Osaka declares COVID medical emergency with 878 new cases

"Medical Emergency" what does that even mean? Schools open, Business as usual? I am going to guess that this is lower than a state of emergency. As we have seen in the past, a state of emergency is nothing except close bars/restraunts early...So this means what? lol

Both the medical emergency declaration and the red alert level are largely symbolic moves aimed at raising vigilance among residents.

Oh, so nothing. I guess I was right. This means nothing!

Olympics will be a disaster!

I was thinking the number of tests in Osaka was much higher than in Tokyo..... but no.

https://covid19-osaka.info/en/

Depressing. I thought this thing would be over already.

insisting on holding the olympics, not requiring athletes to be tested or vaccinated prior to arrival.

wishy washy rollout of vaccinations not even prepared to have enough syringes. its going to turn into far worse than depressing, a disaster

This will be a medical emergency minus alpha.

As the central gov is claiming that it’ll be able to vaccinate 1% of the elderly Tokyoites by the end of April, at that pace what possibly could go wrong? Re-elect Suga-San now, or at least let’s celebrate the great rate of vaccine rollout, with a steak dinner in the Ginza!

Depressing. I thought this thing would be over already.

Sadly, thinking or hoping problems as big as this will just magically go away does not work. Real action was needed many, many months ago.

Ricky SanchezToday  12:33 pm JST

"Medical Emergency" what does that even mean?

It means the establishment don't want to pay even one cent to help the hoi polloi.

Both the medical emergency declaration and the red alert level are largely symbolic moves

Remove the word “largely”. Then we’ll have a more truthful sentence.

they clearly to me are not following the "japan model" as explained by various experts. is the osaka mayor a troublemaker? he must stop and recover this before the olympics

@zichi

I can speak from first hand knowledge of the process of hospital admittance in Japan.

When my acquaintance picked up the virus and had a temperature and loss of smell and taste, my wife was able to interrogate the hospital database as to the number of beds that was allocated to Covid patients.

There were empty beds but he was not admitted. For ten days, under penalty of financial loss, he was told to remain at home.

Unless, there are people in Japan with severe symptoms or respiratory infections preventing unaided breathing, then the majority will be told to stay at home.

As many elderly Japanese cannot take care of themselves without leaving their homes then hospital admission is the only option to ensure they do not die under the 10 day curfew...

Make HCQ available.

It can treat this virus if a person has to stay at home, so this angst and fear can stop.

It is FDA approved, it is safe, cheap, good for all ages, it works.

Make medi-packs of it with Vit D, Zinc, available!

If 800 cases are all it takes for Osaka to declare a medical emergency due to strain on the hospitals, what on earth have they been doing over the past year to make sure they could cope with a sudden increase in COVID cases?

Osaka saw Tokyo spike to around 2,500 daily cases at one point last year - and Osaka hospitals are under emergency strain at 800 cases? Come on. They should’ve been preparing to cope with at least 2,000 cases if not considerably more.

It beggars belief how Japanese government and local government have acted over the last 1+ years. It’s completely inexcusable.

@“NipponGlory”

It’s ok, us Aussies can see your sarcasm!

But seriously, 800 cases! That’s a fair number

blue in greenToday  02:20 pm JST

Make HCQ available.

It can treat this virus if a person has to stay at home, so this angst and fear can stop.

It is FDA approved, it is safe, cheap, good for all ages, it works.

Make medi-packs of it with Vit D, Zinc, available!

That's not allowed. Can't make enough money off it.

why I am and an ever increasing number of people no longer take these Medical groups seriously

75%+hospitals refuse to treat coronavirus.

carpslidyToday  03:12 pm JST

why I am and an ever increasing number of people no longer take these Medical groups seriously

75%+hospitals refuse to treat coronavirus.

One can only claim the sky is falling a certain amount of times before people wake up to discover it's still wherein should be.

The name of the emergency is irrelevant, call it a happy scocial-distancing party if you want, the important thing is what is being done to stabilize the situation. Support to close business, money so hospitals find beds, vaccines delivered at believable speed.

That's not allowed. Can't make enough money off it.

