Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young Proposes 'Relaxation of Quarantine System' as First District-Level Official

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young stated, "It is not right to continue a quarantine system predicated on the one-sided sacrifice of small business owners and self-employed workers," becoming the first district-level official to propose a 'relaxation of the quarantine system.'

Mayor Yeom appeared on a radio current affairs program on the 17th, saying, "The current daily confirmed cases are about twice as many as during last year's major outbreak, but the fatality rate has dropped significantly. With vaccination rates reaching 70% and the fatality rate now lower, it is time to comprehensively reconsider the quarantine system."

Mayor Yeom Tae-young also posted on his personal SNS on the 15th, advocating for a "shift to a 'living with COVID' policy." Recently, through press interviews and personal SNS, he has been calling for the government to "establish measures to help small business owners and self-employed workers overcome the crisis."

Mayor Yeom said, "The quarantine response system should be redesigned based on the rate of severe cases or fatality rates rather than confirmed case numbers," and proposed, "We should comprehensively revise the gathering bans and restrictions that were implemented in ways forcing one-sided sacrifices from small business owners and self-employed workers." He added, "This means strictly enforcing individual quarantine rules such as mask-wearing while reconsidering uniform gathering bans and restrictions."

Mayor Yeom Tae-young expressed concern on his personal SNS, stating, "Self-employed business owners are in a precarious situation due to operating restrictions, and the closure rate of small businesses in Suwon has reached 10%. The collapse of small businesses could lead to local economic stagnation and the collapse of the middle class."

He further noted, "While the 'economic fatality rate' of small business owners has reached a critical point, financial authorities are trapped in immediate fiscal soundness logic," and said, "As fiscal flexibility is expected to arise from excess revenue this year, we should prioritize directing fiscal resources to the most painful areas of our society right now."

He also repeatedly emphasized, "Now we must urgently shift the quarantine policy paradigm to a 'phased return to normal life' approach focused on managing severe cases."