Gov't to boost hospital capacity to treat more COVID patients

Wow, such a bold and timely initiative.

Maybe start by requiring hospitals to accept patients who arrive by ambulance in a timely manner?

NOW? Might have planned and implemented this say about 1.5 years ago, before citizens died unnecessarily.

Too little, too late. The hospitals need to be nationalized ASAP.

the anshin factor, just before the election.... it'll probably work.

Yeah, "wow." This is not a timely initiative. It is a belated one. It would have been timely last summer if Japan had cancelled the Olympics and ParaOlympics and concentrated on saving the lives Japanese and residents. Instead, a dark number of people with COVID-19 were sent home to die painfully in their own beds. From above: "Japan saw a surge in infections this summer when it held the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, logging a nationwide daily record of 25,867 on Aug. 20. Since then, the country has seen a steady decline in cases..." Let us hope there will be no more distractors.

Yes, if only they cancelled the olympics and cared about their own citizens, not corporations who were all insured

Also wasn't an election just called? So no vote on this for now, making another delay

Correct me if I am wrong, and I am wrong sometimes ~ however, seems to me that this should have been done about 1.5 years ago.

What a friggin joke! TIJ

Wait until the cases have dropped to nearly nothing and then start to increase hospital beds. Right….I see that logic.

Are they anticipating a 6th wave after their elections?

Almost 2 years into the pandemic and J-gov finally comes to this conclusion. Where was this potentially lifesaving idea when numbers were over 1000 and people were dying at home? As usual, Japan jumps into action when the time to act has long passed.

There are only 385 patients in all of Japan. Most of them over 80. What's the point now? The vaccination effort worked. It's over.

"...And during the 159th Wave, government intends to..."

Does anyone else think this is going away...ever? What has "science" done with the flu (have they conquered it, or rather, do hundreds of thousands still die worldwide because of it?) and how intrusive do people feel that this often asymptomatic "sickness", once too known as a "pandemic", requires our governments or just nosy, know-it-all parts of the citizenry, need to become in order to "bend the curb"?

Are we going to put aside our hysteria and, put away our authoritarian knee-jerk inclinations to "force, require, command, humiliate and punish" people for how they behave during what is fast becoming obviously another strain of forever "super flu", even if one year, two years after this "pandemic" it simply refuses to go away, "wave" after "wave" after "wave"?

...Nah. Probably not.

I think he needs a special corona pin on his lapel, otherwise can’t take him seriously. I suggest a 4 foot long ostrich feather to prove his dedication.

Measures to deal with the pandemic after the pandemic has passed-more comedy from Japan…

Better late than never-

Health care for Japanese citizens should be a number one priority anyway.

Comedy gold.

Do nothing about this problem for 18 months and suddenly leap into action 2 weeks before the general election.

Empty words from a politician.

Didn't do it during the several emergencies but now right before elections, they say the will. Ha!

Japan's slow government who begin something from next month.

It was things politics should and could do from summer.

The current government should have been working on these measures over a year ago. If they had, incidents such as the woman who lost her baby while having COVID would never have happened.

Source:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/19/national/covid-19-pregnancy-death/

Too little, too late.

Too late? Did I miss the stories of hospitals collapsing all across Japan?

No. Of course not. They managed just fine through the latest wave.

The hospitals need to be nationalized ASAP.

The worst thing you could do. You'll end up with the wreck of a system Canada is saddled with.

Too late? Did I miss the stories of hospitals collapsing all across Japan?

Yes.

If Japan had done as the advanced countries, hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been prevented

And once again, there is an election coming up, so it's, "I promise to do this, vow to do that, and swear to be something else.... but we'll give you the details, all of which will be voluntary and up to the local communities, AFTER the election. Of course, it can only work if you vote us in. Oh, and the opposition will be soft on defense and you'll become part of China! Thank you, no questions!"

The great wave of kishida.

Unless he can rise above we're gonna need hip waders because its getting too thick to surf

So they expect as more people get vaccinated, more people will need to be hospitalized? Makes sense. That's what has happened or is happening elsewhere.

Yes.

My god. I had no idea! Which hospitals collapsed in Japan??

If Japan had done as the advanced countries, hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been prevented

Strange. A cursory look at Google tells me the number is 18,063. Average age mid 80's.

I guess that would explain the decomposing bodies in the streets on my way to work yesterday..

