Joe Tomei with another timely (and gratefully received!) update from Bilal Khan & Lily McDermott, the JET Prefectural advisors. If you appreciate these updates, please drop a comment thanking them for sharing with the list.
===== Since our last e-mail update, there have been 68 additional cases in Kumamoto Prefecture. This more than doubles the number of cases in Kumamoto since the beginning of the pandemic.
You may already have heard that a large proportion of the cases originate in the jurisdiction of the Ariake Health Center (Arao-Tamana Area) due to a cluster at a shipbuilding company located in Nagasu Town. Another cluster has emerged in Yamaga City at an elderly care facility. In addition, an elementary school teacher in Yatsushiro was confirmed to be infected and the school where he teaches has been temporarily closed.
Here is the most important bit of information to take home from this e-mail:
Coronavirus Risk Level raised to Level 3 for both Kumamoto Prefecture and Kumamoto City; Governor Kabashima issues request to all residents to avoid travel outside the prefecture Today the prefecture has decided to raise the Risk Level to Level 3.
As a result, people in the prefecture are being requested to comply with the following measures:
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Avoid all unneccessary and non-urgent travel outside of the prefecture. In particular, avoid locations in which the 3 Cs are present and particularly avoid travelling to areas here infections are spreading. →The request is based on powers given to the governor contained in the Act on Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response. Many of the recent cases have arisen in connection to Fukuoka and Tokyo, so the decision was made to request the people of Kumamoto to avoid travelling outside of the prefecture.
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Continue practicing appropriate hygene, including avoiding the 3s, wearing masks, keeping a distance between yourself and others.
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To those hosting events, please ensure all appropriate measures are taken to avoid the spread of infection.
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To restaurants, please make sure you are operating using the relevant industry guidelines and implement the measures outlined in the prefectural checklist.
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To residents of the prefecture, avoid dining at any establishments which are not implementing measures to prevent the spread of infection. https://this.kiji.is/660470958605517921?c=92619697908483575 https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/kiji_32638.html
Since it’s been a crazy few days that have led up to this and there is a lot of information to process, here is a timeline to help everyone digest how we got here:
Wednesday, 22 July Case 54 - A male health care worker in his 20s in the Amakusa Area tested positive for coronavirus using the LAMP method. The health care worker was employed at New Amakusa Hospital in Amakusa City (ニュー天草病院). Fortunately after tests of all 56 close contacts at the hospital, all were negative. https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/common/UploadFileOutput.ashx?c_id=3&id=32300&sub_id=44&flid=244281
Thursday, 23 July Case 55 - A public official working for Arao City in her 20s tested positive for COVID-19. She had visited a department store in central Fukuoka City, as well as gone shopping in Arao, and she reportedly used a mask at all times. She also worked at a facility helping residents affected by floods to dispose of disaster-related refuse. The same day she came down with fever. She tested positive four days later. https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/common/UploadFileOutput.ashx?c_id=3&id=32300&sub_id=46&flid=244305
The same day, 2 new cases were announced in Kumamoto City.
Friday, 24 July Case 58 - A male in his 40s in the jurisdiction of the Ariake Health Centre tested positive. He was in close contact with a confirmed case in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Case 59 - An additional case was confirmed in Kumamoto City.
Case 60 - A male company employee in his twenties in the area of the Ariake Health Centre was confirmed to be infected. The company was later revealed to be Japan Marine United (JMU) is a development-oriented shipbuilder located in Nagasu Town.
Saturday, 25 July Three cases were confirmed in Kumamoto City.
Sunday, 26 July Case 62 - A male care worker at the elderly care facility in Yamaga City “Taiyou” was confirmed to be infected with coronavirus. A large cluster would later be confirmed at this facility.
Cases 64-70 - Seven close contacts (coworkers of Case 60 at JMU in Nagasu Town) were found to infected.
Two additional cases were confirmed in Kumamoto City.
Monday, 27 July Case 82 - A close contact of Case 61 (Yamaga City) was confirmed to be infected.
