Kirk here with another COVID-19 post. Today I found a useful page that provides COVID-19 statistics for Kumamoto Prefecture in English. The graph you see is from the page. Here’s the URL:
https://kumamoto.stopcovid19.jp/en
In response to my previous post, it was pointed out that different levels of testing in different places make comparison difficult. I think that’s a good point. On the other hand, I also think that the percentages of people who test positive indicate the extent to which a population is not getting tested enough and, by extension, the overall reliability of the COVID-19 statistics. I would expect higher positive rates in places where only really sick people were getting tested and lower positivity rates where tests constitute a pretty good sample of what is actually happening. According to the following article, the rate of positives in Kumamoto as of a few days ago was 3.8%: https://kumanichi.com/news/id94167
By comparison, Tokyo was 6.6% and Kanagawa was 9.7%:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210203/k10012848571000.html
A positivity rate of over 10% is one of the criteria for the “Stage IV” level.
Still, I acknowledge that testing levels should be higher in Japan. It’s an important issue I may write about later.
Stay safe!