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Medical workers at a temporary screening center in Seoul Plaza prepare tests on Dec. 17. (Baek So-ah, staff photographer)

A COVID-19 patient in his 60s has died in Seoul while waiting to be assigned a hospital bed. Despite the efforts of the disease control authorities, beds remain in short supply, which means that more patients might not be able to get treated in time.

The city of Seoul announced the death of the patient, who had underlying conditions, in its daily COVID-19 briefing on Dec. 17. The patient, who died on Dec. 15, had been placed on a waiting list for hospital beds after testing positive for the coronavirus on Dec. 12.

Sources from Seoul and Dongdaemun District explained that the man, only identified as K, had likely contracted the virus at a restaurant called Pagoda Town. His first COVID-19 test on Dec. 4 came back negative, but he was tested again on Dec. 11 after his wife, who lived with him, contracted the disease. The next day, K was informed he’d tested positive.

While K had medical conditions including diabetes and high blood pressure, he was categorized as an “asymptomatic patient” because he only had an itchy throat, without any fever or other symptoms, during a consultation with medical staff from the Seoul Area Joint Action Situation Room. Another reason K wasn’t given priority for hospitalization was because he had an adequate supply of diabetes medication on hand, suggesting his situation was manageable.

Because there aren’t enough hospital beds, the disease control authorities are prioritizing patients with serious cases — those with symptoms such as labored breathing and pneumonia — in the assignment of hospital beds, while periodically monitoring patients who are told to stay at home until a hospital bed becomes available.

K was being monitored in this fashion when his symptoms took a rapid turn for the worse on Dec. 14. K told the public health center in Dongdaemun District that he had a bad cough and that there was blood in his phlegm. The health center made an urgent request for K to be assigned a hospital bed at 9 am and again at 1 pm, but no beds were available.

At 1 am on Dec. 15, K called his wife, who was at the hospital where she’d tested positive for the disease, to say he was very ill. She didn’t hear from him after that.

At 9 am, K’s wife called the emergency hotline. When the ambulance arrived at their home, they found that K had already passed away.

This was the first example in Seoul of a patient dying while waiting for a hospital bed. But if the shortage of hospital beds continues and the number of patients keeps increasing at the current rate, there are likely to be more patients like K whose situation deteriorates because they don’t get treatment in time.

As of 8 pm on Dec. 16, 86.1% of beds were occupied at Seoul hospitals responsible for infectious diseases. Even worse, there was only one available bed among the 80 used to treat critically ill patients. Furthermore, only 159 of 1,929 spots at residential treatment centers, which are used to house asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms, were immediately open to new patients.

Inevitably, some people who test positive for the coronavirus have to wait several days before they can be hospitalized. As of Dec. 17, more than 50 patients needing treatment at an infectious disease hospital in Seoul had been waiting at least two days to be hospitalized; while over 200 people had been waiting at least two days to be admitted to a residential treatment center.

Seoul is planning to add a total of 18 more beds at 6 hospitals, including two more beds for treating serious cases of COVID-19, within the week.

The situation should improve once public hospitals that Korea’s Central Disaster Management Headquarters has decided to mobilize are designated as facilities for treating infectious diseases. But the situation will likely worsen until those public hospitals begin normal operations next week.

“Yesterday [Dec. 16], we once again had a lot of people waiting to be hospitalized. It’s a tough situation since about 400 people are testing positive every day,” a Seoul official said.

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

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