Lotte World closes after infected guest visits there

[Tim2009]

 

I just got breaking news about Coronavirus in South Korea.

Lotte world announced they will be closing their doors following:

June 7, June 8, Reopening on June 9.

 

This happened due to the fact that the infected guest visited the park on June 5, last Friday.

I checked Facebook and one Lotte World employee asked people to self-isolate if you have visited Lotte World at last Friday.

Currently, lots of people are expressing outrage, stating 'who thought it was a good idea to visit a theme park while Coronavirus is at full swing?'

In addition, Lotte World announced they will be shutting down 'Kid's Sightseeing Car' and 'Beluga's Talk Show' permanently.

Oh, and did I mention that Lotte World also permanently shutdown 'Undersea Kingdom theme park', the theme park that belonged to children, on May 31?

[Garet]

It's funny all the people expressing outrage haven't said anything about Lotte World or Everland being open for the last 3 months but only speak up once a case happens.

 

More information:

 

Lotte World, Jamsil, Songpa, Seoul, confirmed the visit of the coronavirus infectious disease (Corona 19) confirmed and closed the business early on the 7th.

 

On the same day, Lotte World said on the homepage, "We will announce the end of today's business of Lotte World Adventure." "Lotte World decided to end business as a measure for the safety of customers and employees," he said. "We ask for your patience."

 

Lotte World ended business at 1:00 pm on the 5th after confirming the authenticity of the corona 19 visitor on the 5th. It was reported that the confirmed person informed the Lotte World call center on the morning of his visit to Lotte World on the 5th.

 

An official at Lotte World said, "In the process of contact and verifying the authenticity, we preemptively stopped the ticketing at 1:00 pm and sent out to protect customers and employees." Information broadcasts and staff's face-to-face announcements were carried out in parallel, and information boards were installed. For the exiting customer, they were given the choice of a refund or reusable ticket.

 

 

On the 7th, Lotte World visited the Corona 19 confirmer and said it will be closed for 7-8 June

More than 1,100 people visited Lotte World before the end of the day. After the Corona 19 incident, visitors have shrunk 80-90% from the same period last year.

 

At the quarantine level, you must enter with a mask, and the rides are also boarded while wearing a mask. According to Lotte World, the number of people riding on the rides was reduced to half the usual size and allowed them to sit down, and the handles were sterilized immediately after one operation.

 

According to Lotte World, there are no cases of complaints of infection among customers or employees. Lotte World is currently quarantined is in progress, and it is planned to resume operation on the 9th after additional quarantine is implemented by the 8th.

 

On the 5th, Lotte World is said to be waiting for detailed notifications from the quarantine authorities on visitor traffic. The cumulative number of visitors per day on the 5th was about 2000, but it was found that about 690 visitors stayed at a similar time in the afternoon when the confirmer visited. The day before, the total number of visitors was 4,700.

Source

 

I think there are a few translation errors from google, sorry. From what I can gather on the tracing he took the subway line number 2 and visited the park on the 5th from midday to 9 pm so obviously the park didn't close 1pm on 5th. From what I can work out myself in my limited Korean since the park was open yesterday on the 6th what the article means is that the visitor from the 5th contacted the call center once he was confirmed infected or the contact tracers contacted because of him and once Lotte World confirmed this was a genuine call, shut down the park at 1 pm and refunded the guests (I'm going to assume this was the 6th after his visit or maybe 7th.) If Tim or another native speaker could check that's correct I'd appreciate it.

 

Also not to confuse anyone with the translated name, the children's ride is this and not the little tracked car ride nearby:

 

[Garet]

SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's largest indoor theme park was forced to close early Sunday after health authorities confirmed that a virus patient had visited the entertainment facility.

 

Lotte World Adventure, an amusement park in Songpa Ward, southern Seoul, suspended its operation around 1 p.m. for the safety of visitors and workers.

 

According to health officials, a virus-infected high school student was at the urban theme park between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday. Health authorities confirmed the student had contracted COVID-19 on Sunday morning.

 

This signage at Lotte World Adventure in Seoul shows that the facility is closed on June 7, 2020, due to a virus patient's visit. (Yonhap)

 

Lotte World Adventure said around 2,000 people had visited the theme park Friday, but about 690 people were at the facility when the virus patient was there.

 

The theme park's officials said there were about 4,700 visitors on Saturday and 1,100 guests on Sunday before its early closure was announced.

 

Officials said visitors were admitted to the theme park with their masks on and they were also required to wear masks when boarding rides, with distance kept between seats. Hand bars were sanitized by the staff after each use.

 

The theme park's officials said so far no workers have reported symptoms of COVID-19.

 

Lotte World Adventure said it plans to reopen the theme park Tuesday after completing disinfection work.

Source

 

An English article (non-translated) just went up with details, turns out the park closed 1 PM today and will be closed all day tomorrow. Obviously, the infection is the main part but look at those numbers for a Friday and the weekend! The park hasn't had any restrictions or reservations in place so most people stayed away of their own free-will, but that is an insanely small amount of people compared to pre-corona.