Money is not a factor (nobody can make money from dexamethasone either, but it is used very happily by doctors since it has recognized efficacy in treating complications) Useless drugs with known risks should not be used just as placebos. By now even the first proponent of the drug had to accept that even by his own study it gives no advantage to the patients, if someone that even ended up making unethical deeply flawed studies just to support his pet drug has to recognize it has no value then obviously people without that bias should be able to do the same.

ZorotoToday 02:48 pm JST

they clearly to me are not following the "japan model" as explained by various experts.

Japan model = wear a mask, ganbare.

I disagree.

Govt.must vaccinate regardless the age factor the the office going people. medical staff , educational institute goings, all restaurants staff including mothers who have to take care of home. This should be first priority. because all restaurants received those customers who returned back from their work & educational institutions. in this way there will be no need to reduce the business hrs for these business and it will also reduce the burden of govt. funding to these factors.

As far as the older people need this first. they have very less interaction with others and most of the time they stay & cook at home.

the pace of vaccination must be fast and should be finished both jabs by July 2021.

if the speed will remain same ? i am afraid that it will spread more & will harm the Immage of Japna in whole world.

Love how the posters are not calling the numbers bogus, now the numbers are going up.

@dan, indeed; one could even expect that they will eventually be cancelled, but only after advocating risks, new variants, and imported cases in order to justify a late decision.

Himari,

Don’t misunderstand. They’re still bogus, as testing is still suppressed. Current numbers show the spread is increasing, but as they still test only a fraction of possible cases, they’re not revealing all of the positives, who could then isolate and stop/slow the spread.

Misstep by present Osaka governor who hurried to end state of emergency.

But Japanese mainstream media avoid even to point out it, mere assist to keep his popularity with his TV appearance that only repeats empty words.

Unfortunately, Japanese voters misunderstand easily as if politicians who appear TV many time are competent.

Osaka logged a record 719 new virus cases on Tuesday. The prefecture, which has been experiencing a rapid rise in virus cases since the end of March, has also seen the more contagious variants make up around half of infections.

The contagious variants are rightfully concerning.

Report the details, give the people the full facts.#

And take the necessary proportionally measures.

Central Government must support proposals, both fiscal and economically.

What variants have been identified?

What goes up, must come down.

Covid surge?

The perfect solution:

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XKpIy1eaY0"

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zji8pkCE3Y"

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqEFMYVLWgo"

Lovely.

The number of positive cases is high and increasing... measures in place are not sufficient for COVID-19.

After propagating under the radar in densely populated prefectures, the tourism/travel programs have helped the propagation to extend to many remote places in Japan. 10000's of mini-clusters are now slowly starting everywhere, low numbers first, then showing the exponential nature of the propagation when the numbers become significant. This is sad.

The only working approach is a strict confinement as experienced in Australia, New-Zealand, and, ....China. Half measures, taken by governments to protect the economy , and to protect themselves, only smooth and delay the epidemic peak - they do not affected the number of casualties and long-term affected people. One exception is when the health system saturated (in such case the number of casualties increases immediately).

The number of tests, low or high, is too low to have real meaning wrt the number of contaminated people, but it still indicate that there is no intention for a test, trace and isolate program. We can't deduct the real number of cases from it as it looks as if only people with strong symptoms are tested. From this official reported cases in Osaka or Tokyo, one could multiple by a factor ~ 5 to 10 to get an estimate of the real number of infected people (~ 4000-9000 in Osaka Prefecture, ~ 3000-6000). This may be far underestimated if the possibility to get tested is restricted by procedures, distance, or ... self-shame.

Let's hope that some immunity protection already exists in the population due to previous epidemics, that, in spite of bad examples of a few lawmakers &co, most Japanese people implement precautionary measures, and, that the vaccination plan really picks-up in the weeks to come.

Not to worry. The Japanese Government called off the State Of Emergency. And the Olympics are soon to be in Japan. Everything is going to be fine. [ Wink ] ; ^ 0

Love how the posters are not calling the numbers bogus, now the numbers are going up.

Oh, i still call them bogus regarding the low test numbers. We're only seeing the top part of the iceberg.

Asymptomatics or mild symptoms persons aren't tested as well as contact cases for tracking.

But the trend is interesting even on a sample of the infected population.

This inability of the government to convince the people to take precautions seriously really leaves a black scar on the "image" that Japanese people are "special" when it comes to cooperation and doing the right thing!

