Hospitals Grappling With Clustered Infections
Medical institutions in Japan are straining to cope with clustered infections.
Group infections occurred at around 100 hospitals in November... more than three times as many as the previous month.
Two hospitals in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido have been hit with more than 180 infections each.
The governor is set to ask the Self-Defense Forces to send nurses to help alleviate the shortage of healthcare workers.
The western prefecture of Osaka is also experiencing a medical-care shortfall.
The prefecture set up a new facility with 30 beds -- all equipped with ventilators -- to treat serious coronavirus cases.
Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi says 80 nurses have been secured so far but noted that this is not enough.
He is also asking for SDF nurses to be sent in for reinforcement.
A hospital in Hokkaido investigated how 16 people, including patients and nurses, became infected.
The hospital says the cluster appears to have started with a patient who tested negative in a PCR test on admission.
The patient was hospitalized with a different disease in late October... and was discharged two days later.
About 10 days later, two nurses who looked after the patient reported fever and upset stomach... and tested positive for the virus.
Odani Toshio of Hokkaido Medical Center said, "We must assume that every patient may have contracted the virus the day before taking a PCR test. And we should treat our patients on the assumption that they may show COVID-19 symptoms any time until about two weeks after contracting the virus."
A clustered infection on a remote island is pushing medical workers in southern Hokkaido to the brink.
53 people... or about 2 percent of the population of Okushiri Island, have been infected.
Many of the infected people were sent to a hospital in the town of Esashi on the main island of Hokkaido. But the hospital says its beds are almost full.
Some of the patients from the island were sent to hospitals in Hakodate City and elsewhere...straining the entire area.
Honma Satoshi of Hakodate Medical Association said, "We can still accept some more patients. But if infection clusters occur in Hakodate or other places, the number of cases will surge and could cause a panic."
More than 1,500 new cases were reported across Japan on Monday.
Over 165,000 people have tested positive in the country since the pandemic began. More than 2,400 people have died.
