Public servants fighting Corona Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare “Corona Headquarters” Public health center on April 2 21:48

The Corona Headquarters, established inside the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, is the key to measures against the new coronavirus. Bureaucrats worked insomnialessly. There were also unimaginable situations at municipal health centers. Report the forefront of measures.
(Kasumigaseki's real interview group Maho Arakawa)

Bureaucrats at the 24-hour Corona Headquarters

The “Corona Headquarters” is the new Coronavirus countermeasures headquarters located in the large auditorium on the second floor of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. It acts as a control tower that monitors trends in infected people throughout the country through prefectures and instructs on practical measures.

Since it was installed in January, it has been working around the clock for 24 hours, and even if it is unclear, the electricity in the room will not be turned off.

Internal reporting is prohibited.

As the spread of the infection continued, we asked several employees to talk about what kind of work they were doing.

The quarantine team manages quarantine inspections at airports and other places nationwide, with long desks in the auditorium. It is said that nearly 10 groups have been organized, including the “Mask Group”, which oversees the procurement of masks that are still difficult, and the “Diet Group”, which handles the Diet.

A male bureaucracy at the task force headquarters: "Now we are all from newcomers to veterans. There are no weekends. But prevention of infection is exactly the task of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, so we are doing everything we can to do it. It's very difficult to grasp the situation just because the situation is changing so quickly.The questions of the Diet are more than twice as usual, and we need people, but we just don't have enough human resources. "

An unknown infectious disease countermeasure that changes every day. This alone is a challenge, but there is a need to respond to school childcare associated with the simultaneous closure of school, affect employment, and even handle the Diet.

It is no surprise that voices say "It's more than the Great East Japan Earthquake."

At the Corona Headquarters, there is no time to eat, so cardboards such as cup noodles, energy drinks, and sweets from the ministers were piled up at the entrance of the auditorium.

If it is an average year, this is a severe place where the entrance ceremony of new bureaucracy will be held soon. That was a whole new thing.

Over 900 e-mail recipients

The headquarters will be staffed by support staff one after another. It is said that there are around 200 staff members at all times, including support inside and outside the ministry.

This email shows that the number is large.

It is said that it was sent from the person in charge to share information flying on SNS ... but the number of employees at the destination is as high as 912 people.

It seems that important information is shared only with members, but it is not unusual for shared mail as a whole.

In the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, some pregnant employees are sick

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare continues to work hard. Some staff in the ministry are ill. It is said that there were cases where pregnant staff was hospitalized immediately.

Male bureaucrat who knows the staff "It's hard to say that I'm going home alone with some staff staying up all night, and he seems to have worked until 1:00 and 2:00 am. "

Health center at the site "screams"

It is not just the nation that is being hesitated in fighting the new coronavirus. At present, the spread of infection continues in Tokyo, and Governor Koike has stated that "it is a serious phase of the infection explosion."

We wanted to know what the health center at the forefront, together with the hospital, was in. Then, a public health nurse in Tokyo responded to the interview during the busy work to get the actual situation.

"The health center is screaming," she said, and began talking about what she was doing now.

A female public health nurse said, "First, telephone consultation. The number increased at a stretch from the second half of February, and 300 cases a day when there was a lot. It has been ringing all the time since morning. The content varies from “How to disinfect in-house,” “From mothers, communication between family members is not good at home during school holidays.” It's coming from people who are in a state of affair, and it can take more than 30 minutes on a single call. "

In addition, the woman gave the "PCR test". A PCR test that doesn't have to be heard in the news now. "It's an extremely difficult task to coordinate with a medical institution," she said.

When a female public health nurse performs a test, she goes to the laboratory to get the patient's sample and bring it to a laboratory. A public health nurse and a doctor like me go to the site in pairs, but wear protective clothing to prevent their own infection. It takes a lot of time to prepare, and if you go to a residential area or condominium, you need to be careful not to distrust the neighbors. I sometimes go. "

I didn't know honestly that I was doing that.

They also showed how to put on and take off their protective clothing. The procedure for putting on gloves, opening and closing fasteners, and putting on a mask is quite complicated.

And the work with this is very hot. When taking off, it is said that the virus will be worn out and careful attention will be taken to reduce nerves.

In addition, she told me that after completing the examination, it was difficult to connect to the hospital.

A female public health nurse said, "Adjustment is not going to be easy .... Where to receive poorly ill or positive patients. Hospitals equipped with facilities are limited, and some refuse" I do not want to accept. " There was also a hospital. "

In addition to these duties, the identification of close contacts and health observation (twice in the morning and evening, when the number is large, more than 100 people are managed by e-mail and telephone, and consultation on sudden changes in physical condition is also available), and the behavior history of infected people It is said that there is also a consultation response at night.

Most surprisingly, I heard that 10 people were doing all this work.

She said, "I am also supporting other departments, but it is still not enough. I have to work at the same time that occurs frequently."

At the end of the interview, I was scared and asked, "What if someone fell?" Then she returned with a plain expression. "If someone falls, it's over."

Experts familiar with the actual situation of health centers

The forefront of measures against national and local new coronaviruses. How do experts look? We interviewed Prof. Toshiyuki Ojima of Hamamatsu Medical University who is familiar with the actual situation of health centers throughout Japan. Prof. Ojima stated the difficulty and difficulty of dealing with unknown infectious diseases.

Hamamatsu Medical University Professor Toshiyuki Ojima "Everyone is working hard to overcome this difficulty as a professional in health and hygiene. , It requires specialized knowledge and experience, so it is not easy to gather supporters. "

He continued, taking as an example the consolidation of public health centers that had been underway in the last 20 years or so, against the background of the increasing burden on public health centers.

Hamamatsu Medical University Professor Toshiyuki Ojima "The number of public servants has been decreasing in both the national and local governments due to administrative reforms. The consolidation of public health centers has progressed considerably. The number of staff was reduced, and the number of operations was reduced, but society was becoming more complicated, the number of disasters increased, and the number of operations was increasing. is"

Continue to cover the actual situation at the site

New coronavirus countermeasures that all countries in the world are now working on. I think there are many other people who are fighting this unknown infectious disease, not to mention hospitals, besides the interview site. We will continue to cover the actual situation of such sites.

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Kasumigaseki's real coverage team Maho Arakawa