Head of medical body says nationwide state of emergency an option

Tug of war between doctors and businesses.

The head of an association of Japanese physicians said Wednesday the government should consider a nationwide state of emergency as a future "option" to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus and ease the strain on the medical system, as the country's cumulative confirmed infections topped 300,000 the same day.

Emergency nationwide to curb virus probably an option but GoToTravel and GoToEat that has nothing to do to curb infection was running all over Japan.

Meanwhile, presently, millions of Japanese are crowding onto trains and buses providing a direct vector for infections...

Meanwhile, presently, millions of Japanese are crowding onto trains and buses providing a direct vector for infections...

But it’s OK because the politicians have decided closing bars and restaurants at 8pm is the solution.

The government seems to be on another planet when medical, actual experts who have for a year said one thing with their expertise and the government totally ignoring them actively doing the opposite, go to the LDP for governance that harms the people, rather then support. Beautiful Japan.

Only 4% of medical institutions accept coronavirus patients.

Might be a good idea to fix that first.

Only 4% of medical institutions accept coronavirus patients

Most private hospitals arent equipped to deal with covid patients. Plus agreeing to deal with covid patients would effectively end any other business.

The head of an association of Japanese physicians said Wednesday the government should consider a nationwide state of emergency as a future "option" to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus and ease the strain on the medical system, as the country's cumulative confirmed infections topped 300,000 the same day.

What good is a nationwide state of emergency to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus and ease the strain on the medical system when the SOE in Japan in general doesn't mean squat?

SOE in Japan in general doesn't mean squat?

Exactly. Having a SOE in Japan is fine, but with one that so poorly made and defined, how can anything get done? Osaka was calling it 'Red Stage' for over a month. Now it is a SOE. It made little difference.

Slapping a label on this whole thing does what exactly? Even the government and Suga said that this whole thing largely relies on citizens on an individual level to cooperate. That's been the case for nearly a year now and it brought us here, to this point.

The government can call it whatever they like but it won't make a bit of difference socially, medically or economically if it acts as nothing more than a placebo.

So what does a State of Emergency actually do in Japan?

I'm not seeing any additional resources being made available, nor does the Constitution allow for any additional meaningful measures (mandatory quarantining and curfews) to be put in place. They can't fine people for not wearing a mask or taking preventative measures, nor can they force businesses to close.

None of the tools they have on hand to manage this allow for anything more than 'asking' people and businesses to do things without penalty if they do not.

I wish they would at least put some kind of restrictions on domestic travel (even though I know they can only 'urge' people to do things). The amount of people telling me about their travels during winter vacation is really off-putting. One good thing about the nation-wide SoE before is that it at least made some people take COVID19 more seriously.

Only 4% of medical institutions accept coronavirus patients.

Might be a good idea to fix that first.

Only one year and almost nothing. China made temporary Covid19 hospitals in 2 weeks and trained staff in 6 weeks. Japan has only had one year to prepare.

my hospital has a whole ward that recently closed because not enough patients. It has a separate entrance so no cross infection. It is ideal. But...empty.

A state of Emergency means nothing unless people act accordingly. My boss was calling us into town to attend a New Year lunch until a couple of days ago when we all told him to forget it.

"It's OK, the company will pay for lunch"

"It's not OK, there is a global pandemic and I'm not sitting at a table with five salarymen without a mask spraying spraying saliva particles around"

"It has been decided that the new year lunch meeting will be postponed. Thank you for your consideration".

Irresponsible scare mongering to not also give the figure for people who have recovered, which I calculate to be 295,711 (cases minus deaths).

That is irrelevant, the number of cases is of interest not because this is the worst that can happen but because this indicate that controls of the spreading is lost, so we can expect the current situation to deteriorate completely.

Once health services are surpassed, anybody that would require hospitalization is much more likely to become a fatality, that is what should be prevented. Thinking that the number of recoveries while the spreading is controlled represents the danger is invalid. We are still in a desirable status, but a climbing number of new cases tell us this is not going to last long unless something extra is done.

Because that would change.... ?

In addition to that nationwide ‘state of emergency’ an easy thing to do: distribute coupons for FFP2 masks or better ones, not those useless or fashionable versions, that do more harm than good, because their effect is a wrong sense of being safe or unaffected by viruses. That’s not true, those cheap masks only filter or prevent a little percentage around 35% or so, face shields even much worse, having no real effect at all. And don’t forget to close the borders, the next mutation is on the way , not only the one from UK or that from South Africa, but also that from Ohio and maybe further unknown ones. In shorter words, do something, as long as you still can.

Meanwhile, presently, millions of Japanese are crowding onto trains and buses providing a direct vector for infections...

not everyone has the luxury of being fully paid while working at home in your pyjamas.

Many people (including myself) still have to travel to the office to work & get paid.

Head of medical body says nationwide state of emergency an option

I have been saying this for the longest with getting thumbs down, as you can see daily the numbers are continuing to rise. There are very little controls in place to stop this mad virus. The only way to do this is a TOTAL LOCK DOWN. The government wants to do this, they are a business and they do not want to take a loss with as much as they have already invested in this boon dongle Olympics this year.