As I have said for years now, the people of Japan are no better, or worse, than people in other countries, and as hard as the government pushes the image otherwise, this "wave" just goes to show that folks here are sick and tired of the BS and want to get on with their lives....even if it means getting sick, or possibly worse!

Make HCQ available.

Why? It doesn't work.

It can treat this virus if a person has to stay at home, so this angst and fear can stop.

Nope. It doesn't work.

It is FDA approved, it is safe, cheap, good for all ages, it works.

It's not approved for SARS-CoV2 / Covid-19, though. Because it doesn't work for that.

That's not allowed. Can't make enough money off it.

Plus, it doesn't work.

Late Vaccination, is to blame.

This is ridiculous. People catch colds this season is every year. The changing temperature from cold to hot back to cold puts stress on the body. It's like I woke up in irrationalville.

A few people get sick so they raise the level to a red alert. What color would be left if a real pandemic happened. Cukoo!

Can someone explain what a “Medical Emergency” is in this context? I feel like that’s been the case the entire time.

This entire saga has received several different labels and the government on a prefectural level as well as a national one has not been clear at all.

State of Emergency, Red Stage, Yellow Stage, Medical Emergency. So what is different this time?

@Silvafan

The Osaka government needs to hire employees who can do a better job of hiding infections like manipulating numbers and limiting the access to testing and contact tracing like Tokyo and the central government.

How dare Osaka attempt to accurately record the number of infections?! The audacity!

Do they not know that this is Japan?

Have also noticed that Koike has been hiding for quite sometime. She is waiting until the dust settles. While everything is going poorly with the vaccinations and infections, she will leave it to Suga to take the blame. Once the Olympics start, she will come out of hiding!

"The brink of a state of emergency"

"Quasi state of emergency"

"State of emergency"

"Medical state of emergency"

ETC

All meaningless.

Why do they need to make things so complicated. No wonder people have given up.

To the Japanese government: After the Olympics, please fix this mess! I suspect it will be too late though.

It's like I woke up in irrationalville.

Must be a newbie to Japan What you are seeing is literally par for the course.

The government is constantly sending out mixed messages! "stay home" "no drinking after 8PM" "no unnecessary travel" etc. etc. etc. Out of one side of their arse.

Then from the other side, "The Olympics will go on!" "Everything is safe!" "Foreign athletes can come with out a PCR test" "Look the torch relay is going on" And THIS is the side that the mainstream media pushes out as the mouth piece of the propaganda ministry!

This is the "way" of Japan! Welcome to the "way!"

Is a "medical emergency" stronger than a State of Emergency, or the "strengthened measured"?

But where does it stand compared to Dean Wormer’s DOUBLE-SECRET probation?

Where are all the posters that continuously tell us that COVID isn’t a big deal because the CFR is so low?

Why would people comment on that when the article doesn't even mention fatalities?

For the record, only 2 people died of the virus today in the whole of Osaka.

So, now we're at the "non-SOE-Osaka Moderu red light manbou medical emergency"? What other cute names can they strap to the end while avoiding doing anything that would make a difference?

YubaruToday 05:02 pm JST

This inability of the government to convince the people to take precautions seriously really leaves a black scar on the "image" that Japanese people are "special" when it comes to cooperation and doing the right thing!

The Japanese people are doing alright, on the whole. It's the Government that is failing.

Apart from a few less people out and about at night Suita is pretty similar to pre covid times. The message is,not getting through to enough people,so we are stuck on the hamster wheel going around in circles.

Just one simple thing. The Government needs to take the vaccine seriously. In the next few weeks they need to get the vaccination rate up to at least a million per day. This has not even being taken seriously by the news media. Why are they not talking about the progress (or lack of it) of the vaccination campaign on every newscast and printed page? If the COVID-19 epidemic is allowed to drag on more variant strains will develop and eventually a resistant strain will develop requiring a new vaccine. Come on Japan get with the program.

What does it mean, the many ask? It means, curtail your behavior, follow protocols, remain at home aka sty in place, practice actual social distancing, no unnecessary trips outside the home or work, refrain from public transportation unless completely necessary. Behave appropriately, it is a pandemic, rolling into its second year. So, keep a lid on it, until you are vaccinated.

