Step in wrong direction

Fight against virus should not be swayed by politics

 

The Moon Jae-in administration cannot avoid criticism for easing social distancing rules ahead of the March 9 presidential election, despite an explosive surge in COVID-19 infections. On Friday, the government decided to allow cafes and restaurants to extend their business hours by one hour to 10 p.m., for about three weeks until March 13.

 

The measure was apparently aimed at helping small merchants and self-employed people, who are most vulnerable to the economic fallout from the pandemic, reduce their losses arising from the strict social distancing guidelines. The government can no longer ignore the strong backlash from those people who complain that they have been driven out of business due to the tightened rules.

 

“We could not overlook the reality of small merchants and self-employed people,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said, announcing the decision. He also said the government has decided to postpone the introduction of a youth vaccine pass system by one month to April. The postponement was made due to a lack of preparation as well as strong opposition from students and their parents.

 

The problem is that the Moon administration was apparently trying to compromise its principles in the fight against the coronavirus in the lead-up to the election. Taking into account the stunningly fast spread of the Omicron variant, the government should have tightened the social distancing and quarantine rules. But it is doing the opposite. It has refused to listen to medical experts who were calling for tougher measures.

 

Politics should not interfere with battling the pandemic. It is wrong for the government to put more priority on supporting the ruling party presidential candidate than on defeating the virus. The fight against COVID-19 should be based on science. The number of daily new infections announced Sunday stood at 104,829, staying over 100,000 for the third day straight. It represented a twofold increase from a week before and a fourfold surge from two weeks ago.

 

More worrisome is that the spread of the virus has yet to reach its peak. Health authorities predict daily infection cases to surge to between 130,000 and 170,000 later this month. The National Institute for Mathematical Sciences forecast that the daily number will skyrocket to as many as 360,000 early next month. The peak is likely to come in early or mid-March.

 

The authorities should go all out to prevent a potential collapse of the country's healthcare system. The government has shifted its focus on treating critically ill patients, while allowing those with light symptoms to undergo at-home treatment. But if daily infections continue to increase by 100,000, the number of critically ill patients could rise by 400 each day. So it is a matter of time before filling the 2,651 available hospital beds for such patients. In that case, it will be inevitable to see more deaths from the pandemic. We urge the government to take tougher measures to prevent the worst-case scenario.