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Deaths at home in Osaka Prefecture surge amid COVID wave

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that's the kind of deaths often forgotten in the official numbers ...

18 ( +22 / -4 )

with more than 96% of Osaka Prefecture's critical care beds occupied.

How many beds in total are there actually? 50? 100?

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

Tip of the iceberg

24 ( +26 / -2 )

The people that irrationally are still saying that Japan is "smart" by taking things slowly with the vaccines have to reflect on this. Waiting on safe and effective measures just because maybe in the future some problem could be detected (even if nothing indicates this to be the case) means people that could be protected right now are dying. And this could be much worse yet, it is already time to give up on the old ways and understand this is an emergency.

13 ( +19 / -6 )

Those deaths will probably not be counted as official COVID-19 deaths.

@Suriv Anihc - a magnanimous gesture by the IOC, Tokyo OC and J-government to donate the Oympic village for one year for use by Japan to manage their patients, and postpone the games until later would help mend their atrocious money-grabbing image, and get Dentsu to pay for the food, drink and personnel required.

In the US, to help more people get vaccinated rapidly, the local governments used pharmacies, dentists, sports stadiums, museums, and even drive through. Japan does not have the gumption to do this. I fear that by the time the role out in Japan gets started, some of that vaccine just sitting around will be accidently spoiled do to human error.

5 ( +11 / -6 )

"Lets see if they add these to the totals. Prob not will be my guess"

and your guess is wrong.

-11 ( +4 / -15 )

@ raw beer

Those people weren't at home waiting till it was too late. They were waiting to be hospitalised as stated in the story. Don't twist things to suit your narrative.

15 ( +18 / -3 )

Those people weren't at home waiting till it was too late. They were waiting to be hospitalised as stated in the story. Don't twist things to suit your narrative.

But why do you think the hospitals are full? Many of those who are currently occupying beds would probably never have needed to be hospitalized if they were immediately given certain safe and effective treatments. Anyone who tests positive should immediately get these treatments, and not wait till they have trouble breathing.

-17 ( +3 / -20 )

Hospitals in Osaka are turning away cancer and heart disease patients to make room for COVID-19 cases, but their ability to reallocate resources has "almost collapsed," he said.

^This means the healthcare system has ALREADY collapsed! If you turn away patients, it means it IS ALREADY COLLAPSED!

13 ( +13 / -0 )

I agree that many are unnecessarily dying because they are not immediately treated with medicines that have been proven to be very safe and effective if administered immediately.

What medicines? Are they proven?

I imagine the success of the vaccines must be quite annoying for you, as a 'scientist'.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Poor people - please RIP every one of you. The government don’t care but they should. Death on the hands of every politician and Suga-san who aren’t doing enough to provide better medical systems, get the vaccine out, prepare for a surge in cases and who keep banging on about the unwanted Olympics. Show all the victims faces to the IOC and Bach when he comes in June.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

This incompetence and stupidity is horrendous. Why isn't the government taking measures to rectify this? Japan isI not a poor third world country on the verge of collapse. This is a rich nation filled with intelligent people. The country could be using its money and brains to see that what has been reported can be turned around. The LDP and capitalist class are letting people die because it is not their problem.

How about using provincial hospitals where the infection rate is low and there more staff and beds available?

Why not turn the Olympic stadium into a hospital and getting those 500 nurses and doctors?

How is stands now: where you are in the class system will determine you chances of living of dying.

15 ( +15 / -0 )

A programming glitch has forced the Uji city government in Kyoto Prefecture to abandon use of an internet reservation system for vaccinations.

Senior citizens are now being encouraged to call, fax or mail applications for vaccine reservations.

I knew my fax machine would come in useful one day!

9 ( +9 / -0 )

And they are going to need 500 (or more) nurses and additional medical professionals for the Olympics. Suga stated it is no problem to divert these resources for the games.

However people are dying at home in higher numbers now in Osaka.

Suga and Japanese Government: Rather than direct any energy, planning, effors, manpower, etc. toward the Olympics please direct all national efforts towards helping the Japanese people (and those of us living here as well).

4 ( +7 / -3 )

What medicines?

HCQ+azithromycin, as well as ivermectin.

Are they proven?

Safety and effectiveness? Yes.

