There could be the largest victims
A sudden warning has started
A few days ago, there was a sudden warning about COVID-19 infection in the mainstream media. The headline was like this: Japan’s weekly COVID-19 cases rise for ten straight weeks. Ten weeks? Why have they kept silent for so long?
As the Japanese government withdrew the aid for COVID tests and the anti-virus medicine in 2023, when you are sick and likely to be infected with COVID, you have to pay about 10,000 yen for the test, and 30,000~40,000 yen for the anti-virus medicine. A lot of people refuse to be tested and be given the medicine because it's so expensive, doctors reported.
Furthermore, labor shortage and insufficient sick leave system make it difficult for employed workers to take enough sick leave. In short, there could be sick people around you who may exhale particles of infectious virus in their breath.
According to the information from the corona variants tracking researchers, new variants are getting dominant in the world. It was found that KP.2 and KP.3 are more infectious and evasive from antibodies than any preceding variants. The signs of the variants were detected earlier.
A pattern of a peak in summer and winter
Japan’s COVID-19 positive cases have shown two surges in a year since 2021: one in summer and another in winter when it is difficult to ventilate the air of enclosed spaces. Because of this fact, the government could have been able to predict earlier, but is warning now when the situation gets worse enough.
Results of SARS-CoV- 2 sewage surveillance in some cities can be used for early warning. However, the Japanese government and the mainstream media haven’t seemed to use them for prevention of infectious diseases.
The government has thrown away public health
The Japanese government has already quit collecting statistics and informing us of the real situation of COVID-19. The mainstream media has been complicit with it. Many people don’t know that nearly 50,000 people died from covid last year in Japan. They still believe that only the elderly die from covid, and not so many young people do. It’s not true.
It is more serious that a significant number of people are suffering from Long Covid but the number and the situation is still unclear. Those people disappear from our societies and communities. Therefore surveys and statistics are important.
Although every government in the world has been exhausted with COVID-19, the Japanese government has thrown away all of collecting statistics, providing information, and financial aid for testing and treatment.
There could be the largest number of victims ever in this summer surge
It’s not okay but I can understand ‘No see, No say, No hear Policy about COVID-19’. How about wearing a mask? It’s an inexpensive prevention that anybody can do. Even in other countries, governments announce the recommendation of wearing a mask in a public space like in a train or crowded event when the infectious situation gets worse. Why don’t the Japanese government do the same thing?
There are research reports that prove wearing a mask is one of the effective measures for prevention, but the government and the mainstream media don’t let it be known. Scientifically wrong theories about masks are still circulating: wearing a mask weakens children’s innate immunity, or prevents psychological development of young children. Even medical practitioners and school teachers believe in those wrong theories. Why don’t they have correct information?
Because of the accumulation of ignorance and neglect by the government, I’m afraid that there could be the largest number of victims ever in this summer surge. I hope I am wrong.