This article is from WeChat official account:Duan Duan Sauce (ID: DuanduanReport), author: sauce end to end, from the title figure: vision China
At lunchtime, the news began to broadcast the news that 534 cases in Tokyo and 2,000 cases of new crown patients in Japan are increasing. This has changed the steady situation of hundreds of people newly added every day in the past few months. The host described it as a sound “Maximum alert”, “rapid growth”. However, the Japanese government has not given more practical measures, nor has it taken any measures to “close the city.”
In late November, the red leaf season arrived as scheduled. The leaves of the cherry blossom trees on both sides of the Sumida River became red, and the autumn wind blew all over the ground. Auntie Cleaning carried the big transparent bag, gathered all the scattered red leaves together, and put them in again, seeming to put the autumn in the bag together.
Last weekend I chatted with my friends in Tokyo, and talked about the sacred places and hotels for viewing autumn leaves that were already fully booked. It turns out that there are no tourists, and the Japanese themselves love to travel, and the epidemic does not seem to be the focus of their consideration.
If it weren’t for news reminders, the dangerous virus seems to have gone. Japanese people have always liked to wear masks, especially in winter. Masks keep warm and can also cover the face of delicate Japanese girls without makeup.
The children go to and from school as usual, but with some cute cartoon masks, they still play in the open space.
Since the epidemic, Japan has only ever “soft sealed the city” once and not strictly. When the first wave of the epidemic came, Japan implemented a state of emergency from April 7 to May 25, requiring people to avoid unnecessary outings and business closures, but did not take rigid measures such as lockdowns and forced closures. During this period, many restaurants only provided takeaway services, and the streets were full of takeaway couriers delivering meals.
Ginza streets during the soft lockdown period
The clinics in Japan have not been closed, some just shortened their business hours. In the past few months, I have visited the clinic quite a few times. I only had my temperature taken before the blood draw and the vaccine, and the rest of the time was unimpeded. From May to November, I went to the dental clinic 9 times and completed the whole process of a tooth cleaning and a complete set of dental implants, including two pioneering surgeries, and no body temperature was measured.
The operation in July really made me feel horrified. Not to mention that Japan is experiencing the second wave of the epidemic. There are no special protective measures in the operating room. Even the doctors just wear masks and gloves. A two-hour operation was completed with a disposable coat.
During the epidemic, most of the domestic departments are closed, and dental clinics are high-risk places and will never be opened. I also asked the doctor curiously, are you not worried? The answer is that we wear masks and wash our hands frequently and disinfect our hands frequently. Patients with fever and physical discomfort will go to the place where they need medical treatment. However, there are no cases of hospitality in Japan, which seems to prove that this is indeed effective.
1. The Japanese under the pressure of convergence in the world
Since the epidemic, the Japanese government has been promoting the new crown strategy of “coexisting with the virus”, and it seems that it did not intend to completely eradicate the virus from the beginning.
On February 5, Professor Guan Tian Yihiro, Director of Infectious Diseases of Japan, said in an interview with a reporter from Nihon Keizai Shimbun that the result of the virus they isolated did not see the iconic highly toxic mutations, and hoped that the public would not Particularly nervous. In the case of good medical conditions, the emergence of severely ill patients should be avoided. “Basically, you can adopt the same coping policy as the flu. Please follow the methods of washing your hands more and avoiding others when coughing.”
Over the past few months, the understanding of the virus has been deepening, but the government has repeatedly emphasized only the simplest anti-epidemic measures-masks, hand washing, social distancing. I hope everyone can follow Measures to deal with influenza.
For these measures, the Japanese have always implemented them voluntarily. Masks are naturally a must for everyone. In the elevator, there is no rule that only a few people can be boarded. If there are three people inside, the people waiting outside may hesitate and say, sorry, you can board first.
Almost all closed public places, shops, supermarkets, coffee shops, bookstores, etc., the first thing you enter is to consciously press the disposable disinfectant placed at the door by the merchant. Sometimes the store has someone to spray them one by one before letting people in. No wonder some friends said that after a day’s shopping in the mall, their hands were soaked in disinfectant.
Dog statue wearing a mask at the entrance of the pharmacy.
Sometimes I don’t understand. There are no regulations imposed by the government. Why do people follow the rules?
Some Japanese people told me that Japanese people are under more pressure to “world” convergence than rigid rules.
“World”, a word unique to Japan, can be said to be the mechanics and order created by the Japanese when they form groups. For example, during the March 11 earthquake in Japan in 2011, overseas media praised the Japanese people for being orderly in times of natural disasters, without any chaos or disorder, that is, the order of the “world” is at play.
