Isolation necessary, but not at the cost of someone's neglect

Two officials from Huajiahe in Hubei province's Hongan county have been sacked for their careless oversight, which led to the death of a 16-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. The officials had isolated the boy's father, his only guardian, for suspected infection with the novel coronavirus.

Five days after returning from Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, Yan Xiaowen was running a temperature and went to a hospital on Jan 22. The hospital authorities isolated him for observation and confirmed on Jan 29 that he was indeed carrying the novel coronavirus.

But with his only guardian in hospital, it seems the boy did not get proper care for six whole days. After his father's infection was confirmed on Jan 29, the authorities rushed his son, the patient's closest contact, to the central observation station. But the boy died within two hours.

Although the cause of his death is still being investigated, the local government has removed Huajiahe Party chief Wang Baoquan and deputy Party chief Peng Zhihong for not taking care of him during his father's isolation. The local government issued a statement saying they had taken care of the boy but apparently could have done better. The authorities have promised action against others who might be responsible after a probe.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the authorities have paid great attention to epidemic control. The most effective way is to isolate a person who is a suspected or confirmed carrier of the virus. Though quarantine helps control the disease's spread, it should not be done at the cost of neglecting someone.

Such isolation can cause problems not only for patients, but also uninfected people, especially the disabled or the elderly.

The boy's death may have been avoidable, had local officials taken good care of him. It shows the disastrous consequences of focusing solely on quarantine work.

The local government should deal strictly with the officials responsible for such poor oversight. Governments at various levels should learn from this lesson to take good care of the disadvantaged groups and ensure such a tragedy does not recur.