[Garet]

South Korea saw 520 schools nationwide closed Tuesday as a precautionary measure to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading.

 

While the number remained lower than a daily peak of more than 830 last month, health and educational authorities are concerned that most of the affected schools were located in the densely populated Seoul and its adjacent cities.

 

The Ministry of Education said 520 schools had shut down as of 10 a.m. Tuesday, a day after the country wrapped up its four-phased reopening of schools that began less than three weeks ago.

 

The tally accounted for 2.5 percent of the nation's total 20,902 schools, including kindergartens.

 

Among them, 509 schools, or 98 percent, were in the capital area that refers to Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.

 

Meanwhile, the ministry breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday, as no infections were reported in connection with a high school COVID-19 patient who visited Lotte World Adventure, a popular leisure destination among young children in Seoul.

 

The ministry said all 769 students and staff at Wonmook High School in the northwest ward of Jungnang in Seoul tested negative for the virus.

 

The student went to the country's biggest indoor amusement park Friday with three friends and tested positive Sunday.

 

Upon hearing the news, the authorities tested 138 people for the virus, who were considered at higher risk of infection, on the same day.

 

The next day, a temporary testing site was set up at the school where the remaining 631 people were tested for the coronavirus.

 

The high school remains closed until Wednesday

Source

[southpuddle]

So there was already a 1,000% chance that SOMEONE over the last several months already visited the park while they were COVID-positive, but now that there is a confirmed case, the park closes?

[KarlaKoaster]

Well, I'm not about to start picking holes in South Korea's coronavirus response considering they have lead a masterclass in dealing with the outbreak. I think many countries could learn a thing or two from them.

[Garet]

False alarm for Lotte World

 

SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul high school student who tested positive after visiting the nation's largest indoor theme park has been finally given a clean bill of health after a retest, authorities said Wednesday.

The student, identified only as a female senior at Wonmook High School in the eastern ward of Jungnang, had her first two COVID-19 tests on May 20 and 25 after exhibiting symptoms, such as a cough and sore throat, and the results were negative.

 

After visiting Lotte World Adventure in southern Seoul, along with three friends last Friday, however, the student tested positive for the virus Sunday

 

Her positive test result had immediately triggered an alarm bell for the quarantine authorities, who forced both her school and Lotte World Adventure to close temporarily for disinfection and ordered coronavirus tests for all 769 students and staff at the high school.

After all of the students and staff tested negative, the authorities conducted additional tests on the female student and finally concluded that she is not infected with the virus.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the student showed negative results in the two most recent tests conducted Tuesday by the Seoul Metropolitan Government Institute of Health and Environment and the Seoul Medical Center.

Her coronavirus-related antibody test also produced a negative result, the office noted.

Following the final test results, the student was released from self-isolation and her school will reopen Thursday, it added.

Meanwhile, a southern Seoul cram school said all of its 471 students and staff have tested negative in virus tests conducted after one of its cafeteria employees was found to be infected earlier this week.

The outbreak has also raised concerns over the potential spread of the virus in the large scam school where many high school graduates stay for long hours every day to prepare for a college entrance exam.

The Daesung Academy Kangnam said it will reopen Thursday and faithfully implement hygiene and social distancing guidelines in the future

Source

Edited June 10, 2020 by Garet

[Garet]

Same source as above but they’ve updated the article. Seems with a positive and negative they want to make sure before they confirm if an infected person was at the park.

 

But the central government's coronavirus command center said in the afternoon that it will withhold final judgment on whether the student is infected or not, noting any error from her previous positive test result has yet to be confirmed.

"Experts are now examining whether the student's previous positive result was false or not, with many possibilities in mind. The final conclusion has not been reached yet," Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), said in a media briefing.

As for the Seoul educational office's announcement on absence of coronavirus antibody in the student's body, Jeong said, "The rapid antibody test may have a problem in accuracy. So there is a limit in determining whether she is infected or not from the test results."

The director said the KCDC plans to conduct another test on the student's samples before reaching the final conclusion through consultations with experts and Seoul officials. Until then, the student will remain in hospital

[RideWoodenCoasters]

A single potentially false positive shuts down a society...in spite of proper mask use and distancing that is shown to eliminate spread. If this is done in the US there will be no amusement industry. I'm fine with the agreed precautions; I'm not fine with demanding Covid risk statistically less than I already take to travel to a park.

[Garet]

^I'm sorry, I really didn't understand your post.

 

A single potentially false positive shuts down a society...in spite of proper mask use and distancing that is shown to eliminate spread. If this is done in the US there will be no amusement industry.

I'm confused about the single false-negative shutting down society since the whole country is running as normal and all that happened from this one case is the park closed for 1 day of deep cleaning as a precaution on top of their standard COVID cleaning procedures and then reopened. I heard attendance is probably going to drop from this new scare factor but that's it.

