【Text/Observer Network Zhou Yibo】
In Japan, where the epidemic broke out at the beginning of the new year, not only did the number of confirmed cases "explode", but the people who were isolated at home did not have a good life...
According to Japan's "Yomiuri Shimbun" local time on January 24, at present, the number of people in home isolation in Japan has exceeded 100,000, and the number of people treated at home after infection with the Omikejong strain is also increasing. However, the highly transmissible nature of the strain makes it difficult for people to truly isolate the virus when they are at home, and infection and re-infection incidents are endless.
For example, an office man living in Tokyo City said that his daughter (6 years old) also contracted COVID-19 a few days later since his son (9 years old) was diagnosed with COVID-19 and began to isolate his family at home. Because the daughter could not leave her parents to sleep, the man had no choice but to use garbage bags to form "curtains" to separate himself from his daughter to sleep.
An office woman who lives in Okinawa City said her second daughter, 23, was asked to stay at home after developing fever symptoms on the grounds that "the hotel does not have enough isolation rooms." Currently, a family of six people in the family get infected with COVID-19 every few days.
Screenshot of a report by japan's Yomiuri Shimbun
"There is a limit to preventing infection at home..."
A male office worker in his 40s in Tokyo City reportedly lives in a detached apartment with his wife, son (9) and daughter (6). On 18 January, his son was diagnosed with COVID-19 and the family began staying at home.
"My son was on the second floor and the other 3 were on the first floor, but on the 22nd I found my daughter infected." The man sighed, "I was going to take all possible measures (to prevent infection)..."
The man said that during the quarantine, his son ate alone on the second floor, and the toilet on the second floor was also used by his son. The 3 people living on the first floor not only wore masks indoors, but also wiped their surroundings with disinfectant tissues every time they moved.
"According to the health manual, infected people should bathe last, but bathing independently is difficult for small children, and in the end it can only be me or my wife to bathe." The man said that his daughter would always go to the second floor to play with her brother.
After the daughter was diagnosed, the man felt even more helpless, because the daughter could not sleep independently without her parents. In desperation, he had to use garbage bags to form "curtains" to separate himself from his daughter to sleep.
In an interview, the man said wearily, "There are limits to preventing infection at home..."
Japanese home quarantiners use garbage bags to form "curtains" to isolate the virus Source: Yomiuri Shimbun
"I don't even know where it was infected..."
In some cases, people who have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine can also be re-infected with COVID-19.
In the summer of 2020, a 27-year-old male office worker in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward was found diagnosed with COVID-19 in Fukuoka Prefecture, where he was on a business trip, and then entered an isolation facility.
At that time, he developed a high fever of 39 ° C that lasted for a week, and he coughed incessantly, and did not even feel the sense of taste and smell, until two months later, when he completely recovered.
Subsequently, the man always avoided drinking and gatherings and contact with large groups of people, and often disinfected masks and fingers. In the fall of 2021, he also received two doses of the vaccine.
"Even so, I had a fever on January 17th and tested positive again, so I went home to see a doctor." The man said in an interview, "Unlike the first infection, nausea and nausea lasted for several days. ”
After this diagnosis, the man was extremely surprised by the contagiousness of the new crown virus, saying: "I didn't expect that I would be infected with the new crown again, I don't know where I got it..."
"I really think I can't isolate the virus..."
At present, there is also a "vicious circle" of infection in Japan, that is, the rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases will lead to delays in new crown testing and shortages of isolation facilities, which will further exacerbate the spread of the virus.
This month, cases of infection occurred in the home of a female employee (53 years old) of a company in Okinawa City who lives with her husband and four children (aged 13-25). For more than two weeks, her family has been treated at home after the infection.
The second daughter in the family( 23 years old) was the first to develop symptoms of infection. On 4 January, she developed a fever, but due to the large number of appointments at the nucleic acid testing center, she was diagnosed with COVID-19 three days after the fever.
At that time, she applied for centralized quarantine at the hotel, but was rejected by the local government on the grounds of "no room", so she had to quarantine at home.
The female staff member interviewed said that although the family's meal times are staggered, other family members are found infected with the new crown every few days.
"If my second daughter had access to the isolation facility, things might have been different. I understand that the spike in infections is hard to deal with, but I really feel like I can't do it (isolate the virus). ”
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.