

He's been 'holding up' by spending a lot of money on a single lodging, doing a daily self-examination kit, and taking Theraflu, Tylenol, sore throat meds he bought at the drugstore.

He said that he had a fever of 38 to 39 degrees at first, but it disappeared after two days, and now there are no other symptoms except for the degree of choking in the neck.

He said he works from home, and that he's not meeting people as much as possible.

When asked, "Why don't you get tested?" he said:

"Indeed, two lines appeared in the most difficult situation to isolate. There was something I couldn't do if I didn't do it at work, and I couldn't postpone it. And it wasn't as painful as I thought. . I thought it would be better to not get tested and take care of yourself than to get messy and noisy after being tested."

Although there was a part that I sympathized with Mr. A's situation, I also thought that it was a selfish choice as a member of society.

When asked, 'This is a selfish act in the eyes of others,' Mr. A agreed, "That's correct."

"You can think so. I don't think there's anything to be said about criticism. But I also have this thought. As the Omicron epidemic spread and hundreds of thousands of confirmed cases a day came out, the government changed the testing and quarantine system a lot. People who come out and non-confirmed people who visit to receive other treatment are mixed in one space. The same goes for public transportation and restaurants. The government’s quarantine policy is to expose people to situations that would not be strange no matter where they got infected, but individuals who do not get tested Even if a person is diagnosed and treated at home, it is the same as an individual who buys medicine and survives, but the government is not responsible for personal problems that arise from having to isolate.”

There was no 'Shi Delta', but why 'Shai Omicron'?

It is difficult to corroborate A's argument.

This is because there are far more people who are undergoing testing and complying with the self-isolation guidelines at the cost of inconvenience and disadvantage.

According to the 'Corona 19 Public Awareness Survey' published on the 15th of last month by Professor Myung-soon Myung-soon's team at Seoul National University's Graduate School of Public Health, more than 78% of the respondents said they would be tested on their own if they showed symptoms of infection or were contacted by a close contact.

However, I think there are points to consider among the claims of 'hidden infected people'.

There was no reporter who told his story as detailed as Mr. A, but he and the 'hidden infected' who communicated directly or indirectly while doing the coverage had something in common.

They claim that the government's message is 'inconsistent' and 'confused'.

"Distancing is constantly being lifted. There are 200,000 to 300,000 confirmed cases a day, but they say it's on a declining trend. There's also talk that it's going to an endemic disease. It's no longer possible to quarantine contacts or family members living with you, or not to do an epidemiological investigation or GPS tracking. Doesn't that mean it's okay? But why are you quarantined?"

"Even though it is a dangerous infectious disease with a high number of fatal patients and fatalities, the government continues to give signals that it will not do much anymore. Even if you treat yourself at home, there is nothing. ."

Although many people are still taking the inconvenience and complying with quarantine guidelines, confusion seems to be growing in the process of frequent changes in quarantine and medical systems due to the Omicron epidemic.

This phenomenon started in earnest when Omicron became popular.

At the end of last year, when the delta mutation was in full swing, the maximum daily number of confirmed cases at that time was only about 7,000, which is 1/40 of the current level.

(At that time, there was no expression 'Shai delta', nor did the existence of 'hidden infected people', meaning that they voluntarily hide the infection, were not highlighted.)

However, the public's perception of the risk of infection is changing.

As the duration of the corona pandemic has been prolonged with repeated mutations, the perception that "the likelihood of infection is increased, but not dangerous" has grown.

In fact, in a survey conducted by a research team led by Myung-soon Myung-soon at Seoul National University's Graduate School of Public Health in March of last year, 27.8% of the respondents answered that 'I am highly likely to be infected', which is the highest among all public awareness surveys. , 47.9% of those who answered, 'If infected, the consequences will be serious', which was the lowest among the surveys so far.

Declining trust in quarantine authorities... How to increase public acceptance?

It is also true that trust in the government and quarantine authorities is gradually declining in this process.

In the same survey, 52.4% and 63.3% of the total answered that they trust the government (Blue House, local government) and quarantine authorities (Ministry of Welfare, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) when asked about public confidence in the person who responds to infectious diseases in the same survey. On a monthly basis, the confidence in the quarantine authorities fell from 83% to 23%p, and the trust in the government fell by 6.7%p.

Although it is still gaining trust from more than half of the total, it can be seen that the trust is shaking a lot now compared to the high reliability in the early days of Corona.

Professor Myung-soon Myung-soon said in an interview with SBS, "It is true that the trust of the quarantine authorities is declining overall, but it still exceeds the majority, so more evidence is needed to say that the decline in trust is the main cause of the current phenomenon (hidden infections)." interpreted.

However, she said, "In a situation where O-micron prevails, voluntary and autonomous quarantine is more important than direct intervention-type quarantine policies such as strong measures or severe punishment as before. For this, communication is necessary so that solidarity and participation of the people can be supported. do,” he pointed out.

The flow of government policy changes is also moving toward 'autonomous quarantine'.

However, in this process, old and new policies are mixed.

In such a transitional period, the government's continuous and active effort to communicate with the public is necessary, but this is not enough, so I think the backlash and confusion about 'why do you do this and that' is growing.

Professor Yoo advised, "From a communication point of view, it is necessary to explain well that testing-isolation is one's own protection and social motive and contribution to protect my family and those around me by preventing the spread of radio waves."

The government is currently reviewing measures to lower the COVID-19, a first-class infectious disease, to a second-class infectious disease.

Since the classification system for infectious diseases in 2020 was changed from a four-tier system to a grading system, there has been no case of a downgrade of the class 1 infectious disease class.

Current quarantine guidelines as well as testing standards may change if they are brought down to Level 2 or lower.

The quarantine authorities say that “it is not something that can be decided quickly”, but as there was a briefing from the authorities that they are already reviewing whether to make adjustments, the public’s perception is focused on the ‘Corona grade is lowered’.

An unripe announcement without sufficient explanation and communication can cause confusion and lower the credibility of the policy. 

The act of hiding the corona infection is clearly an individual's selfishness, but I think that perhaps it is a variation that naturally appeared amid the gap between government policy and public acceptance. 

(Reporter: Park Soo-jin, PD: Kim Do-kyun, Illustration: Kim Jeong-yeon, Producer: D Content Planning Department)