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© KYODONo. of hospitalized coronavirus patients at record high in Japan
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thepersoniamnow
Next step: Government begins making private hospitals (which make up most in Japan) to accept Covid patients.
I feel like the main problem here is that since the industry is privatized, the hospitals dont want to treat Corona. It doesnt make money and has a bad rep.
Toshihiro
Well, here's one of your many problems.
Aly Rustom
As long as the gov doesn't push harder for more WFH and SFH measures and doesn't close the schools down and more aggressively support hard hit people and businesses with more financial support people are not going to comply with the gov urges and infections will continue to rise.
robert maes
Comparing between countries and saying Japan does better, does not bring one deceased person back.
it will get much worse as people lost discipline.
I would like to see one journalist ask the cabinet members if they already got vaccinated. I find it hard to belief they are not.
AG
@txrogers
Saying there are no “pure” Covid-19 deaths is pretty much like saying there are no “pure” car crash accidents.
You do not die from a car crash, you die because you smash your skull against something or bleed yourself to death due to injuries.
Does that mean you should not wear a seatbelt?
Same with Covid-19, you do not die from Covid-19 itself, but from problems arising from being infected e.g pneumonia, blood clots, underlying health issues (that you might be or not be aware you have), and so on.
Does that mean we should not take this pandemic disease seriously?
If it kills, make people suffer and put pressure on the medical system, then it is serious matter that should be dealt appropriately.
If you really think its just the flu please go ahead and give the doctors a hand, they would very much appreciate it.
araiguma albator
@SandyBeachHeaven
I would like to find out if any private hospitals accepting COVID cases, and if not, why?
My wife works in a private hospital, her hospital accepts patients with covid. But the problem is the number of places available because they have to be in negative pressure rooms. The government gives an allowance for each covid patient accepted.
In some hospitals staff has been contaminated, and kindergartens and schools have instructed staff not to bring their children to school, resulting in difficult situations. In addition, if staff are contaminated or other "normal" patients are contaminated, the decontamination process will take 2 weeks. During these 2 weeks the hospital cannot perform operations, which results in a financial loss that is significant.
Private hospitals affected by the covid have already announced to the staff that this year there will be no bonuses (these bonuses can represent 25% of the total salary). As a result, the staff understands that in case of covid they will not be supported by the population (e.g. kindergartens) and that in addition they will be paid less. All this plays on the decision of the directors of private hospitals to accept or not to accept patients with Covid.
kurisupisu
It is the doctors at the helm of these hospitals worrying about the negative aspects of not only treating Covid but also needing to learn and carry out certain protocols associated with the disease.
dbsaiya
These stats do not reflect the number of patients told to either wait at home or at a facility, that the local health office has assigned. Since Covid patients can take a sudden downturn there are fears that these patients in limbo will be facing a life or death situation if the hospital backlog doesn't clear up. Japan should not be patting itself on the back for their response, this is far from over and so far all the government has to show has been abenomasks and the idiotic Go To campaigns.
James
@Txrogers
Yes that is how they are tallied in most countries. The test for Flu is much cheaper compared to the covid-19 test anybody who comes into a hospital with flu symptoms they are tested so they can be treated correctly when they die that is included in the cause of death (most countries)
They are still in clinical trials and have been since around 2011 and will take much longer to produce as they have not been fast tracked like the covid-19 vaccine.
virusrex
Pushing irrational fears that any health care professional should be able to recognize as such is not just "asking questions", it is misleading people to think there is a realistic risk of something that has already been studied and makes not real sense when compared with the risks of the natural infection.
You did not answer any of the questions I asked. They are the reason why it is much more likely that the natural infection is related to higher risks than the vaccine and part of the rationale for the developed of a non-replicating, intracellular expressing, single protein vaccine as the safest possible option.
Clinical trials are exactly the tools that let health professionals evaluate and study individually health interventions for safety and efficacy, the vaccines available right now for COVID-19 had trials of comparable length and size as other previous interventions that resulted in useful therapeutic options without that are in used without problems, saying that having more data is better (something that will be true forever) is no reason to delay the application of something that importantly lowers the risk of a lethal disease.
virusrex
This "problem" can be easily resolved by getting the readily available information, terribly inadequate speculation can also be given a definitive answer by a simple review of the literature that every professional o the medical community should be able to do as part of the requirements of the job.
It is not valid to have easily solved doubts as if they were layman without idea of the scientific process, specific questions about pertinent details that are to be investigated are a different thing, but those kind of questions are exactly what is discussed scientifically prior to the clinical trials (so they are better designed) so it is extremely common they have been already considered.
And in many cases the products are without problem, because the mechanisms available to prevent these occurrences are very effective even if not perfect, it is not reasonable to bet a process that has been under the scrutiny of the whole scientific world as no other has been before would be worse than the rule, much less be the exception.
But your "questions" are terribly loaded towards the option that is less likely to increase those risks, and completely ignores the much higher risks from the natural infection (that has not been studied as long as mRNA therapeutic options for example). Why give the impression that a vaccine that produces one single protein on the microgram level would be more likely to increase the risk of autoimmunity than an infection that produces dozens of foreign proteins in a million times more quantities?
