What could Tokyo have done better in responding to COVID-19? [2021/09/10]
14 prefabricated buildings with a total of 150 beds are now open for COVID-19 patients who are over the worst of the illness to recuperate. The Nippon Foundation built the facility in Odaiba on Tokyo Bay and leased it to the Tokyo metropolitan government for nothing. The Nippon Foundation has built a makeshift facility comprising 14 prefabricated buildings with 150 beds in Odaiba on Tokyo Bay to accommodate novel coronavirus patients with moderate or no symptoms. As new cases surged in the Japanese capital since late last year, we repeatedly urged the Tokyo metropolitan government to use the facility built in the parking lot of the Museum of Maritime Science to take in patients, including those with pets. Between July 1 and August 15, with cases reaching record highs and hospital capacity and medical infrastructure under strain, the facility’s busiest day saw only 49 COVID-19 patients; one day, there were just 11. I was puzzled by the inconsistency between what was going on in the frontlines and the way Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike talked on TV every day about the need to do whatever necessary to increase the number of available beds to cope with the pandemic. So, as the head of the foundation that has leased the facility to the Tokyo government for nothing, I was pleased to know that Ms. Koike seemed to have finally grasped what was actually happening. According to media reports, the governor has decided to move patients who are on the road to recovery from hospitals to the Odaiba facility in order to save hospital beds almost exclusively for the seriously ill. The decision came as hospitals in Tokyo have been under severe pressure due to the surge in cases propelled by the highly infectious COVID-19 Delta variant. The Odaiba facility has introduced oxygen concentrators to be used for patients with moderate symptoms, should they require them. The governor told a metropolitan assembly session on August 19 that she will beef up the Tokyo’s medical facilities to mitigate the pandemic by working closely with the foundation and hospitals in and around the capital. On September 9, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended a state of emergency for 19 prefectures, including Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, beyond the September 12 deadline through September 30. Pressure on medical facilities in Tokyo has forced more than 17,000 COVID-19 patients to isolate at home instead of in hospital as of September 1−a clear indication of the lack of hospital beds in the capital. As I wrote in previous blogs, The Nippon Foundation has undertaken a project since last March to offer caregivers and other essential workers of elderly nursing homes in Tokyo and the three nearby prefectures free and regular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19. Thorough testing is considered to be one of the most effective ways to avoid transmission of the disease. Television and newspapers report only the number of positive cases. But I believe they should also publish data on the number of people tested. They seemed to have hardly reported on the importance of conducting PCR tests. Although the foundation has directly informed the governors of Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures that we are offering free PCR tests for caregivers, the number of tests conducted has fallen far short of our expectations. As of August 23, a total of 1,044,712 PCR tests were administered mainly for the staff of nursing facilities in the metropolitan area under the foundation’s project. Of these, 202 persons tested positive, or 0.019% of the total. Perhaps the fact that we are conducting the tests for free has upset those who do business from testing. But I imagine there are many people who cannot afford to pay a test fee of more than 10,000 yen (about $90). Our fight against COVID-19 basically comes down to “self-help”−each one of us taking steps to avoid being infected by the coronavirus. At the same time, isn’t it also important to make better use of “mutual help” offered by the private sector, including The Nippon Foundation, in addition to the “public help” provided by the central and local governments? The oxygen concentrator and monitors the Odaiba facility introduced for patients with moderate symptoms, should they require them. |