I imagine the success of the vaccines must be quite annoying for you, as a 'scientist'.

We'll see. Their marketing is very successful. But as a scientist, I am not yet convinced with their long term safety and effectiveness. They might be exactly as they are promoted, they might not. Time will tell, perhaps.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

Instead, we still have many infected people waiting at home and only seeking help when it's too late.

Not the case at all. Despicable attempt at distorting the truth of the situation.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

But as a scientist, I am not yet convinced with their long term safety and effectiveness.

There's no long term tests yet because the vaccine is only around one year.

They might be exactly as they are promoted

No one is claiming or promoting any long term effects of the vaccine, not even the manufacturer. Don't twist the truth to fit your narrative.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Instead, we still have many infected people waiting at home and only seeking help when it's too late.

Typical Japanese government supporter. People wanted help, but government have no room for them, and don't care about the people enough to want to help either. Just remember, if you ever get sick, the politician whom you are defending with your life will not be there to help you either, he/she is only their to maximize profits for their family. The Japanese national government could not be bother sending any significant help to Osaka other than maybe 2-3 nurses.

Also if you get sick, try calling the fever center. You only have a 1/10 chance of them actually referring to an appointment because they really dont want to test you. The number of tests allowed per day is fixed, the more the infection spreads, the less likely you are to receive a test or treatment.

Want to know vaccine roll-out is so slow? It is because Japan politicians with links to the domestic vaccine makers want people to use the domestically produced vaccine tested only on a 200-person phase 1/2 trial.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/11/national/science-health/shionogi-coronavirus-vaccine/

"200例以上の日本人成人を対象とした無作為化プラセボ対照二重盲検比較試験です"

https://www.shionogi.com/jp/ja/news/2020/12/201216.html

5 ( +7 / -2 )

In the US the vaccine was only authorized for emergency use. Considering Japan had a much lower covid death rate, there is nothing irrational in their being more cautious in accepting the vaccine.

Yes there is, people are dying unnecessarily even when the vaccines have already been proved to be safe and effective, these deaths could be prevented with vaccination.

I agree that many are unnecessarily dying because they are not immediately treated with medicines that have been proven to be very safe and effective if administered immediately.

That is false, medicines not in use are so because they have NOT been proved to be effective, at least not without lying and manipulating results on studies to mislead others. Dirt cheap drugs that are actually effective have been already accepted as such, like dexamethasone, the supposed conspiracy to hide drugs is easy to demonstrate as false.

HCQ+azithromycin, as well as ivermectin.

The first have been proved above all rational doubts to be useless for COVID, the second have evidence only of limited efficacy that disappears on some well designed trials, it is not even comparable with the protection offered by the vaccines. In this you are again as correct as when you predicted Japan to be on the verge of herd immunity since summer last year.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

"Total collapse of the medical system" is a stretch. Japan has been claiming since the get go and has done precious to little to increase the number of beds, vents, or the like. Flash back to the hospitals in New York and how dedicated the healtchare professionals were, using tents, arenas....anything they could find to provide care. Japan's medical community is largely in denial. Again, from the get go, just the fact that you had to have "permission" from some bureaucrat to even get tested....was farcical. Even now where I live, many hospitals and clinics have huge signs telling people w/ coughs or fevers to go away. And of course, the ongoing stories of people riding around and dying in ambulances because no one will take them........And yet, Suga and LDP soldier on with their thoughts of diverting medical personnel to assist Olympian guests. Without a doubt, Japan is a third world country.

It would be nice if the Japanese media accurately reported things instead of being mouthpeices for the LDP. Notice that every time there is some embarrassment to the LDP, the media jumps into to improve the appearance. Today's attempt was the approval of some new drug for covid therapy...but....um....how can that be used if you can't get into a hospital. Plus all these headlines of Japan's "eying" or "mulling" or "considering" somehow spun to sound like something definite. Gee whiz.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

This story got less than a minutes coverage on one major Osaka TV news station this evening.

The ten minute report that followed was a "feel good" feature on popular and unusual vending machines during the state of emergency.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

All over the world, unfortunately, many infected elderly people at home or in nursing homes don't make it to hospitals/ICU. It is like a "silent" triage.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

To put things back in the context, during the same period, how many died at home due to cerebral, cardiovascular accident ?