Again, those are questions that a layman may have, because he will have no need or responsibility to know about it, but a medical professional? that is more proof of deficient professional formation than of vaccine inadequate testing.
Of course there are no statistics on seasonal influenza, thanks to the resource intensive measures to stop respiratory infections the influenza season is close to non-existen this year. There are more cases of COVID-19 on a single day on Tokyo than of influenza in the whole country for the whole season. What you think was "probably" is actually the opposite.
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00867/
virusrex
This is not such an important worry that would merit caution, what are the antigens from the vaccine that are not present in the natural infection a million times over? how would having a single antigen be more risky than having 2 dozens of them? what extra step would be suspicious from a non-replicating mRNA compared with a replicating viral RNA?
mRNA have been used for years for multiple treatment options on dozens and dozens of human trials, without any special kind of reaction, immune or otherwise associated with them.
That is common trope of antivaxxers that is completely false, why would then government test every lot of vaccine as it is done in Japan for safety and efficacy if the companies are immune? the reality is that the only thing the companies are not liable from are lawsuits from particulars, that instead are granted for a much lower threshold of proof by the government. A product that is found not to be as promised or that ran invalid testing can make the company producing it liable for heavy punishment the same as if it was not a vaccine, and it would have to fight the government (not a particular) to defend itself.
Nadrew
Smaller hospitals may not have the ability to isolate patients. But, it’s an SOE. That should mean something for private hospitals with the capability to handle Covid patients.
smithinjapan
Not coincidentally, the article directly above this is how people enjoy ignoring the government's "suggestions" and go drinking late into the night.
virusrex
That may explain how you get so many mistaken ideas, your source has been proved to be mistaken multiple times about the pandemic (and likely other topics as well).
Nevertheless, if you are a medical professional you should be aware that direct antigen vaccination has long been related to Th1/Th2 unbalance that favors inflammation that can be pathogenic depending on the disease, something that is specifically avoided by including nucleic acids (like mRNA) that activate the intracellular toll like receptor pathway and produce a much more balanced reaction and prevent precisely this kind of side effects. This is like saying that vaccinating with attenuated viruses runs the risk of the virus reverting to a very pathogenic form, something completely irrelevant for a vaccine that is not based on an attenuated virus.
Even if you were not a medical professional the simple fact that the vaccinated volunteers had no pulmonary immunopathy after being infected with the virus (and therefore not having more symptoms that those in the placebo group) should be enough to understand this did not happen for the currently approved vaccines for COVID-19.
I recommend you to avoid videos, they are made specifically to disguise faulty arguments and mistaken conceptions that can be proved so with science instantly if they were in the form of text. Also, if someone is trying to prove the whole scientific world is wrong, using widely available information that those world scientists also have examined, try at least to check if this person's reputation is not based on repeating unproved conspiracy theories, that would have saved you from this terribly bad source. Any medical professional should be much above this terribly low standard of "evidence".
didou
It was up to 100,000 in France last AprilMay if I am not wrong.
A country like Japan being able to put millions for Go To should handle this. I think it is around 30,000 hospitalized right now
oginome
How about comparing Japan to other East Asian countries (which I NEVER see Japanese media do)? Ironically, this 'Japan is number one' article gives us an idea of Japan's ineptitude at dealing with this virus compared to its neighbours.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2021/01/10/commentary/japan-commentary/west-japan-coronavirus-response/
They talk about how East Asian populations might have an inbuilt resistance to COVID because of possible pandemics thousands of years in the past, so obviously that means it is much more fair to compare Japan to its neighbours than other populations. Anyway, the writer gives the statistics which don't paint a pretty picture for Japan.
''East Asia is the star performer. The average mortality for China, Hong Kong, Mongolia, South Korea and Taiwan is 5.5 deaths per million people (DPM). Within East Asia, Japan has the highest mortality with 27 DPM.''
In Japan, the richest, most developed country in Asia, the likelihood of dying from this virus is five times higher! Can you explain this? Or will you put your fingers in your ear and do the 'blablabla, we're doing better than Europe and USA, no, not listening, take it somewhere else!!' response?
Saving face and looking good in the eyes of the world is like the most important thing for Japan. Even at the expense of its own citizens. Really really sad.
Possum
The actual situation is diabolical and no-one seems to realise. The testing numbers in Japan are ridiculously low and the rate of COVID positives is alarmingly high. Why are only 5,000 being tested every day? It needs to be 100,000+ daily. In Queensland Australia they're testing 10,000+ daily with only a dozen active cases. My company tests every staff member once a week and we all wear masks in the office. Japan is on the tip of an awful COVID positive iceberg.
SandyBeachHeaven
The US military has vaccinated all their soldiers and now US SOFA holders are being vaccinated. Retired military cannot get vaccinated nor US citizens living here in Japan. So Zoro, please stop with the constant false information and rumors.
