Joe Tomei here with updates from JET Prefectural Advisors Bilal Khan & Lily McDermott
======= Expert committee acknowledges a nationwide decline in new confirmed cases, but State of Emergency likely to be extended
Last night, the prime minister said that the government is currently planning to extend the state of emergency beyond 6 May. In a session of the diet yesterday, the prime minster explained that there continues to be a significant strain on the health care system and the situation remains serious.
This morning the government’s expert committee on COVID-19 met to discuss the effectiveness of the current measures and the observed effects of the state of emergency over the past 3 weeks. The committee agreed with the observation that there has been a reduction in new cases, and that Japan has been able to avoid an “overshoot,” or large uncontrollable increase in new cases, as seen in other countries. The basic reproduction number is estimated to now be 0.53 in Tokyo, and 0.71 for the country as a whole.
However, it was observed that the goal of an 80% reduction in interactions was not achieved, and although infections have decreased in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, the rate of decrease is slower than was hoped.
Furthermore, if the current public health recommendations are at all loosened, the rate of infection would quickly increase, and all of the efforts made by the public so far would be in vain. The number of new cases is not expected to reach zero for the foreseeable future, and as a result measures of some kind will need to be in place for at least one year. The current strict public health recommendations should remain in place for the time being, and the decision on whether to loosen restrictions should be made only when there is a sufficient reduction in new cases, the health care system is sufficiently prepared, and there is the capacity to swiftly conduct PCR tests when needed.
In Kumamoto, today marks the fifth consecutive day without a confirmed case. Despite that encouraging trend, 165 new cases were announced in Tokyo today. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200501/k10012413791000.html?utm_int=news_contents_news-main_001 https://mainichi.jp/articles/20200501/k00/00m/040/098000c https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200501/k10012412431000.html?utm_int=detail_contents_tokushu_002 https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/realtime/rt0002832.html?utm_int=all_contents_realtime_001
Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare release list of 13 symptoms which signal critical risk Japan’s health ministry has issued a checklist of 13 coronavirus symptoms which indicate when a person should consult a medical expert immediately. The list is designed for patients who are already confirmed to have COVID-19, but with mild symptoms, who are recuperating at designated accommodation facilities or at home. The list includes poor face colour, purple lips, and breathing difficulties such as chest pain, inability to lie down, only being able to breathe in a sitting position, and heaving your shoulders when you breathe. The health ministry says patients and their families should go through the check list twice a day. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200429/k10012410261000.html?utm_int=all_side_ranking-access_002
Kumamoto Prefecture to rent 600 rooms across 6 different hotels for mild/asymptomatic cases https://this.kiji.is/628727879778305121?c=92619697908483575 After last month making a public request to hotels/ryokan for bids to host COVID-19 patients, the prefecture announced it will book 600 rooms at a cost of 314 million yen. The rooms are at 6 different facilities across the prefecture. The prefecture is planning to ask patients to move into hotels if the number of cases in the central area of Kumamoto (Kumamoto City and Kamimashiki area) exceeds 100 cases.
Nurses, doctors and prefectural staff will be stationed at the accommodations to carry out follow-up observations and PCR tests for infected persons, and also to support their daily lives through providing meals, etc.
“What I realized through English” This morning’s Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun featured an article written by a 3rd-Year Senior High School student from Nishihara Village. We think it really shows the value of the work that ALTs do in Kumamoto, so if you’d like, please take a look at the translation below (the original article is attached as a photo):
I’m really bad at English. There’s too much to memorize for vocabulary and grammar, and for someone who has bad memory like me, it’s too high a wall to scale. It really worried me that even spending time and effort on mock exams and term exams didn’t provide any results.
It was at that time that 2 new ALTs came to my high school. Until then, I didn’t have many opportunities to interact with ALTs. However, the new ALTs got closer to us students by doing things like coming to watch us during our club activities, and we had more opportunities to interact with them.
At first, my aversion to English prevented me from speaking much, but slowly and steadily I found myself able to speak about club activities and things that happened at school, albeit in mostly childish English. The English I speak is more or less at the level of a junior high student, and my usage of grammar and vocabulary is messy. Even so, when I saw my ALTs trying hard to understand what I was saying, I was able to feel comfortable speaking English.
From talking with my ALTs, I noticed something. I realized the importance of English as a language, as another tool for communicating with people. Before that, English existed largely as just study material for me. However, as I talked in English more and more, and became conscious of the usage of English for conveying and understanding things, it hit home to me that English is a language like any other.
Though this experience I came to understand the point of studying more grammar and vocabulary—it helps with understanding a wider variety of materials and makes the process of understanding and being understood easier. From now on, I want to study English through the lens of communication.
Please be careful and have a good, safe Golden Week.