As for the individual trumpeting HCQ, which has been proven numerous times to not be effective and the absurd notion of Vitamin D & Zinc, which has also proven NOT to have any effect in preventing the spread of the virus - such is the half-baked, nonsense that contributes to the increase in cases. Scientific researc, peer-reviewed, indicated none of those measures are effective, at all.

Sad news but this does not surprise me at all especially seeing the number of people walking about their daily lives mask less in Osaka.

Just for reference, I live in the US and the total cases are nearly 25 times higher than Japan and most people are not too worried about it because there still is 98% survival rate across all ages, 99.86% survival rate for those under the age of 65, and even higher survival rate if under the age of 65 and healthy. Those odds are quite good.

Odds that covid figures are fiddled are higher than the Olympic games taking place ;)

99.86% survival rate for those under the age of 65, and even higher survival rate if under the age of 65 and healthy. Those odds are quite good.

I wonder if the 500,000+ dead Americans and their families would agree with you...

It is acceptable to die due to unpredictable cause but not if totally predictable on high scale !

Four classes today. University in Osaka. 20 students per class. Worried? Yeah.

WobotToday  08:43 am JST

How many of you actually live in Osaka or even know any people here? I do and everyone I know thinks it's it's overblown. They can see barely anybody is dying from it so none of the universities or schools are going to close.

Stop panicking, most people are testing positive with the snuffles. You don't have to go out if you don't want to

I do as well. Never met anyone who has had it. Know a few who are nervous about it, but they're generally nervous people anyway, but most are tired of the fear campaign.

Richard GallagherApr. 7  10:28 pm JST

As for the individual trumpeting HCQ, which has been proven numerous times to not be effective and the absurd notion of Vitamin D & Zinc, which has also proven NOT to have any effect in preventing the spread of the virus - such is the half-baked, nonsense that contributes to the increase in cases. Scientific researc, peer-reviewed, indicated none of those measures are effective, at all.

In this carefully worded report, some experts would dare to differ.

https://www.rte.ie/documents/news/2021/04/2021-04-07-report-on-addressing-vitamin-d-deficiency-as-a-public-health-measure-in-ireland-en.pdf

How many of you actually live in Osaka or even know any people here? I do and everyone I know thinks it's it's overblown. They can see barely anybody is dying from it so none of the universities or schools are going to close.

And you think this somehow prove the experts wrong? The whole point is to put things in order before the disease surpass the health services capacity. A continuous increase in the number of cases do not mean the situation is the worst that can happen but that this entirely preventable chaos is coming closer.

In this carefully worded report, some experts would dare to differ.

Dietary deficiencies have been know from the beginning as part of the preexisting conditions that influence the appearance of complications, vitamin D is no different from other nutrients, if you don't have enough your immune system is not at 100%. What has no evidence behind is supplementing vitamin D once you have normal levels.

Dietary deficiencies have been know from the beginning as part of the preexisting conditions that influence the appearance of complications, vitamin D is no different from other nutrients, if you don't have enough your immune system is not at 100%. What has no evidence behind is supplementing vitamin D once you have normal levels.

What makes you an expert?

Osaka 878 cases.

Is that the Osaka 2.7 million pop. or the Osaka 19 million pop.? Or somewhere in between?

It would be nice to know. Just for mathematical odds calculation.

In this carefully worded report, some experts would dare to differ.

Indeed, there are many studies looking at the effectiveness of HCQ. Didier Raoult's group noticed that if you take out all studies linked to big pharma, you are left with over a hundred studies that essentially all show a positive effect (if given early).

Indeed, there are many studies looking at the effectiveness of HCQ. Didier Raoult's group noticed that if you take out all studies linked to big pharma, you are left with over a hundred studies that essentially all show a positive effect (if given early).

Coming from someone that thinks conducting unethical human trials with manipulated and false data and that had to recognize that even on his own study HCQ was useless for patients once following proper methodology this obviously has no weight.

In reality what he wants to do is eliminate all studies that are done properly, with proper controls and well defined outcomes, because every one of these studies will prove HCQ is useless, what he wants to keep are the studies that are underpowered, with limitations and specially with selection bias (so the patients more likely to complicate and die would be systematically included in the no HCQ group) so he can get the results we wants to believe. The "relationship with big pharma" is just an excuse to disguise his appeal for bad science to be held above good one.

