Public Health Centers all over Japan
Hachi was thinking that why people in Japan (she hope to say “all of them”, but she would say “many of them”) were able to notice/feel many times before that the situation of spreading corona virus in Japan at a given moment was getting better or worse, while she was writing the part below in the article of “Crack“:
“The number might be seen not so many from people overseas, but Japanese people didn’t take it that way. Japanese citizens were scared so that the spread had to be stopped immediately.“
Perhaps, we often see the bar chart of the number of the COVID-19 patients wherever you are, but the bar chart represents the past situation (two weeks ago), not representing what is happening right now.
Who has helped people in Japan to feel the situation right now, which the results are not visualized yet?
While Hachi watched the investigative journalism program the other day (if you are familiar with Japanese, the text is here), she found the answer: Public Health Centers all over Japan, especially people who work there.
(She also thought that she recognized that kind of essential work, in a narrow sense in the tense social situation, was important, but why doesn’t she pay attention to it more!!?? grrr!!)
(In a broad sense, all industries has its essential part of work.
She thinks it has to be cherished as well, thinking of SDGs on Earth.
But the most difficult part is that recognizing “what is essential in my work” requires human will.)
Here is the paper Hachi would like to share with you, which was introduced in the investigative journalism program.
(It is open access so that you can download full PDF.)
It shows that the function of public health center all over Japan could cut the risk of possible COVID-19 patients in half.
How did they do that?
When a person who tested positive with a PCR test is found, the nearest public health center contacts the person and asks his/her behavior in last two weeks.
They ask the person “Where did you go?”, “With whom?” or “May I have the phone numbers of your friends?”
It obviously requires tolerance and human skills, and the detailed work takes enormous amount of time and efforts.
However, the paper shows it was effective.
Public health centers all over Japan have been on the very front line in the pandemic in Japan, who are unsung.
Cultual Differences, Cultual Diversity
Some people overseas might think that it is too delicate.
However, the detail-oriented work prevented corona virus from spreading in Japan.
(According to the personal experience of taking care of the flu patient, that makes sense for Hachi because a toothpaste was the gateway to “unknown exposure” to her after she felt a slight shiver and thought about possible gateways a lot.
Removing the possible cause saved her later.)
Also, public heath center all over Japan were established because of the lesson from spreading tuberculosis 60 years ago in Japan.
The Japanese might not be good at seeing a big picture nor doing things immediately or dynamically, yet we are good at the detail-oriented work naturally.
That’s our nature.
We found that tracing routes requires enormous efforts (with a cool head and a warm heart), but it is very effective.
From that viewpoint of the nature of the Japanese including the public health center’s detail-oriented work, and the recent results of EURO 2020 (BBC “Football linked to 2,000 Scottish Covid cases”. accessed on July 1st, 2021),
some (perhaps many) of the Japanese prefer to behave safely, wearing a face mask even if people get vaccinated, or keeping a social distance a little bit.
(Hachi is afraid to say that it seems to be risky to drink alcohol and shout in a stadium at the moment.)
(Oh, by the way, Hachi has heard that western people feels that wearing a face mask is like wearing a dog muzzle. Is that so?
For Hachi, wearing a face mask is like being wrapped in a blanket.
It makes her feel secure and warm, especially in winter.
It is too hot in summer, though.)
Public Health Center’s work once stopped because of the high rate of the increasing COVID-19 patients in Japan, but now partially started getting back on track without having enough rest.
Hachi hopes you, especially living in other countries, to understand how they protect people in Japan and they are still working now without enough rest.
Also she hopes you to feel into Japanese people who were said by the vice president of IOC and WHO that the Tokyo Olympics could be held even if the state of emergency was declared in Japan.
The behavior ruins all efforts above.