Cases 71, 74-81 - 9 additional people were found to be infected, all people from the workplace of Case 60, all located in the Tamana-Arao Area.
Case 82 - A close contact of the care worker in Yamaga City was confirmed to be infected.
Cases 83-84 - Two additional cases confirmed in connection to Case 60 above.
Case 85 - An employee of the Kikuchi City Hall was confirmed to be infected. The route of infection is unknown. The City Hall has been temporarily closed. https://kumanichi.com/news/1540930/
Case 86 - An additional cases in Kumamoto City
Case 87 - Another co-worker of Case 60 (JMU Cluster)
Case 88-95 - After testing 22 employees of the elderly care facility “Taiyo” located in Yamaga City where Case 62 is employed, 8 tested positive for COVID-19. One of the 8 reside inKumamoto City.
Cases 96-100 - 5 additional cases were confirmed within Kumamoto City
Cases 101-114 - 14 additional cases were confirmed in association with the care facility in Yamaga City.
Tuesday, 28 July (as of the time of this e-mail) Cases 115-116 - An elementary school teacher in Yatsushiro City in his 50s as well as his mother in her 70s were confirmed to be infected. The teacher’s mother, two sisters (who had recently returned from Osaka) and another family member had a meal together with the son (teacher). Two days later, the teacher taught four classes at his school (wearing a mask). The sister later received word that she had received a positive test result from a PCR test conducted back when she was in Osaka. The teacher then consulted a local health centre and tested positive for COVID-19. The school in question has been closed temporarily. This is the first case of a school teacher in Kumamoto to be confirmed to be infected with COVID-19. https://this.kiji.is/660685796654416993
117-119 - Three additional cases were confirmed in relation to the Yamaga City care home “Taiyou”.
Some more thoughts… This recent spate of new infections brings the total number of cases in Kumamoto to this date to 119. The number of active cases is 69. The current total number of hospital beds available for coronavirus patients in Kumamoto currently is 400.
The recent case activity in Kumamoto has been mentioned in both national and even international news outlets. For instance, the governor of Nagano-ken has even advised residents to avoid travel to Kumamoto Prefecture. https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/1d9dd64cb4c7f479bbb999a1538d1baf6c459bfb
At a press conference yesterday, Governor Kabashima called for the people of Kumamoto to hold the “highest sense of danger yet” (最大の危機感 saidai no kikikan) regarding the current infection situation and continue measures to prevent the spread of infection such as hand washing and mask wearing. Following that press conference, Mayor of Kumamoto City announced his view that the “second wave” has come to Kumamoto. https://www.nishinippon.co.jp/item/n/629652/
With respect to the cases at JMU in Nagasu Town, The Governor of Kumamoto formally requested assistance from the national government’s “cluster team”. Governor Kabashima also expressed his concern that many people at the company in which the cluster emerged did not wear masks in the workplace.
In our closely neighbouring prefecture, Fukuoka, there was a total of 90 new cases (61 in the city) identified on July 26, and a total of 126 cases in all of Kyushu. https://www.nishinippon.co.jp/item/n/629688/ In addition to clusters at a nightclub, a number of confirmed cases have been confirmed at a kindergarten in Fukuoka City. In the past week alone, there have been 421 new cases in Fukuoka. For 51% of those cases the route of transmission is unknown. The positive test rate is 6.7%. https://www.pref.fukuoka.lg.jp/contents/covid19-hassei.html
Here is a helpful website where you can see the number of active cases in Kumamoto, including whether the person has been discharged from hospital and whether they are related to a cluster or not: https://kumamoto.stopcovid19.jp/en
As a reminder, information and announcements made by the prefecture are located on the Kumamoto Prefecture’s website here: https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/hpkiji/pub/List.aspx?c_id=3&class_set_id=1&class_id=7049
Information can be found in English on the website of the Kumamoto Support Centre for Foreign Residents here: http://www.kuma-koku.jp/support-center/page156.html
