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Medical workers face severe equipment shortages amid virus spread

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Jeez, talk about behind the curb. They're just understanding this NOW!? My pharmacy has been experiencing shortages on all necessary PPE and sterilization needs for a 3+ months now. These are just a few of the things that happen when healthcare gets overburdened due to lack of proper preparedness for this kind of situation. Japans government had ample time... and failed miserably.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japan’s handling of this with the amount of time they had to deal with it is mind blowing.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Abe squandered the time that the other countries bought him and all he could come up with was his back assward masks that even elementary school kids can make on their own. All the money and time wasted on his masks that still haven't reached the populace. This is only the beginning, and there's already a medical shortage; what's going to happen when two weeks down the road the results of the golden week stay at home policy shows its true colors? They can't even get the PPE situation under control and the dorks in the diet are talking about re-opening schools. Someone should go talk to the Hokkaido governor and ask what happens when you reopen too soon. Talking in circles and no real plan for the impending disaster. Some would call me an alarmist but hey, look whose got the helm...LDP Abe!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Having said that, Japan has been lucky in that it wasn’t one of the early countries to be hit, so had time to prepare.

What??? Japan was the third country to confirm an infection.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Girlfriend's friend is a nurse in Osaka and said most worrying shortage is hand sanitizer for med staff.

I honestly don't want to come across as a know-it-all here, but this is a simple substance with a WHO recipe. It can be made with industrial alcohol like Isopropyl with the only difference being a slightly stronger smell than ethanol-based sprays. The smell is momentary as the alcohol evaporates.

https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf

Big cans of 99.9% pure isopropyl are still avaiable right now on Amazon JP.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Someone needs class in statistics.  "shortage", and "somewhat of a shortage" is like being pregnant or kind of pregnant. Without any idea of what is the definition, which knows what is "somewhat of a shortage." Adding then together is even a worse idea used often to make things seem worse than they appear. Somewhat implies no, shortage implies yes.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

How you had five months now to get ready

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Japan sold the soul to China. All these medical supplies were produced in Japan before. We have to keep some industries to ourselves for strategic reasons and the government must subsidize them.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Every country to greater or lesser degree has faced the same problem as no one had adequately prepared for a pandemic, though to be fair Wuhan virus is the worst since Spanish flue a hundred years ago. Everyone has been scrabbling for the same supplies just as the manufacturing and supply chins have been hit by the same virus. Having said that, Japan has been lucky in that it wasn’t one of the early countries to be hit, so had time to prepare. If the government has not done so then yes they are culpable.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I'll donate too if able. Girlfriend's friend is a nurse in Osaka and said most worrying shortage is hand sanitizer for med staff. This was about 2 weeks ago but I don't suppose supplies to the 'front line' have improved.

Japan has only had 3 months {=90 days!! = 1/4 of a year!!} to prep since the Diamond Princess debacle (and it's Feb 4th quarantine start date) after all.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

I will donate.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The regular surgical masks are now availiable, but to hear that doctors and nurses and staff dont have proper masks is ridiculous.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

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