“Halloween visitors, pre-Corona level”… Crowded Itaewon, is quarantine okay?

Itaewon World Food Street Report One Day Before Halloween
On a road that can be crowded with 6,000 people, there is no room for footsteps
The next day, the streets were full of garbage, such as cigarette butts and empty bottles.
Citizens “The number of people similar to 2019 Halloween”

The World Food Street in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul at 9 am on the 31st. Two of the environmental sanitation workers of Yongsan-gu Office in fluorescent work clothes were busy combing. Itaewon World Food Street was filthy with cigarette butts, cigarette prices, paper cups, masks, plastic bottles and glass bottles thrown away by people who visited the street the day before. There were also broken bottles. In the place where the Yongsan-gu Office water cleaning truck passed, various garbage was floating on the water.

As usual, the sanitation workers, who started cleaning the world food street from 7 am on the same day, said, “They usually work until 12 pm, but I don’t know when the work will be finished today.” There was so much garbage that it took 2 hours just to clean the 70m area out of the 320m total length of the World Food Street.

Environmental sanitation workers said, “When I usually clean this street, 2 or 3 100-liter bags (the largest among the volume-based garbage bags) come out. “If I finish cleaning here today, I think there will be garbage that can fill about 10 100-liter garbage bags.” “This year, this street has produced the most garbage,” he said.

The day before ‘Halloween Day’, The World Food Street in Itaewon was covered with crowds. Ahead of the government’s ‘step-by-step recovery’ (5 a.m. on the 1st of the following month), the streets of Itaewon became lively after a long time with a lot of people visiting. However, since the 28th, as the number of new confirmed cases of Corona 19 again entered the 2,000 level, many people are crowded and there are voices that are concerned about the spread of Corona 19 infection.

Around 7 pm the day before, the Itaewon World Food Street, which is about 325 meters long and 6.6 meters wide, was so crowded that there was no time to walk. In addition to the costumes of game participants and hosts in the Netflix original series ‘Squid Game’, the costumes of the ghost characters from the animated movie ‘Sen and Chihiro’s Away’, the costumes of the ghost characters from the movie ‘Harry Potter’ series, and cartoons People dressed in costumes of the character ‘Spider-Man’ and hanbok came out to the streets.

If one person occupies an area of ​​0.33㎡, itaewon World Food Street can accommodate 6,000 people. This street takes about 5 minutes to walk from one end to the other without people. However, it only took 7 minutes to walk about 70m through the quarantine gate at the east entrance of this street the day before.

The Itaewon Special Tourism Zone Association started quarantine activities by operating quarantine gates at the western and eastern entrances of World Food Street. Association officials guided people who visited the streets to use hand sanitizer and to pass through the quarantine gate. Disinfectant was being sprayed at the quarantine gate. However, it was not possible to complete the QR code electronic access list at the entrance. People who did not visit restaurants and bars on this street will not have access records. However, there were far more people on the street than people using bars and the like. At least 20 and up to 100 people lined up at each bar.

Earlier, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection in celebration of Halloween week, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been implementing special quarantine guidelines for areas where entertainment facilities are concentrated, such as Itaewon, Hongik University, and Gangnam Station, since the 27th. The main contents include managing the access list, limiting the number of people at private gatherings, and maintaining a distance between tables. A notice was posted on the store stating that masks should be worn at all times except when eating and drinking and that dancing in the store is prohibited.

However, at a bar located in an alley about 70 meters from Exit 1 of Itaewon Station, people took off their masks and got up from their seats, standing in a line in front of the store entrance and dancing. Even at the bars on the World Food Street, it was not difficult to see people taking off their masks and talking.

People I met at the World Food Street said there was a similar crowd to Halloween 2019, before the outbreak of COVID-19. Im, a 34-year-old office worker who visited the World Food Street the day before with her spouse, said, “I came here on the 28th as well, but there were a lot more people than then.” If you look at the people who come and go, it doesn’t look much different from the crowd I saw on Halloween two years ago,” he said.

University student Kim (21) also said, “There seem to be more people than last year’s Halloween. In fact, I had no idea there would be this many people. If there were this many, I would have thought about coming here.” He said, “Many people would have completed the COVID-19 vaccine, but at this level of density, and the Corona 19 situation is not over yet, it is difficult to say that there is no concern about the spread of COVID-19 infection. ” he said. Even among those who visited World Food Street, sayings such as “I never imagined that there would be this many people”, “I might be killed by being here” and “There will be a lot of confirmed cases soon” came out.

About 70 meters away from Exit 4 of Itaewon Station, four temporary screening and testing stations were installed. However, very few people visited the inspection station. “There were more people who visited the Itaewon street the day before than on the 29th,” said an employee of the prosecutor’s office.

At 10 p.m., when restaurants and bars had to close, the police began to guide people on World Food Street to go home. The police made announcements through a loudspeaker saying, “Citizens, please go home immediately” and “Please cooperate with the prevention of infectious diseases.” At the same time, a red light pole and an electronic whistle were used to induce people to disperse. People walking around without a mask were instructed to wear a mask.

However, the people did not respond to the police’s request for cooperation. It seemed to respond to the police’s request to return home, but then went to another place to take a group photo or went the original route. When people did not leave the street by 11pm, the police closed the business and asked each store owner and employee to turn off the store lights while they were cleaning. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, a total of 716 people, including 645 police officers from 9 police riot police stations, including Yongsan Police Station in Itaewon, Seoul Yongsan Police Station, Seoul Mapo, Gangnam, and Seocho Police Stations, and officials from each district office, visited Itaewon, Hongik University, and Gangnam Station the day before and violated quarantine rules. went into crackdown.

Written by Oh Se-jin 5sjin@seoul.co.kr