Gov. Lee Jae-myung "Will Actively Consider Restricting Business Activities for Quarantine Purposes"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung stated that he will "actively consider restricting business activities if necessary" to prevent the spread of COVID-19 originating from companies, such as the cluster infection at a logistics center in Bucheon.

Governor Lee said on the 29th through his Facebook that "excessive response is better than delayed response," and when there is high risk, strong-intensity measures may even seem excessive but are necessary for safety. He stated that rigorous responses are required.

The governor emphasized that "even if evaluated as excessive vigilance and overly strict measures, we must continue swiftly and without hesitation for safety and to block the spread of infection."

He further stated, "Karaoke bars, clubs, hostess bars, and singing rooms are legitimate economic activities, yet they are currently under long-term gathering restrictions due to infection risk. If production and distribution business activities also carry high infection risk, it is appropriate for them to be halted for public safety." He made clear his position on this matter.

He also expressed his commitment to quarantine efforts, saying, "If there is structural infection risk, if prevention guidelines are not being properly followed, or if there is infection risk due to poor response after confirmed cases appear, we will immediately implement necessary measures such as gathering bans and facility closures for general businesses as well."

Governor Lee also announced support measures, stating, "If companies need sample testing to verify infection for infection spread prevention, we will support pooled testing with budgets." Pooled testing differs from the conventional method of testing one person's sample at a time; instead, it tests samples from 5-10 people at once, making it faster than individual testing.

Governor Lee appealed for corporate cooperation, saying, "While economic activity is important, public safety is more important. In risky situations, it is unacceptable to overlook risks for corporate profit. We hope that companies will make greater efforts to minimize infection risk by strictly adhering to prevention guidelines in their business activities."