A government panel of experts has put together a new proposal on the new coronavirus. It is crucial to take seriously their severe assessment that the number of people infected with the virus is rapidly increasing, especially in urban areas.
The main point of the proposal was that it divided geographical areas into three groups according to the extent of infections and proposed countermeasures for each group.
In "infection spread alert areas," including Tokyo and Osaka, where the number of people infected with the virus is increasing, people are requested to refrain from holding events that include 10 or more people or dining with many people other than family members. In "infection confirmed areas" where the increase is moderate, the panel called for avoiding indoor gatherings of 50 or more people.
In contrast, areas where no one has been confirmed to have been infected with the virus in the past week are called "infection unconfirmed areas." In these areas, participating in activities such as watching outdoor sports events while taking measures to prevent infections is allowed, according to the proposal.
It is expected that local governments will be able to come up with measures to deal with the infection more easily since the proposal prioritizes adequate countermeasures depending on the local situation regarding infections.
The panel has repeatedly called for avoiding large gatherings of people because the medical system faces the risk of collapse due to the rapid increase in the number of infected people.
The United States and European countries have each seen thousands of deaths already due to the explosive spread of infections. Although Japan has not yet reached this stage, it is feared that hospital beds will be scarce and patients in need of treatment will not be accepted.
Close attention is especially needed in the five prefectures named by the panel: Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa, Aichi and Hyogo. As hospital beds are nearly full, it is urgent to improve the medical system.
It is necessary to share the roles of hospitals in each region and secure hospitals to treat infected people. In those that treat patients infected with the virus and also patients with other health problems, it is essential to take immediate measures to prevent infection by creating separate areas.
It is likely that hospitalization will be limited to seriously ill patients, and those with mild symptoms or no symptoms will be urged to stay at home or stay at accommodation facilities other than hospitals. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry should present guidelines on how to shift to this hospitalization system.
Currently, many infected patients have to stay in hospitals for a long time because they are required to test negative twice before they can leave. In the event of an imminent shortage of beds, it will be worth considering relaxing the criteria so that patients recovering from the infection can leave the hospital earlier.
Measures against nosocomial infections -- meaning those acquired in hospitals -- should not be neglected. If the entire hospital is closed due to nosocomial infections, the impact on the entire medical system of the community will be immeasurable.
There is a certain limit to what a local government can do by itself to cope with such a large-scale pandemic. The central government should work with local governments to come up with appropriate measures based on the expertise of the panel.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on April 3, 2020.
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