That is precisely why he has fallen so low and why his own peers subjected him to a hearing for scientific malpractice between other problems. And also why fringe conspiracy loving antiscientific groups are so desperate to hide this.

What makes you an expert?

I did not say I was the one that described the preexisting conditions, nor the one that proved that anything above normal was useless, the scientific community in general does. It is as easy as searching what is the official position of well recognized scientific and medical institutions and see what they say about the topic.

There is none that says that vitamin D above normal levels has any benefit, not even your own reference.

Do you have evidence to prove that excess vitamin D is useful? put it here, else you have to accept there is no such thing.

"878 new cases" of a disease with a mortality rate of close to zero in a prefecture of 20 million.... where is the "medical emergency"?

This charade is getting so ridiculous.

Richard Gallagher

As for the individual trumpeting HCQ, which has been proven numerous times to not be effective and the absurd notion of Vitamin D & Zinc, 

HCQ was dismissed by the media and establishment for political reasons, something that future historians will research as a crime in itself. The countries that use HCQ as a first-line drug generally report good results. Vitamin D and Zinc were never suggested as drugs, the point is that populations with a lack of those are a risk, so it is very important not to be deficient. Locking people in at home without enough sunshine and with bad food is a good way to ensure there is Vitamin D deficiency.

HCQ was dismissed by the media and establishment for political reasons, something that future historians will research as a crime in itself.

That is false, and also makes no sense. First because the best scientific reports about it show without any doubt that it is useless for COVID, so it does not justify the risks of treating patients since they are not going to get any benefit. And second because there are many other drugs that actually showed benefit for the patients and they were easily and quickly accepted as therapy for the disease.

There is no measure that says people have to stop getting sunshine and eat only bad food, it is perfectly possible to get enough vitamin D even during a lockdown, much more the way it is done in Japan, where going outside is not even problematic as long as you keep a distance from other people.

78 new cases" of a disease with a mortality rate of close to zero in a prefecture of 20 million

So if you hear a fire alarm you think is a charade because the sound does not even make the temperature of the room rise? The attention to the numbers is because they indicate the disease is getting out of control, not because they indicate this is already the worst that could happen.

virusrex

That is false, and also makes no sense. First because the best scientific reports about it show without any doubt that it is useless for COVID

I am not the judge of what are the "best scientific reports", and neither are you. Fact is, many (if not all) studies that dismissed HCQ used in in the wrong way, so they are meaningless. Another fact is that it is used in many countries with good results. To dismiss a drug for political reasons should be beyond the pale.

Yet another fear-mongering story about "infection numbers" which always omits the most important detail...how many infections were serious enough to require care or hospitalization. Isn't that the metric officials should be using to make their decisions? You would think that after more than a year of the pandemic the "experts" would know better than to equate each case of positive infection as a casualty.

There is none that says that vitamin D above normal levels has any benefit, not even your own reference.

Do you have evidence to prove that excess vitamin D is useful? put it here, else you have to accept there is no such thing.

The "normal" levels are mainly based on what is needed for bone health, basically to prevent Rickets. The RDA for vitamin D remains laughably low considering what we know now about its many physiological roles and especially for the immune system. Even Fauci admitted in an interview that he takes 10x the RDA during the winter, but all we hear him talk about is wearing a mask (or two).

The "normal" levels are mainly based on what is needed for bone health, basically to prevent Rickets

That does nothing to prove going above these levels do anything against the infection.

You need evidence that the immunity against COVID-19 improves only at higher levels, the consensus of science is that this is not true.

This pathogen with its abilities to pick up its spreading reaches and morph in to new variants worse than the previous. How can it not be looked at as altered or an enhanced pathogen? Its perfect as far as pathogens go, And its not bio-weaponry. Its a virology weaponry.

Again the Chinese government and its puppet the W.H.O. can talk about missing elements or variables and the (missing link) all they like. The fact is I do not buy it. This pathogen was engineered and you do not need to be a Virologist to see this.

Stay strong Osaka!

Don’t believe the hype from the Western media. It is true this can be a deadly virus but no need to panic if not elderly and in good health. Best tho game is to keep healthy and stay positive. Maybe the worst thing to have if catching any disease is stress which reduces the bodies immune system. Daily fear and stress will take its toll on anyone. Just take sensible precautions and enjoy every day of your life

Vitamin D discussion and Covid.

https://youtu.be/tgCL4abBFzc

You and your friends are all in the middle of a mine field. Everyone stop moving and stay right where you are. Wait 6 weeks, guess what? You are still in the middle of a mine field.