At the beginning of the epidemic, the governor of Tokyo only mildly “requested everyone to be self-sufficient and reduce going out”, which had enough effect. It seemed that individuals who violated the rules that the public are observing are better than violating the law. Still unacceptable. The Japanese are also extremely worried that they will add trouble to others or that they are out of step with others. For small vendors of restaurants, in April and May, the government only “requested the closure of business”, but the entire commercial street near my house dimmed in an instant and all business closed. This is all coming from the trend of others under pressure.
Severe illness and low mortality are also one of the reasons why Japanese people are calm.
The number of hospitalized patients in Japan due to the new crown reached a peak in early August, and has declined sharply since October. Critically ill patients reached a peak in mid-April and reached a second peak at the end of August, showing a downward trend from the beginning of September. Although the number of newly infected people with the new crown in Japan is not small, most of them are mildly ill and are arranged to recuperate in hotels and their own homes. The more severely ill are elderly people who have multiple diseases themselves.
And the new crown infection bedOccupancy rate, as of October 21, only Okinawa has a occupancy rate of more than 40%. Only two prefectures, Tokyo and Aomori prefecture, have a occupancy rate of more than 25%. The rest are all less than 25%, with a occupancy rate of 0. 11 counties.
Japan’s new crown mortality rate has also been maintained at an extremely low level. As of November 19, the number of confirmed cases in Japan reached 3.14 million, including 1922 deaths, and almost none under 60. This death rate can only account for about 0.15% on the annual death cause table in Japan. Therefore, many people oppose excessive epidemic prevention and closure of the city.
Previously, Johns Hopkins University in the United States calculated the number of deaths per 100,000 new crown infections in various countries on July 17, Japan was 0.78, Belgium 85.76, France 45.00, and the United States 42.29 People and other developed countries in Europe and America are very different. Some people even describe that in Japan, the new crown has only slightly accelerated the time it takes for some people to reach the end of their lives. Of course, this statement is cruel, after all, every life is equally precious.
As of November 19, data on the new crown epidemic in Japan. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan丨Picture
2. The criticized “go to travel” action
In Japan, whether the anti-epidemic is more important than the economy has been debated. Some local heads, headed by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, believe that the fight against the epidemic is more important, otherwise economic activities will have to be stopped, but some other local heads with weak epidemics hope that the government will adopt more economic stimulus policies to help businesses restore. These contradictions have plunged Japan’s fight against the epidemic into chaos and lost its unified direction.
After the epidemic, national borders were blocked, and Japan travel, which is loved by people all over the world, was pressed the pause button. In order to save the sluggish economy, the Japanese government under the “tourism-building” strategy has formulated a policy that fascinates all walks of life, encouraging everyone to travel more in Japan, known as “Go To Travel”, and issued a series of vouchers Vouchers are used for hotel accommodation, dining, shopping, etc. during travel. Consumers can enjoy discounts up to 50% of the total travel expenses.
Speaking to reporters: “I think the domestic epidemic situation is in a state of highest alert. The Japanese government has decided to provide assistance to local public organizations in urging the catering industry to shorten business hours. At the same time, it has asked local governors to discuss the use of the’Go To Eat’ initiative to go out. In principle, the number of people dining is controlled within 4 people.”
For ordinary people, the epidemic has gradually made people “numb”. Employees of large companies work from home for many months as soon as possible, and their daily life is no different from before the pandemic. Seeing the news of new infection data every day, most Japanese people just “oh, it’s increased again”, and then continue to do their own thing. .
Everyone knows that these measures only slow down the growth rate of patients, hoping to smoothly pass the peak of the epidemic. The spread of the virus will eventually weaken and disappear as the number of people with antibodies gradually increases in the population.
On October 2, the Japanese government determined that once the new crown vaccine is on the market, the cost of purchasing and vaccinating the vaccine will be borne by the Japanese government and will not charge the vaccinators to encourage everyone to take the initiative to vaccinate and reduce severe illness and mortality. Prior to this, the Japanese government had reached an agreement with the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to purchase 120 million doses of vaccines from two pharmaceutical companies. On November 18th, Pfizer stated that its new crown vaccine has an effective rate of 95% and is preparing to apply to the regulatory authorities for listing. If approved by regulatory agencies, the vaccine is expected to enter the distribution channel before the end of this year, and Japanese vaccination is just around the corner.
The epidemic brought more than just viruses to Japanese society, but more social discussions brought about by this pandemic. Turning on the TV, Japanese programs are discussing the social impact of the epidemic all day long. For example, the pandemic has exacerbated children’s loneliness, worsened family conflicts and husband-to-wife relationships, and made Japanese people who were originally closed more willing to “cocoon”. But it also brought some good changes. For example, young people started buying vegetables and cooking again, the number of people who opened vegetable gardens began to increase, and the idea of some people staying away from big cities resurfaced.
After all, health comes first.
This article is from WeChat official account:Duanduan sauce (ID: DuanduanReport), Author: end to end Sauce