Nowadays, a group of people infected with the new coronavirus = "cluster" is occurring one after another at facilities for the elderly nationwide.


A representative of a facility in Saitama Prefecture, where more than 50 people were confirmed to be infected, responded to the interview and talked about the importance of suspecting infection and taking measures such as quarantine from an early stage.

In Saitama Prefecture, the number of clusters in facilities for the elderly has increased sharply since last month, reaching 19 cases by the 15th.



Of these, more than 50 people, including residents and staff, were confirmed to be infected at special nursing homes in the prefecture last month, and more than 10 people died.



According to the facility, the first person to have a fever of 38 degrees was a resident with an underlying illness.



I usually have a fever, and as a result of contacting my doctor immediately, I decided to take an antipyretic and see what happened.



However, three days later, six more residents on the same floor had a fever and had mild cold-like symptoms.



At the facility, the low-grade fever went down in a few hours, so at first I thought it might be due to an underlying illness or a cold.



The next day, I was quarantined just in case, but the number of fever increased at a stretch, and subsequent tests confirmed that more than 50 people, including residents and staff, were infected.



Most of the residents at this facility have an underlying illness, and it is not uncommon for them to have a low-grade fever. It was difficult to determine.



We do not know if the first fever was the earliest infection, but we believe that the facility may have changed the situation with the initial response.



From this experience, at this facility, if a resident has symptoms such as fever, he suspects an infection and decides to take measures such as promptly isolating it.



Noriyuki Ikeda, the president of the corporation that operates the facility, said, "There are some residents who are in poor physical condition, such as those with underlying illness and those who are in poor physical condition. I feel that it is. We must not overlook various symptoms such as fever, and continue to deal with isolation as soon as possible, no matter how difficult it may be. "