And how many could not be saved due to the slow emergency vehicle speed ?

Everyday, some announcements maintaining fear about covid are in the media but never it is put back in the general context of daily disease, accidents, deaths, etc

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

No one is claiming or promoting any long term effects of the vaccine, not even the manufacturer. Don't twist the truth to fit your narrative.

Sorry, but I am not the one twisting. Some are claiming or promoting these vaccines as being perfectly fine, and that they will not have any long term effects. My point was that nobody knows this.

Instead, we still have many infected people waiting at home and only seeking help when it's too late.

Typical Japanese government supporter...

Why does everyone APPEAR to misunderstand everything I write? Except for their being cautious with the vaccines, I have very often criticized their approached to handling this pandemic. Specifically, I have often mentioned that they should increase testing and that anyone who tests positive should immediately receive those medicines, rather than quarantining at home until the condition gets out of hand.

HCQ+azithromycin, as well as ivermectin.

The first have been proved above all rational doubts to be useless for COVID

No, only by big pharma-funded studies (the only ones you are willing to consider) that were designed to fail. Many more studies show that they work, including recent large scale studies. Many countries use them to treat covid, and they have lower death rates...

-10 ( +3 / -13 )

The problem is some serious mismanagement and in my opinion some sheer incompetence.

Japan has 14 million doses of COVID vaccine (according to Reuters) but they've only used a little more than 4 millions according to the government vaccine tracker.

Why? we have the vaccine, we have the people willing to get vaccinated, we have the data from hundreds of millions of people already vaccinated to prove it's safe but Japan can't get the two together.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japans-unused-14-mln-doses-covid-19-vaccines-point-logistical-hurdles-2021-04-28/

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Sorry, but I am not the one twisting. Some are claiming or promoting these vaccines as being perfectly fine, and that they will not have any long term effects. My point was that nobody knows this

But you are fine about promoting Ivermectin. You don’t see any problem with that?

3 ( +6 / -3 )

@ didou

What has that got to do with anything related to this story. No cardiovascular events are mentioned. And the ambulance wasn't slow because those people were just left to die by their government. Thanks to them for their many years of loyalty and hard work.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

We'll see. Their marketing is very successful. But as a scientist, I am not yet convinced 

Your ‘scientific’ background, actual knowledge, leads you to the garden variety conspiracy theory take on vaccines. Okay.

What background leads you to embrace many other conspiracy theories on a variety of topics?

7 ( +10 / -3 )

@ Starbucks

It has to do with the story because I am quite sure that during the same period in the same city, more people died of sudden death at home due to a cerebral accident.

And the ambulances are slow in Japan, so I was meaning that if the emergency response was faster, more people could be saved.

In relation with Covid, most people at home are not in a critical condition, but suddenly, their condition get bad and this can simply be assimilated as a sudden death. It is impossible to put everyone in an hospital and monitor people, in addition than the great majority has only flu like symptoms.

But moreover, in the general context of the life, putting a rather low number on how many died at home is not relevant in my opinion if we do not also compare with how many died at home for other conditions.It keeps maintaining fear for some people. And for covid, there are everyday news that are maintaining this fear.

This article title also use the word surge. Is 18 in two months a surge for a city like Osaka ?

Anyway, Japan should have prepared since last year, but did not.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Make Ivermectin and HCQ available options, for those at home with this virus.

That it isn't, is a crime.

Ivermectin works at any stage of the virus, and HCQ, early on.

If no other option exists, why not allow these drugs!

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

@ didou

My only concern is for people being left to die needlessly as you pointed out with a lack of preparation. If all it takes to mess up a health system is a few deaths then this government should be held responsible. The story says these aged people were infected,they being the most vulnerable should have received more respect than being left to die.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

And during one and a half pandemic year it also has been totally impossible to slightly increase the number of those hospital beds, I guess. Unbelievable.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Simply UNBELIEVABLE, it seem to me NOTHING will shake the ground under the government seats and get them into action.

Lord help us if ever get to the levels America or India has experienced.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Sorry, but I am not the one twisting. Some are claiming or promoting these vaccines as being perfectly fine, and that they will not have any long term effects. My point was that nobody knows this.

That is a strawman, the real argument is that vaccines are much less risky in the short, medium and long term, as simple to corroborate as just seeing how COVID already produces long term and even permanent problems, while the vaccines don't.

