20200702 (Thursday) Coronavirus Digest from Japanese Morning TV News Part 1 (of probably 1): Main News
See photo captions for stories.
Photo 01
Today’s Japan Covid-related NHK morning news topics:
– 67 cases in Tokyo, the most since the lifting of the State of Emergency
– Declaring a State of Emergency again? Need to analyze the infection routes
– Easing border restrictions – considering places like Taiwan…
– Around 1000 former nurses have returned to work
Photo 02
127 new cases yesterday – the third consecutive day over 100.
67 in Tokyo
8 in Kanagawa, 6 in Chiba, 3 inTochigi, 14 in Saitama
1 in Yamanashi, 1 in Miyagi
4 in Hokkaido.
4 in Fukuoka and 1 in Kagoshima
1 in Gifu, 1 in Hiroshima
10 in Osaka
2 each n Kyoto, Hyogo and Shiga
0 in quarantine after coming back from overseas.
Photo 03
5 of the 8 cases in Kanagawa are people who go to a vocational college in Tokyo.
Photo 04
Osaka has posted double figures for the first time since May 13.
Photo 05
For Shiga, these are the first new cases since June 18.
Photo 06
Tokyo’s 67 is the biggest number since the end of the State of Emergency [and then some…]
Photo 07
In Tokyo’s Koto ward up until Wednesday, 4 infections were confirmed among teachers at the same elementary school, and the school closure has been extended until July 10.
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In Nerima ward, a male teacher who was confirmed infected was a homeroom teacher at a local elementary school.
Photo 09
The ward has identified 26 close contacts for testing and additionally closed the school until July 6
[the slide isn’t particularly clear on this, but I followed up on the website]
Photo 10
Breaking down the 67 Tokyo infections by route:
27 people are from the Dark Side
6 infections at workplaces
4 at home
6 from having dinner together
24 from other places/unknown sources
[Crotch-covering guy made a point of saying, “So it’s not JUST the night businesses”]
SY: I feel for him. If I worked with Maho, I’d probably have to do the same…
FM: Oh, it wasn’t the topic of hostesses and the dark side?
SY: No, his hands are basically there permanently…
MC: When you said “dark side” at first I thought you meant 外人
SY: Yeah, I really should stop trying so hard with these wordplays…
Photo 11
But then pointed out that 11 cases were from the same hostess club in Toshima ward.
TM: And yet are they testing the men who are visiting this places – you know, the guys in the office and commuting in the morning? Nah. Let’s just stigmatize sex workers and others in the industry.
Photo 12
Over 70% of cases were in their 20s and 30s.
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47 were close contacts of people already infected.
20 cases were untraceable.
[This is actually quite a bit less than the 50% that was previously considered a target to be nervous again. They got some quotes from the Task Force guy (nothing to worry about yet, but need to analyze carefully), the cabinet secretary (no need for another State of Emergency at this point) and the government in general (look holistically at the infection situation and the medical system).]
Photo 14
Japan is looking to reopen to countries and territories where the infection situation has settled down. It has already made an agreement with Vietnam to relax restrictions.
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It is now looking to have discussions sometime this month allow inbound and outbound business travelers for places like Taiwan, Brunei and Singapore.
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According to the Japan Nursing Association, as of June 29, 996 nurses (including nursing practioners and public health nurses) who had quit work before have come back.
They make up 60% of the positions being offered by hospitals and local authorities.
[According to another website article, the Japan Nursing Association had actively reached out to 50,000 former nurses to come back out of concerns about a shortfall in nurses and other medical workers.]
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While dealing with the virus, it seems that nearly 80% of Health, LABOUR and Welfare Ministry staff did more than 80 hours of overtime in April this year (80 hours is considered the line for attributing deaths including suicides to overwork if a worker dies).
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The person with the most hours of overtime clocked up 215 hours in February.
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The Ministry also revealed that up until June it had received 433 applications for workers compensation on the grounds of “infected at the workplace”
This includes 306 medical staff and 51 care home workers.
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In principle, the ministry directs that such applications be recognized for workers’ compensation unless it is clear that the worker became infected by some other route.
Photo 21
Flipping channels, this show was looking into the fact that Osaka city has only managed to pay out the 100,000 yen corona money to 10% of citizens, but the mayor is talking about increasing staff and the number of scanners and getting 90% paid out by the end of July.
[I live in Kobe and I got mine yesterday BTW]
EM: Neyagawa gave it out pretty fast, even though they did double some payments.
SY: To the tune of $2 million dollars…
AM: I live in Osaka and I haven’t seen the damn FORM yet. They had something on their website saying we’d get forms sent out starting June 19.
Photo 22
Tokyo Disney Resort reopened yesterday with all sorts of restrictions, including the number of visitors allowed in. Leading to short lines at all attractions.
Photo 23
“The wait for each attraction was only about 5 mins”