Imagine the bitterness one would have to actually get angry Japan is increasing the number of hospital beds.

Over the last 1.5 years, I recall hearing in the news of ambulances driving around for hours looking for an available hospital to drop off a Covid-19 patient. As many have said, why is the government only doing this now? Mind boggling incompetence.

Over the last 1.5 years, I recall hearing in the news of ambulances driving around for hours looking for an available hospital to drop off a Covid-19 patient. As many have said, why is the government only doing this now? Mind boggling incompetence.

those stories have been circulating for 20 years at least.

Why are the Japanese government preparing for more hospitals beds when the Corona virus numbers are going down???.

Yes.

My god. I had no idea! Which hospitals collapsed in Japan??

If Japan had done as the advanced countries, hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been prevented

Strange. A cursory look at Google tells me the number is 18,063. Average age mid 80's.

I guess that would explain the decomposing bodies in the streets on my way to work yesterday..

Except there aren't any because the govt is hiding them =)

Private hospital almost never admit COVID-19 infected people. Public hospital make it hard to get tested. People who are infected and not admitted to the hospital are excluded on the official numbers. Therefore, we see the amazing infection numbers right before an election.

The J-gov had to test everyone during the Olympics, so they would not look bad in the international press. That is way we saw the more realistic numbers. Once the press l left, the J-gov returned to manipulating who and who is not counted on official records.

Why would they need to expand bed s if there are so few numbers?

Because the numbers of infections are a lot higher.

Why are the Japanese government preparing for more hospitals beds when the Corona virus numbers are going down???.

How dare you question the government's wisdom‼️

We will sell the horses' oats so that we can not only bolt the stable doors, but concrete them up, too.

How about making hospitals available for women who are pregnant and have to give birth but got infected?!

It's great that even though it must be for the most part self serving, somebody isbdoing something in the right direction.

Taki Mata

Going away? Covid? No. We will not be able to eradicate Covid. The eradication of infectious diseases is extraordinarily hard, nigh impossible, and has been the absolute exception in the past. We actually only achieved this twice, three times maybe. Covid will eventually become endemic, which distinctly does not mean eradicated, it will stay with us.

However, Covid will fade into the background, much like other infectious diseases.

That is already happening around the world. The virus is becoming endemic and less deadly.

But the world is not just we. As for developing countries, they still have a bit of a fight ahead of them,

Those countries, absent the lockdowns and vaccination obsession and with generally younger and healthier populations, have been doing better with the virus than we.

"If Japan had done as the advanced countries, hundreds of thousands of deaths could have been prevented"

You mean like the US? 700,000 covid deaths?

Maybe you mean like the UK with 138,000 covid deaths?

I hate to tell you this, but Japan has the lowest death rate in the G7.

This is Japan.

I hate to tell you this, but Japan has the lowest death rate in the G7.

Didn't you get the memo?

There's no autopsies on presumpt COVID patients, and even people that got in because of COVID are not counted if they got a negative test before death.

COVID death are hidden conveniently on other related diseases.

Except there aren't any because the govt is hiding them =)

Huge if true. They must be buried next to Jimmy Hoffa.

Send in the fire department after the home is completely burned down. Good idea.

Imagine thinking the situation in Japan with its minuscule numbers and deaths outside of old folks homes is "totally burned down"

Life in Japan, outside of a few weeks in spring last year, has largely remained normal.

The coping skills in large swaths of the foreign community are really lacking.

The hospitals need to be nationalized ASAP.

Because the central government has proven itself time and again to be so much superior to the decentralized private sector at providing all manner of good and services, yeah….

The private sector isn’t perfect, but beats the pants off central government. Abenomasks?

I hate to tell you this, but Japan has the lowest death rate in the G7.

This is Japan.

Huge if true. They must be buried next to Jimmy Hoffa.

Not sure if I can post again later so have to cut short.

Was just sarcasm guys I guess it's really hard to tell with all the ludicrous things so many people say nowadays

I thought Covid was under control in Japan, Japanese Covid patient are doomed,all Covid patient in US are admitted,if they are sick

Was just sarcasm guys I guess it's really hard to tell with all the ludicrous things so many people say nowadays

If you have to explain your sarcasm, you don't know how to use it.

If you have to explain your sarcasm, you don't know how to use it.

Well I had to explain it to you, seems everyone else got it but you two