 

I'm fine with the agreed precautions; I'm not fine with demanding Covid risk statistically less than I already take to travel to a park

And I'm not sure what you're trying to say here at all. If you can elaborate I can maybe explain more the procedures of the park/travelling to the park that are in place.

[RideWoodenCoasters]

With increased testing, there will be false positives; existing tests have them. If we do contact tracing like this and close parks every time when we have not 1000 guests in a park but ten times that (under reduced capacity at our large parks), there is no economic path forward here with the millions of tests we have done and will do in the US.

 

ROK has done a great job with Covid. The chance of dying from it there now is less than the chance of dying in an auto accident for the less vulnerable population. I was stating that I am willing to take the pre-Covid ordinary risks of travel to visit parks, including injury and death, and that I disagree with a system that, if implemented here, would wipe out most of our theme parks to 'eliminate risk'.

 

Masks OK, temperature taking OK, distancing OK, no choice to do business not OK.

 

I greatly appreciate your reports. The details and clarity are helpful.

[Garet]

Ok thanks, I understand your points a little better now.

 

There's a lot of unknowns so it's impossible to access how much an infected person visiting a park, say in America, will have and how the state or government could respond. Maybe the parks don't close at all because it's a 'visit at your own risk' situation, maybe the park closes for a disinfection day, maybe the state closes all the parks again if there are multiple cases. There are just so many variable situations. However, I'll try and tie your points into Lotte World before circling back around.

 

With increased testing, there will be false positives; existing tests have them. If we do contact tracing like this and close parks every time when we have not 1000 guests in a park but ten times that (under reduced capacity at our large parks)

 

I asked in the Dollywood thread if people would really flock to the parks once they open but the response was mostly 'it's unknown right now'. In terms of Lotte World, I think outside of maybe Ocean Park and Chimelong Kingdom, Lotte World and Everland are the most non Disney/Universal attended parks in the world and even without restrictions Lotte World was seeing 4-5000 people on its busiest days.

 

There are obviously unknown cases out and around Korea but with strict testing those numbers are fairly low. Lotte World obviously sees guests from all around the country but they mostly see Seoul guests. Seoul's known total cases according to government statistics for the Seoul population is 10 people infected for every 100,000 people or around 0.01%. When you consider 2/3 of those are cured then you have 0.003%. Throw in that attendance has been down around 90% which means a lot of the population is avoiding the park, mandatory quarantines for anyone who went to a known infected area or contact with a known infected person, and the chances of an infected guest are even lower.

 

Again, those numbers are rough because of course there are unknown infected people. Everland and Lotte World never closed even during the height of the pandemic (some of the smaller parks down south closed due to being closer to the outbreak zone) and so far Lotte World has lost 1 day and Everland none.

 

The other thing to consider, and hopefully people who visited the parks will back me up, is Lotte Worlds public areas (not including backstage where rides are located) is mostly indoors and extremely tiny. It's in the middle of a very expensive real estate part of the city so the outdoor area is tiny and the indoor area where guests can go is literally the size of the outer ring of an ice skating rink. The 2nd-4th floor is even smaller since most of them follow only 1-2 sides of the rink. It may have been seen as riskier than a big outdoor park like Everland which is why the government ordered it closed for a day. Personally though, based on my observations here, I think even if it was a bigger outdoor park, the government would have made them take 1-2 days for disinfection.

 

Again you have valid points and there are way too many unknowns. And yes, America could have way more unknown untested infected people than S. Korea. But I personally feel despite big numbers the chances of parks having infected visitors can be quite small that in a hypothetical where a park loses a day each time there's a confirmed case it would not wipe out the industry. I think the biggest factor in terms of USA vs Korea in theme parks and corona is, and not to offend anyone here, people here are more willing to wait until the pandemic is over and people will stay at home if they have symptoms (even that high schooler got themselves tested twice and after two negatives assumed they were safe to visit the park) before we revisit the parks whereas USA will have people booking up the reservations just to be 'first' regardless of symptoms. We have bad apples here too, my subway was filled with people flouting the 'no mask, no ride' rule by wearing masks on their chins or off their noses but the majority do behave pretty responsibly.

 

This mini-essay was more to address your hypothetical of what happens if an already infected person attends a park so I didn't mention it because this is more along the lines of 'Will it spread if an intended person goes?' but I do just want to say it seems USA parks and Europe parks have even stricter social distancing in lines than Korea does and much more stricter attendance caps (there's none here) as well as similar disinfections after ride cycles so I do feel parks are as safe as they can try to be in this pandemic we face.

[Garet]

Although nothing on the official site, corona maps (which collect confirmed locations from official sources) and local news have reported another infected guest was in the park.

 

Lotte World theme park closed due to COVID-19 case

Visitors leave the Lotte World amusement park in Jamsil, east of Seoul, on Aug. 16, 2020, after a person infected with the coronavirus was found to have visited. (Yonhap)

Source