Olympics-Beset by coronavirus wave, Tokyo's doctors lead push against the Games

SEIBU HOLDINGS

26/05/2021 09:55

By Antoni Slodkowski and Ju-min Park
    TOKYO, May 26 (Reuters) - When Hiroki Saito took over the
intensive-care ward on Tuesday morning, room No. 8 at the end of
its cordoned-off section had been cleaned, locked up, and a
ventilator beaming red light set in motion to disinfect the air.
    "A 79-year-old patient died here this morning," Saito said
as he walked through the corridors, checking on patients and
staff. "His family was told by the night shift doctor. They
would not be able to say their goodbyes directly." 
    The U.S.-educated doctor has overseen a heavy load of
COVID-19 cases at St. Marianna University Yokohama Seibu
Hospital during the pandemic, including the current wave https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/no-ones-safe-anymore-japans-osaka-city-crumples-under-covid-19-onslaught-2021-05-24,
 which has forced Japan's capital and several other areas into
another state of emergency https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-government-seeks-extend-state-emergency-may-31-2021-05-07.
    With two months until the Summer Olympics, doctors such as
Saito, as well as nurses and public health experts, have become
one of the most outspoken groups voicing their concerns about
the Games, saying the event would put the public at risk and
further strain the healthcare system.
    "It's difficult to achieve zero cases when the infection is
spreading around in different communities. In that sense, having
a large-scale event would pose an inevitable risk," Saito said.
    Other staff at the hospital west of Tokyo were more direct:
"This is not the time for the Olympics," said Chizu Kawabata, a
nurse on a morning shift at the hospital's emergency centre.
    Most people in Japan oppose holding the Games, polls show,
and a handful of entrepreneurs and celebrities have echoed the
sentiment publicly. On Wednesday, the official partner of the
event, the Asahi Shimbun daily, published https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/asahi-daily-an-official-tokyo-olympics-partner-calls-cancellation-games-2021-05-26
 an editorial calling for the Olympics to be cancelled.
    Several large unions representing medical staff have also
sent https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/tokyo-doctors-call-cancellation-olympic-games-due-covid-19-2021-05-18
 open letters to Prime Minister Suga and published commentaries
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/tokyo-olympics-must-be-reconsidered-due-japans-failure-contain-pandemic-report-2021-04-16
 warning that if people died because of the Olympics, Japan
would bear "maximum responsibility".
    Much of the country, including host city Tokyo, remains
under a third state of emergency that is widely expected to be
extended beyond this month. Japan has recorded about 719,000
cases and 12,394 deaths since the pandemic began.
    The organisers have pointed to other successful sports
events as evidence that the Games can go ahead. On Friday, the
top international Olympic official overseeing the preparations,
John Coates, said https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/olympics-canadian-swimming-team-cancels-pre-olympic-training-camp-japan-kyodo-2021-05-21
 the Games would continue even if Tokyo were under a state of
emergency.
    Some medical officials and local governors have balked at a
request by the organising committee to provide nurses and secure
hospital beds for the event.
    
    'GIVE US A BREAK'
    Experts worry some 90,000 people arriving with the Olympic
delegations could spread fresh variants of the coronavirus. They
also point to Japan's low vaccination rate. Only 5.2% of the
public have received at least one injection and just over a half
of medical personnel are fully vaccinated.
    To have about a third of the population vaccinated by the
Olympics, the government would need to distribute about a
million shots a day, more than double the current pace.
    In the starkest example of protest, staff at Tachikawa
General Hospital, which has accepted more than 240 coronavirus
patients, put up placards in May saying: "Cancel the Olympics!
Give us a break," and "The medical system is at breaking point".
    Seeing the worsening situation in Osaka, the country's
second-largest city, Tachikawa General Hospital has expanded the
number of beds at its high-care unit - one step below intensive
care - for serious COVID-19 cases at the expense of space for
other patients.
    "Our staff fully comply with movement restrictions affecting
their personal freedom. We're barely able to staff each ward. If
anyone quits due to fatigue, the medical system would collapse
like a domino," Masaya Takahashi, the head of the hospital,
warned the news media after the protest.
    At Komagome Hospital - run by the organizer of the Olympics,
the Tokyo metropolitan government - the situation is equally
dire, said Hideaki Dairi, a nurse who looks after coronavirus
patients at its high-care unit.
    Dairi said he worried that as a city-run institution, the
hospital may have to treat sick athletes at the expense of the
residents if the bed situation becomes tight. The hospital has
about 160 beds designated for COVID-19 patients across six
wards.
    "We had to shut down some wards to concentrate nurses in
those six wards," said Dairi, who represents about 3,000 staff
from hospitals run by the Tokyo metropolitan government as a
labour union leader.
    That has meant a broader reshuffle of staff and patients
across the hospital, straining its scarce resources, he said:
"The staff working with coronavirus patients are struggling, but
those working elsewhere are also under huge stress."

 (Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski and Ju-min Park; additional
reporting by Elaine Lies and Rocky Swift; Editing by Gerry
Doyle)
 ((antoni.slodkowski@thomsonreuters.com; +81-80-3559-9968;
Reuters Messaging:
antoni.slodowski.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))