Specifically, I have often mentioned that they should increase testing and that anyone who tests positive should immediately receive those medicines, rather than quarantining at home until the condition gets out of hand.

And again that would be useless since even the unethical researcher that tried to push for its use with false data had to recognize it is useless and do not help patients stay out of the ICU or even alive. Giving a placebo that brings risk to the hearth function of the patient is not justified. As with your predictions of herd immunity they are much more likely to be wrong than right.

No, only by big pharma-funded studies (the only ones you are willing to consider) that were designed to fail.

That is just an excuse from science deniers, it is unbelievable that all the well recognized medical and scientific institutions of the world could be on this kind of conspiracy, in reality all studies that are well designed proved it is worthless, while those for drugs that actually help, like dexamethasone, had no trouble at all to prove this, even if that means huge loss of profit from drug companies.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Make Ivermectin and HCQ available options, for those at home with this virus.

That it isn't, is a crime.

Actually it is!

Prescribing medication that has been proven to no work on a disease and has been been removed or counter indicated for a disease and is known to actually cause more harm is not only grounds for the doctor to be charged with malpractice but could also get them charge of a crime if injury or death occurred.

And both these drugs have not only been proven not effective but to cause more damage to those given them.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

No, only by big pharma-funded studies (the only ones you are willing to consider) that were designed to fail.

that isn't true they were tested in multiple countries including Canada, where the hospital systems are Provincial government run and funded in affiliation with the universities that are also provincial owned and funded.

Canada has no domestic Vaccine development or production so it would have been in it's best interest of these drugs had worked, but province after province the studies came back the same.

These drugs not only don't work but cause more harm.

No when Quebec and the rest of Canada can agree on something you can be fairly sure the results are correct.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

...rather than zone in on today’s daily Osaka death rate my gut feeling is I need to think more proactively on how we should interact with all other living things on this planet

Great idea - try starting with amoebae. I think most of us are more focused on trends that directly impact us and those close to us.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I think is ignorant of people to keep thinking that the government can actually hide or even want to hide these kind of numbers and exclude them from the official count. Is because you can't never do something like this in japan. Because unlike other authoritarian states, japan still has laws that make investigation on these death very easily. Allowing the press to easily found out. And even if they try to hide it, they will only get burn in the end because the families can sue the government. Is not like other nations where the government can just shut up lawyers, journalist or any human right activist and jail them. If they could actually do that, Japan would not have so many scandals being reveal by the press everyday. Is because Japan is so transparent that we constantly get every bit of news about the situation on the news no matter how grim it sound. We would not have such a site here where they daily report about how people protest agains the olympics or report how slow the vaccine is going. I do not know about you, but freedom of speech and press has never been suppress here in Japan unlike most neighboring nations. Japan has always allow activists to demonstrates and reporters to report at will no matter how bad it is.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Raw Beer- It would be a travesty if cheap, proven therapeutics that would easily save lives are not being used due to political reasons.

It is, however, a travesty that the virus got into nursing homes. Didn’t we learn something from New York?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I think is ignorant of people to keep thinking that the government can actually hide or even want to hide these kind of numbers and exclude them from the official count.

It is quite simple to do as the government of Japan has already done.

Don't do testing, don't have autopsies on those over 65.

That way few people are confirmed to have covid and fewer confirmed to have died with covid.

By doing that there are no records to counter indicate the government's claims.

If that isn't enough Tokyo conducts fewer than 7,000 tests a day for a population of 10 million, Ontario Canada does 50 to 60 thousand a day for a population of 14 million.

At under 7,000 tested Tokyo has over 800 positive.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Hiro- I believe Japan’s death toll 100%. I have seen ZERO proof of stats being manipulated.

COVID reporting in the U.S., however, has been manipulated due to political and financial gain. Perhaps this is why people are skeptical of Japan’s reporting.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Antique- mortality rate in Japan went DOWN last year.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

@Starbucks

Agree with you.

People should not be left at home when really sick and in that case, authorities are totally responsible.

Otherwise, media coverage is another isuue

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Some are claiming or promoting these vaccines as being perfectly fine, and that they will not have any long term effects. My point was that nobody knows this.

