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OSAKA: In September, my friend’s grandmother broke her leg.
She was hospitalized for two months. The family could not see her due to the strict measures of COVID-19.
As bad as it may have been, many families in Japan have faced similar situations with worse outcomes – for example, hospital patients who die without seeing their loved ones.
Worse still, with Japan’s total number of cases increasing rapidly in recent weeks, no clear end to the current situation is in sight.
Authorities in Japan reported a record 2,596 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday (November 21). On Tuesday (November 24), a record 345 people with severe symptoms were being treated with respirators and intensive care.
The total number of cases rises to 136,000 and the death toll in the country has exceeded 2,000.
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SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCE DRIVEN OPTIMISM
East Asia has been considered a bright region that has approached the pandemic with great enthusiasm and great success.
Most places like China, Taiwan and Singapore have tried to exterminate the cases nationally. Although South Korea has faced a new wave of infections, it has kept the coronavirus at bay for months.
In stark contrast, Japan chose a different path: coexisting with COVID-19 with some controls in place, as it prioritized keeping its economy alive.
A man looks at a stock price board in Tokyo. (File Photo: AFP / Yoshikazu Tsuno)
Indeed, Japan has approached this current third wave of infections with complacency and nonchalance, thinking that its successful handling of the first two waves means it has the means and the experience to handle it smoothly.
After all, when the first wave hit Japan, the Japanese government hammered the closure of schools across the country and imposed a state of emergency in April. The government successfully tested, isolated, and tracked close contacts and controlled groupings.
The second wave in July saw fewer patients with severe symptoms, where the new groups involved young people in their 20s and 30s dating back to nightclubs and bars.
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So how bad can this new wave be? In addition, the country has a lot at stake with economic recovery, thanks to two national leisure campaigns launched since July, the Go To Travel and Go To Eat programs, to boost Japan’s travel and food industries and quell fears of the people to the pandemic.
To make matters worse, the successful containment of the virus and low mortality rates have led many Japanese to believe that there is “Factor X,” a confluence of historical, cultural, and social factors that protect the population from COVID-19.
The lack of urgency and sense of crisis, despite the alarming increase in infections, has caused many Japanese to leave their homes and travel during the three-day holiday weekend last week.
INADEQUATE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
However, the current surge in infections, which began in late October, is different from previous waves.
People wearing masks to protect themselves against the spread of the coronavirus wait for the train at a station in Tokyo, Wednesday, Nov.25, 2020 (Photo: AP / Koji Sasahara).
For example, infections among people in their 40s and 50s and transmissions between family members living together or co-workers sharing the workplace are increasing.
Among infections tracked in Tokyo since the beginning of November, the highest proportion (40%) was home-transmitted infections.
Health professionals are sounding the alarms, but they have largely been neglected. Tokyo Medical Association Director Haruo Ozaki urged the government to halt its Go To Travel campaign during a press conference on November 20, highlighting:
If more than 1,000 people a day become infected, our medical institutions will probably not be able to cope.
On the same day, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Japan should be on “high alert” while retaining Go To programs on the basis of achieving a balance between health and the economy.
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Finally, after receiving strong criticism, Suga took a 180-degree turn and suspended the campaign in areas with many cases the next day, November 21, the first of the three-day weekend.
The policy turnaround suggested that the government may have underestimated this third wave and may have been ill-prepared.
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Tellingly, Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of Japan’s virus response, told the media on November 19, “Only God knows,” when asked about his views on infection projections.
Ironically, Japan also seems equally disoriented when it comes to finding a way to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic. So far, in addition to urging people to adopt Go To programs, there are few other plans announced to help businesses and those in need.
A TOLL ON PEOPLE
This uncertainty caused by the coronavirus is taking its toll on the Japanese people.
Men wearing protective masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk Thursday, Nov.26, 2020, in Tokyo. (Photo: AP / Eugene Hoshiko)
Suicide cases have risen to 2,153 in October, nearly 40 percent more than last year, and the highest in more than five years, according to preliminary reports from the National Police Agency.
In fact, suicides in Japan have risen steadily for the fourth consecutive month since July. In the 10 months of COVID-19, Japan has seen more deaths from suicide than from the pandemic.
Japanese psychiatrist Chiyoko Ueda revealed that she had seen the stress caused by COVID-19 among her patients, in particular some told her that “my self-esteem is low because I am worried about money,” as quoted in local media reports.
Despite these implications, the government has not offered substantive assistance packages. Instead, he has asked people to wear masks, to avoid the “three Cs” of closed, crowded and close-contact environments and to avoid conversations during meals, removing the masks only to eat and drink.
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THE DIRE DE OSAKA SITUATION
Osaka, where I live, has recently seen an increase in new infections every day.
A record 490 cases were reported Sunday, including 374 unrelated cases.
A passenger, wearing a protective mask following a COVID-19 outbreak, carries luggage at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan. (Reuters / Edgard Garrido)
More worryingly, the random tests suggest large stocks of undetected cases, when the seven-day moving average for positive tests in Osaka City is high, 17.5 percent.
The healthcare system is under pressure. By Monday, the bed occupancy rate for patients with severe symptoms had reached 50 percent or 103 cases.
During the first months of the pandemic, Osaka seemed to act together.
Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura announced measures to protect Osaka from the coronavirus, including the start of clinical trials for vaccine candidates, online classes for high schools, and expanding testing among the population. However, none of these efforts have borne fruit.
Instead, Yoshimura rambled and held a political referendum to resolve a non-urgent political issue, asking citizens for support in merging Osaka’s existing 24 districts into four semi-autonomous districts in early November, when he should have focused on dealing with the pandemic.
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Condemned by many for failing to curb infections in these areas, the government took the interim measure to exclude Sapporo and the city of Osaka from the Go To Travel program for three weeks starting Tuesday (Nov 24) instead of doubling the restrictions. there to stop the spread.
TOO LITTLE AND TOO LATE?
Now, Osaka is asking about 25,000 restaurants and bars to close at 9 p.m. or earlier for 15 days starting on Friday (November 27). Governor Yoshimura has said that it “aims to prevent the spread of infections in the entertainment districts in some way.”
Japan is fighting a third wave of coronavirus infections AFP / Philip FONG
However, those measures may not be enough to contain the third wave of infections.
Unlike the beginning of the second wave, only 10 percent of all traceable cases are connected to restaurants and bars, so shortening their hours of operation may have limited effects in curbing the pandemic.
Also, although the Go To Travel program excludes Osaka City as a destination, citizens of Osaka City can still travel to other areas of Japan.
If Japan is to successfully deal with this new wave of COVID-19, then its people and its government must change their thinking and discard any complacency that arises from their successful first and second wave experiences.
And it starts with this: Prioritize treating this third wave above everything else now.
No one should have the wrong idea that Japan has arrived as a nation fighting COVID-19; far from there.
It is time to wake up, face the realities of the current situation in Japan and act.
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Yuka Hasegawa is a researcher who writes on social issues and politics in Japan.
