04 July 2020

20200704 (Saturday) Coronavirus Digest from Japanese Morning TV News Part 1 (of probably 1): Main News

Well, this morning was a first. I sat through the entire 7am news – all 30 minutes of it – and “Shingata coronavirus” was not mentioned once. In fact, no news was mentioned at all except live updates on the heavy rain and flooding in Kyushu. I am not complaining; there was clear and present danger and NHK tends to turn into a very detailed evacuation warning service under the circumstances. But literally nothing, no headlines, no numbers. So I pulled some stuff off the website and another channel.

Anyhoo…
See photo captions for stories.

Photo 01
First NHK: Nasty ass rain in Kyushu.

Photo 02
Flooding in Kumamoto

Photo 03
Flooding in Kumamoto II

Photo 04
Flooding in Kumamoto III

Photo 05
Flicking channels while waiting for NHK to change topics, I found that other channels were covering 47-year-old Shinji Takeda’s marriage to a dental hygienist turned model 22 years his junior.

Photo 06
And another channel was doing a piece on why so many celebrities had changed their talent agencies this year.

Photo 07
So anyway, today’s numbers from the website.
250 new cases reported yesterday, with over three quarters of cases in Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures.
Tokyo 124
Saitama 26
Kakogawa 24
Chiba 9
Ibaraki 6
Tochigi 2
Gunma 1

Miyagi 2
Shizuoka 5

Osaka 11
Kyoto 5

Kagoshima 30
Fukuoka 4

Just 1 from quarantine

Photo 08
This is the first time in two months to chalk up 250 in a day.

[Please note that it is a lot of younger people and milder symptoms, and serious cases are low compared to April, more (alleged) testing and tracing, etc.]

KP: It feels like those are the “missing” numbers from March/April, the mild and asymptomatic that were ignored, while the serious and hospitalised were officially counted… Japan didn’t really have less cases than some other places (and I don’t compare it with the US at the top, just… others), they were here all along, just invisible…unless someone wishes to claim young people only started being infected recently…
SY: I am watching the show now, and the doctor is explaining that although the numbers of infected people is rising, the number of serious cases and hospitalizations are both one tenth of what they were at the peak.
And that we should keep a close eye on the numbers of hospitalized people, the number of old people affected, and the number of untraceable cases.

Photo 09
Here are those Kansai figures again: 11 in Osaka, 5 in Kyoto

Photo 10
Here’s that 124 in Tokyo graphed against the last two months.
That’s their second day over 100.

Photo 11
101 of those cases were people under 40.

Photo 12
58 of the total were Night Sprites (including 48 from the Shinjuku area and 3 from Ikebukuro)

Photo 13

The PCR testing sport in Shinjuku said it had conducted between 100 and 200 tests and confirmed 42 cases. [The Japanese says “100 and several tens” so somewhere between 130 and 190 presumably.]

[Regarding the positive test rate that this figure suggests:]
MZ: NHK covered it yesterday. Positive rate in Shinjuku for tests with medical referral over 1 week from 6/22 was 22.5%.
That’s until 6/29 though, so it might be different now. No idea what it takes to get a referral, but I think close contacts generally get tested through hokenjo not doctors visit? The article says there are 100-140 such tests a day, which with given positive rate would be too low to include all the nightlife.

KH: Is there an actual testing spot in Shinjuku? I live in this ward and am curious where it is and if they take walk-ins.
SY: I just checked the website. You have to be referred by your doctor…
It’s open 2 hours a day and only on weekdays.
It looks like the doctor has to fill in the referral BY HAND on a PDF and FAX it to the center:

Photo 14

[Please note that the PCR positive rate for Tokyo is slowly creeping up.

But the Shinjuku positives really throw off the curve.]

Photo 15

30 new cases in Kagoshima.

MG: Flooding in Kagoshima is expected and people aggregating in shelters raise the risk of a cluster. Around 40% (I think) of people polled by NHK are actually too scared of the virus to go to evacuation shelters.
MM: And rain is forecasted all next week, so landslides are likely. We’ve already had evacuation alarms on 3 days within the past week. The positive cases reside in every significant town throughout the prefecture, several that have landslide and flooding potential.
MG: It’s already caused up to 14 deaths at an elderly assisted-care home. Very sad. Kagoshima has had more than its share of natural calamities in recent years.