I would like to find out if any private hospitals accepting COVID cases, and if not, why?
oginome
The actual situation is diabolical and no-one seems to realise. The testing numbers in Japan are ridiculously low and the rate of COVID positives is alarmingly high. Why are only 5,000 being tested every day? It needs to be 100,000+ daily. In Queensland Australia they're testing 10,000+ daily with only a dozen active cases. My company tests every staff member once a week and we all wear masks in the office. Japan is on the tip of an awful COVID positive iceberg.
Dr. Hitoshi Oshitani who was/is part of the 'special government panel' in charge of the virus strategy response said that Japan would't be taking the mass testing route and that 'cluster-busting' and backwards tracing was going to be the country's plan to control this. Unfortunately, unlike Sweden which was open about its 'we're going to aim for herd immunity' approach, misguided as it ultimately may have been, Japan (as usual) was opaque, secretive and sly. You have the government panel on the one hand saying what they said, and then Koike and her goons talking about how tests would be increased massively (which of course never happened). Then you have the media reporting positive cases every day while not conveying clearly that that number comes from a very small number of tests which then leads to a false sense of security when the average Tanaka compares it to daily numbers in Europe and America. Then we had Go to Travel/Eat, which the less said about, the better. So there's been no clarity, coordination or leadership in this whatsoever from the start. Now we'll recommend closing pubs at 8pm because the virus won't spread at work or on trains (if you're wearing your mask!), only when you're drinking in an izakaya! The whole thing is an embarassing farce and a shame for Japan. Demand accountability from your leaders people.
SandyBeachHeaven
I would love to drink a beer with Virusx ...through a straw hole in my mask and tap his knowledge.
Txrogers
There are going to a good number of Covid-19 vaccine products on the market shortly. Most will likely be in the mRNA class of medicines , but they will have different properties and will impact each individual differently.
Instead of bashing people asking questions, I think it may be best to study these medicines individually, and make an educated decision on which one is best for you.
And don’t expect a magical silver bullet to cure all. It looks doesn’t work that way. Not even for a flu or pneumonia, regardless of how you choose to compare them.
SandyBeachHeaven
@Zoro. First of all I am correct about the US military, retired and active. And 100% correct about SOFA status as well.
Second of all the doctor posting here and the virus expert really know what they are talking about.
Possibly you should read and learn?
The US Military is not giving shots to the Japanese govt jiji. They would give it to retired inactive first as they are retired but can always be called up. If they put in their twenty and on retirement they can use the medical facilities but not 100% overseas. To explain the rules to you would be way over your head.
@airaiguma. Thanks for that info. I am sure many appreciate knowing that. It was a great post.
Txrogers
Yes I am. And I am not the only one.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm
Studying comparisons is a key to understanding causes and treatment.
I asked some questions. There are often more irrational responses than real answers.
Txrogers
If you want your vaccine, by all means rush out and receive it when it comes available. It should be your choice.
I asked some questions. So have others. I am not spreading misinformation.
Another area under study is how nRNA vaccines impact long term behavior in the immune system that relate to autoimmune diseases. Not much conclusive data has been gathered, but these class of medicines may impact this area. The impact may not manifest in patients in the near or intermediate term, but years later.
Just keep in mind that our governments have granted immunity to any legal recourse against these big pharma companies if something negative comes out from these Covid-19 medicines.
That is not misinformation. That’s a fact. There will be no liabilities.
Txrogers
Let the medical community assess the data accordingly. And refrain from passing judgement on timelines if some questions arise around the impact of these mRNA vaccines on some recipients.
https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n149
Especially the most vulnerable.
Txrogers
The problem is that many in the medical community feel that clinical trials has been accelerated due to urgency, at the expense of thoroughness.
I am not providing a definitive answer to this speculation by many, because I cannot be sure. So I pose some questions.
And never forget the big business of these players. Faulty products have hit the market before despite claims of thorough clinical testing.
I posted some links on some results of these vaccinations. The decision to take one of these vaccines myself as opposed to having a weaker or older member of my family (using other medications) is NOT the same.
Israel is currently a leader on a national vaccination program. Watching it closely. And they are primarily dealing with the two main Western vaccines available.
This is a discussion forum on understanding this crisis and its resolution. And weighing the risks individually , of both the illness , its spread, and its prevention.
Txrogers
I am a doctor who makes a spelling error. Sorry to upset you. If your fear outweighs your curiosity, so be it.
Goodlucktoyou
Interesting that there are no statistics on seasonal influenza. It probably kills more than SARS-CoV-2 in Japan. No information.
Txrogers
How do we really add up these numbers?
https://www.health.com/condition/cold-flu-sinus/how-many-people-die-of-the-flu-every-year?amp=true
Covid-19 related deaths are much higher than pure Covid-19 deaths in the absence of other existing medical conditions.
Have seasonal “flu related “ deaths ever been tallied in the same way? Was there ever a need to match seasonal flu with other pre-existing conditions when summing up death rates?
Why haven’t mRNA vaccines been applied to all flus? Wouldn’t that help seasonal flu issues with the overall populace?
It’s difficult surmising the true gravity of this Covid-16 issue.
gokai_wo_maneku
But still, compared to the numbers in the USA, Japan is doing pretty good. Still, I wish we were doing better.