This thing is not going to end until there is" herd immunity" either by way of vaccinations or infection by contact.

Sheltering is just the same as hunkering down in the mine field as long as there is one contagious person out there.

You can’t post any evidence here on anything but the JT narrative. It is deleted by the moderators as “off topic”. All that remains is same old lectures from the regular clueless keyboard commandos.

You can put all the evidence you want as long as is valid and truthful, the problem is that people think that some person saying something in a video without offering any scientific evidence (and even contradicting the scientific evidence) should count as evidence, sorry but that is wrong. Specially if you want to present someone that has been repeatedly wrong about COVID, according to your source every single attenuated virus vaccine (including the first one) would be "gene therapy", that is how wrong he is.

How about evidence consisting of PMID followed with some numbers, that is quite easy and simple and would provide primary evidence of what you want to say, of course if you cannot find any scientific article that can prove what you want to say maybe that would be because it is not true.

Wait 6 weeks, guess what? You are still in the middle of a mine field.

To make the analogy correct you would need also the very real positive effects of the measures against spreading, because after a lockdown and similar measures you are not in the same situation as when it began, and specially you are not in the situation that would have happened without it. For example waiting would mean the mines at your destination are being deactivated. It does not come for free, and not everybody suffer the same while on social distancing, but their effects are real. And so are the vaccines.

Well Virusrex, you seem to get so defensive on the subject of vaccines. I posted a commentary on vitamin D as well. As for vaccines , you’re more than welcome to promote their virtues. Many of us are aware. As for your adherence to facts and numbers, don’t be offended if some find that questionable

As for your adherence to facts and numbers, don’t be offended if some find that questionable

What would actually be offensive is for people to prefer to use false and mistaken things as arguments, there is nothing offensive about trying to use actual valid evidence to prove a point, after all that is the only way to find out what is actually happening.

Search for the person that is talking in the video you posted, he is well known for being repeatedly wrong about a lot of things concerning COVID, including vaccines. That is the opposite of what you want if you want reliable information. It is terribly easy to find all kinds of sources about how correcting deficiencies of vitamin D help preventing complications, what is not so easy to find is evidence that it helps in any way once the person have already normal levels.

How many of you actually live in Osaka or even know any people here? I do and everyone I know thinks it's it's overblown. They can see barely anybody is dying from it so none of the universities or schools are going to close.

Anecdotal evidence, people's ignorance, state of denial, or mood - never a good thing for governments to base decisions on. In order to from keep us healthy and alive, governments need to act swiftly to avoid the medical system being overrun. The label sounds dumb, but for once, calling it a medical emergency is right. By the time you start knowing people impacted by it, it will be out of control. Exponential growth.

In places where medical systems are tightly stretched, that is the reality. My husband's family in a Latin American country which doesn't have the luxury of a well-resourced health system are living it. His nephew is an Uber driver, and his reality is life and death decisions about transporting desperate people from hospital to hospital, where they are turned away, or deciding whether to help an old lady lift her sick husband into the cab, people begging him to carry a relative, and they drive from place to place trying to buy an oxygen tank. It is traumatic and gut wrenching, to deal with so many stories of people you love, people you grew up with, taken, and being unable to do anything.

That is the situation medical experts fear and want to avoid, in any country. Once infections pass a certain point, the capacity of any medical system, no matter how 'advanced', can be overrun. And Japan's is not well prepared for this, which the medical experts (and the government) know. So let's not be in denial about what is at stake.

Stop panicking, most people are testing positive with the snuffles. You don't have to go out if you don't want to

Ah yes, the sniffles, that's what that Jair Bolsonaro said in Brazil. And Brazil now has a world-beating death toll of over 4,000 a day and rising. Perhaps you'd feel okay living in that situation, but most sane people want to try to avoid it.

2 months ago I posted I saw where people in Osaka not wearing mask, two months later I am reading Osaka Prefecture on Wednesday decided to declare a medical state of emergency due to the increased strain on its health care system, after a record 878 additional corona virus cases were reported. I WONDER WHY? Wearing is Caring!