That is a strawman, the real argument is that vaccines are much less risky in the short, medium and long term,

That is just your personal opinion. Nobody knows the long term effects of the vaccines.

Specifically, I have often mentioned that they should increase testing and that anyone who tests positive should immediately receive those medicines, rather than quarantining at home until the condition gets out of hand.

And again that would be useless since even the unethical researcher that tried to push for its use with false data had to recognize it is useless and do not help patients stay out of the ICU or even alive.

Again, you are pushing the usual mischaracterization of Didier Raoult's initial preliminary study, even though I have often posted his exact statement: "Indeed, neither mortality, nor the passage in intensive care unit, nor the duration of the treatment can be evaluated on such a small group." He NEVER recognized that HCQ was useless. And that was a preliminary study carried out a year ago. SO much has happened since. And when asked a few weeks ago whether he changed his mind about the effectiveness of HCQ, he said not at all and described a number of large scale studies world wide that show a clear positive effect. So for you to continue to falsely claim he had to recognize it as usual just exposes you as....

That is just an excuse from science deniers, it is unbelievable that all the well recognized medical and scientific institutions of the world could be on this kind of conspiracy,

Of the world? Half of the world, population wise, treats Covid with HCQ. And BTW, they have a lower death rate than countries that prohibit/discourage HCQ use...

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

@Raw Beer

You keep making claims and keep say things like.

 Half of the world, population wise, treats Covid with HCQ. And BTW, they have a lower death rate than countries that prohibit/discourage HCQ use...

But always go back to Didier Raoult as your only source and he has been thoroughly disproven and discredited.

I was waiting for when you would bring up Didier Raoult as it was inevitable as you have no other source.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

While all British citizens were locked out of Japan, Japanese residents were still flying to the uk and importing the variant into their society.

Also the Brazilian variant has been noted.

We must not forget there is only really one variant, a Chinese one.

Vaccine is a must, the uk is virtually virus free now as 70% of the population is vaccinated.

Japan needs to put vaccination priority over the Olympics, after all this is just a sport, the virus is a killer.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Mr Yoshimura , good evening, this is not a good sign.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Half of the world, population wise, treats Covid with HCQ. And BTW, they have a lower death rate than countries that prohibit/discourage HCQ use...

But always go back to Didier Raoult as your only source and he has been thoroughly disproven and discredited.

He has been constantly attacked for about a year, ever since he showed the effectiveness of HCQ, but he has yet to be disproven. Just look at my previous post above to get an idea of the mental gymnastics people use to try to discredit him.

Anyway, Didier Raoult is a great expert of infectious diseases (probably the #1 expert) and he makes regular updates and openly shares his data. I recommend everyone look into this guy; his interviews are mainly in French, but his publication preprints are in English.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

If hydrocholoroquine is actually effective, it's too bad that Trump was so incompetent and lacking in self-realization that he didn't realize that by politicizing it, it would lead to people not using it.

Any competent leader would have not politicized it.

Any competent leader,

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Totally pathetic situation. Shows how incompetent govt, politicians and medical community have had vested interests not to change this past year. What happened with all the testing? What happened with increasing capacity? Are we going to all wait for 2025 to get vaccinated? It looks like medical personnel will be busy and stretched out for a long time to come. One thing is for sure. There is no crisis mgmt in the govt for pandemics!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Raw Beer is trolling readers here and it could lead someone to serious harm if they follow his “advice”. Both the World Health Organization and the US FDA have made repeated strong statements against use of HCQ due to its cardiotoxic effects. Pres. Bolsonaro ordered millions of doses of HCQ and widely promoted its use in Brazil—But it has done nothing to halt the high death rate there. Leading physicians & infectious disease experts in Brazil now consider HCQ useless for the treatment of COVID-19.

Likewise the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin has never been approved for use in any way by the US FDA for COVID-19. Some individuals who self-medicated with Ivermectin as a preventative Covid drug have died as a result. There is a limited study underway for Ivermectin, as well as many other medications, for treatment of Covid-19, but there are no indications that it is some miracle cure. Otherwise the Ivermectin study would have been upgraded to a higher level by now.

I have 25 years experience in US public health with legitimate graduate degrees in health. I would seriously warn anyone against following any advice other than from their own physicians, in the West or Japan, when it comes to Covid-19 treatments.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

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