15 July 2021 (Thursday) – Coronavirus Digest from Japanese Morning TV News Part 1 (of maybe 2): Headlines and (yesterday’s) numbers
See photo captions for stories
Photo 01a
People had less trouble identifying Evanescence yesterday, but I wonder how many people realize that the song is about God rather than her lover (or Spiderman).
Anyhoo, today is a relatively easy one if you were around in the 80s so I will only give you the bridge:
You can live without the aggravation
Ya gotta wanna win – ya gotta wanna win
You keep lookin’ back in desperation
Over and over and over again
Photo 01b
Japan covid-related topics from NHK’s 7am news bulletin today:
– Tokyo new daily cases: 1149
– Olympic torch dais: “Please refrain from viewing it”
– Vaccine shortage; What’s the situation on the frontline?
– Moderna to be made available to the over 12s
– Deepening Cassandra Syndrome
Photo 02
[Taken from the NHK website]
3194 cases confirmed yesterday [#fasterhigherstronger]
[up vs. 2191 for the same day last week. FYI: 1821 for the same day two weeks ago.]
[July 15 3194 The Mars Terraforming Robot Revolt. Unhappy with dangerous conditions and a series of accidents that left many of their metallic brethren as scrap, the semi-autonomous worker units rise up, destroying Huǒxīng Corporation’s local headquarters and killing a number of human supervisors despite their pleas that their cybernetic companies made them all the same.]
47 out of 47 prefectures reported cases yesterday.
No new daily prefectural records appear to have been set but surprisingly high numbers in regional areas such as Ishikawa, Mie and Tottori.
Tokyo was 1149 [when I’m right, I’m right]
[up vs. 920 for the same day last week]
Osaka at 349 [Whuutt?]
[vs. 151 for the same day last week]
Joining Tokyo and Osaka in triple figures were Tokyo’s neighbors:
Kanagawa 361
Chiba 208
Saitama 243
The number of positives at immigration testing was 22 [sigh]
Photo 03
[Taken from the NHK website]
20 deaths confirmed yesterday, for a total of 15011 (topping 15000 and triggering my benchmarking).
It’s taken 22 days to add another 500 (14500 on June 23, 15000 on July 15).
14000-14500 took 11 days
13500-14000 took 6 days.
13000-13500 took 5 days.
12500-13000 took 6 days.
12000-12500 took 5 days.
11500-12000 took 4 days*
[*Hyogo announced a backlog of 129 deaths dating back from end of March to the middle of May during this period]
Before that: 5 days, 7 days, 8 days, 11 days, 14 days, 14 days,10 days, 9 days, 6 days, 7 days, 5 days.
In Jan 01 Figures (i.e. for 31 Dec 2020, i.e. for ALL of last year), the total deaths stood at 3505.
We have added 11500 deaths in less than 6.5 months.
Deaths the day before Suga became PM stood at 1460, so over 13500 deaths have been on Suga’s watch.]
The total of current active serious cases stands at 412, down 12 on the previous day.
Total recorded cases at 828379.
Recovered cases at 790564 (up around 1800 on the previous day).
[Simon gently brushes a film of moisture from the corner of the calculator screen. Is that just from the humidity?]
Total active cases are at 22804 (up around 1400 on the previous day).
Percentage of active cases as a percentage of the grand total is 2.75%, rising slightly
Photo 04
Here is the breakdown for Kansai from the regional bulletin.
507 cases for the region [for the first time since maybe around the end of May]
Hyogo’s 78 is their 11th straight day of a higher number than the corresponding day of the previous week.
Kyoto’s 46 is their first time to be over 40 since June 10.
3 deaths reported [not pictured here].
Photo 05
Osaka’s 349 [is a big jump and] is their first time over 300 since May 27.
The numbers in the box give a breakdown by age with people in their 20s leading the way in getting infected.
Photo 06
Tokyo’s 1149 sees them topping 1000 as feared, and actually beating the peak number of the fourth wave (1121 on May 08) during the third SofE.
[This is also their 25th straight day of being higher than the corresponding day of the previous week]
Photo 07
Here is the week on week infection increase rate for the country (1.32), Tokyo+3 and Osaka.
Okinawa was on a downward trend, but judging by today’s number for the prefecture, that might not last much longer.
Photo 08
In Tokyo, hospitalizations for the 70s and over have dropped dramatically.
