Seoul has announced that those who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be allowed to go outdoors without a mask beginning next month.
While this policy aims to encourage vaccination it brings burden on the province’s disease control work.
Still the provincial council is pushing for inoculations to be first priority. Mike Laidman reports.


Report


Jeju Island is still seeing more than one million visitors every month, even though the COVID 19 pandemic has yet to really start receding in Korea.


As of now, the vaccination rate on Jeju is under 20 percent, and concerns over the virus coming from the mainland remain.
New strains of the virus that are faster spreading are adding to this worry.


Seoul has announced that those who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be allowed to go maskless outdoors beginning next month. The move aims to encourage people to get vaccinated.
And with the summer vacation season fast approaching, the new policy could potentially put a heavy burden on the province’s disease control workers.


At a recent special session of the provincial council, members voiced their opinions on the current situation.

Recording
Yang Young-sik / Chief, Health, Welfare and Safety Committee
One out of four people won’t be wearing a mask in July. I’m concerned about whether the Provincial Office can really handle the situation. There is a possibility that some who are not vaccinated don’t wear masks. (Yes, that might happen.) What is your plan to deal with that situation should it arise?
<싱크 : 양영식 / 제주도의회 보건복지안전위원장>
"(7월이면) 4명 가운데 1명이 마스크를 벗고 활보한다는 말이에요. 어떻게 우리가 행정적으로 대처할 수 있을지도 상당히 의문스럽고 왜냐하면 백신을 1차 접종하지도 않았는데 마스크를 벗고 다닐 수도 있잖아요. (그럴 수 있습니다.) 그럼 이런 것들을 어떻게 합니까?"

A representative of the province, in response to these worries, replied that the office is coming up with countermeasures to reflect the island’s status as a popular tourist destination.



The Provincial Council’s Health, Welfare, and Safety Committee is proposing that islanders be inoculated first to prevent Jeju from becoming a virus transmission hotspot.
The proposal also provided an explanation as to why it was suggested. Jeju, as an island and a popular tourist destination, cannot rapidly react to infectious diseases because of its geographical features.

INTERVIEW
Song Chang-gwon / Provincial councilor
2.5 million people are expected to visit the island over the 2021 summer peak season. If Jeju residents are inoculated first, visitors would be protected during their visits. This kind of mass vaccination cuts the routes the virus uses to spread. This would prevent a nationwide spread of the virus.
<인터뷰 : 송창권 / 제주도의회 의원>
"제주도민이 보호되고 코로나19 백신으로 안전하게 되면 관광객들이 극성수기 7~8월에 250만 명 오실 것으로 예상하고 있는데 이분들이 또 안전하거든요. 여기 와서 감염되는 경우는 없기 때문에 전국적인 확산을 막을 수도 있습니다."


The proposal will be submitted to the president, the prime minister, and other relevant offices should it be passed at the Provincial Council’s upcoming regular session, scheduled for June 9th.

Mike Laidman, KCTV