We are seeing more beds being taken by people in their 20s/30s and 40s/50s.
Photo 09
The HellaWella panel of experts reckons the L452R variant (in the Delta strain) now accounts for 49% of all new cases in Tokyo, rising to 80% by the end of the month, and virtually all cases by the end of August.
Photo 10
Prof who is member of MHLW panel of experts: “With the Delta variant emerging at this pace, the situation where the infection is most easily transmitted (particularly among younger people) is right now.”
[OK, I am not a doctor or a fortune teller but I feel I must remind people that at this point:
(a) We don’t really know how dangerous Delta is
(b) Last summer we also saw rising numbers but no corresponding rise in serious cases and deaths (due to humidity, sunlight, outdoor activities?)
(c) Medical workers and old people in facilities have been vaccinated in large numbers. We will hopefully be seeing fewer clusters.
(d) If workplace and university vaccinations proceed on a decent scale, even stats about people’s movements will not automatically mean a rise in serious infections.
For the record, I am still opposed to the Olympics, not least because of the time, money and attention they have taken away from doing the right thing by the country.]
Photo 11
[The meeting of the great minds.
Suga still wants the Olympics to say to the world, we are overcoming a difficult situation.]
Photo 12
Bach said it’s been a long hard road, but I think we can say these will be an historic games.
Photo 13
And we are not bringing any risk (of covid19) to the Japanese people.
Photo 14
Athletes started arriving at the Olympic village yesterday (US softball team, some Japanese athletes, Turkish team – pictured).
Photo 15
After the lighting of the cauldron at the opening ceremony, the Olympic flame will be moved and displayed in a special location during the games.
Photo 16
The organizing committee is firming up a policy of asking people to refrain from going and looking at it. [Events in the area will also be cancelled.]
Photo 17
They talked to a doctor at a clinic about the situation on the ground:
“From the second half of June into July, I have not had a single positive case in the over 65s.”
Photo 18
There have been a lot of positive cases in people in their 20s and 30s, and also the 40s and 50s, over a wide range.
Photo 19
Compared to people in their 20s and 30s, people in their 40s and 50s are more likely to have pre-exisiting conditions such as diabetes, lung diseases and high blood pressure that could lead to serious cases [and people in these age groups are worried and hoping to get vaccinated soon].
Photo 20
From the second half of June onwards, the doctor’s clinic opened up vaccinations from only the over 65s to people in their 40s and 50s with pre-existing conditions.
Photo 21
However, with the government reducing the amount of vaccine they are distributing, the clinic is only going to get half the doses it had hoped for.
Photo 22
“We have had to cancel 150 appointments that had already been made, and we are turning down all telephone inquiries for new appointments.
[He went on to say that people with pre-existing conditions have practically been begging to be let in, and he feels quite helpless having to turn people down.]
Photo 23
As mentioned yesterday, the government plans to shave off about 10% of what it is supplying to local authorities in population-based proportions, and reallocate that to municipalities that are running short of supplies.
Photo 24
But there has been a chorus of doubts from the region regarding this plan:
“The adjustment is too small to really allow us any discretion.”
“No matter how it’s distributed, it won’t change the fact that there’s not enough.”
“I am worried we cannot get people’s understanding from a fairness point of view.”
Photo 25
Moderna vaccine news now: Moderna was approved by HellaWella in May, but only for the over 18s because there was not enough data about its effectiveness and safety for younger age groups.
Photo 26
Moderna has now completed a trial in the US of 3700 12-17 year olds and established safety and effectiveness.
Photo 27
Once the MHLW has finished evaluating this data, it is likely to lower the age of eligibility for the vaccine from 18 to 12.
Photo 28
The ministry will present the findings to its own panel of experts as early as July 19.
[Pfizer by the way got permission to lower from 16 years old down to 12 back in May.]
Photo 29
[Finally for the main news feature from me today: The government calls the dogs off from alcohol wholesalers.
You may remember that yesterday the government quickly backtracked on a proposal to ask financial institutions to stop dealing with bars and restaurants that were defying government requests not to serve alcohol during SofE.]
Well, yesterday the government also backed down on their policy to ask alcohol wholesalers to also not deal with bars and restaurants that were defying government requests not to serve alcohol during SofE. They decided this last night and are getting in touch with local authorities about this U-turn.