The infection of the new coronavirus has spread rapidly, and the number of announcements of infection confirmation is renewed every day.


The number of home recuperators is increasing rapidly along with infected people.


What are the people actually doing now?

And what is the impact of the rapid increase in home care recipients?

I'm worried about spreading the infection to my family

A woman in her thirties who lives in Fukuoka Prefecture, infected with the new coronavirus, requested accommodation treatment because her family living with her had an underlying illness, but she was forced to take treatment at home.



The woman had a fever on the 1st of this month and turned positive the next day.



After I got a fever in the 38 degree range, I took medicine and the fever went down, but I still have a stinging pain in my left chest and my back and joints also hurt.

The woman's mother had not been vaccinated yet and had underlying diabetes, so she wanted to be hospitalized at a health center or stay at a hotel, but she was instructed to take care of her at home because of her mild illness. is.



Women live in their own club rooms, but because there are places such as toilets that they have to share, they are worried about spreading the infection to their families.



I don't have dinner outside, and I only go back and forth between my home and work by bus, so I don't know the route of infection.



The woman said, "I always wore a mask, so I don't know when and where I got infected. I want you to be in a situation where you can get medical treatment as soon as possible so that you don't pass on to your mother with an underlying illness. I'm worried because I don't have an objective view of the worsening of my symptoms. "

Home recuperators in Tokyo about 14 times more in a month

Tokyo where the rapid spread of infection does not stop.

The number of newly confirmed infected persons was 5042 on the 5th and 4515 on the 6th.



With the rapid increase in infected people, the number of home care recipients is also increasing rapidly.

According to the capital, 16,913 people are receiving medical treatment at home as of the 5th.

It has increased about 14 times in the past month.



An expert in Tokyo points out that "it is expected to increase further in the future. It is necessary to strengthen the follow-up system to prevent the aggravation during home medical treatment."

Online orders are increasing rapidly from supermarkets

Under these circumstances, the movement to buy groceries is spreading on the Internet, and supermarkets that provide services are busy responding.



This is because people who are refraining from going out to prevent infection or who are forced to take medical treatment at home due to infection are increasingly purchasing groceries and daily necessities via the Internet.



Of these, at supermarkets in Saitama Prefecture, the number of users increased sharply when the first state of emergency was declared last spring, and after that, it had been calm for a while, but from the end of last month when the number of infected people began to increase rapidly, online orders were placed again. It means that it has begun to increase.



The state of emergency was declared again in Saitama Prefecture on the 2nd of this month, an increase of about 20% compared to last week.



At the Tsurugashima store, most of the employees went to work for six days and were busy packing vegetables and frozen foods into delivery cases.



In particular, there are many orders for preserved foods such as cup ramen and paper products such as tissue paper.

Furthermore, in response to the rapid spread of infection at this supermarket, unexpected requests are being made one after another.



Saitama Prefecture distributes canned foods, retort-packed foods, and other foods for 3 to 5 days free of charge to those who are infected with the new corona and are treated at home.



Due to the rapid spread of the infection, the number of orders from the prefecture has tripled from the previous week to 1050, and the supermarket is busy responding.



According to Saitama Prefecture, there are cases where arrangements are not in time due to the large number of cases and delivery is delayed, so in the prefecture we give priority to people living alone.



Mr. Norie Imai, the manager of the mobile sales section of the company that operates this supermarket, said, "It is thought that the number of orders has increased rapidly and there are some parts that are not always able to respond to orders from customers, but we can manage to respond. I would like to consider how to deal with it. "

Home recuperators use online supermarkets

On SNS, there are a series of posts that people who are recuperating at home or who are concerned about infection have secured food using online supermarkets.



I was able to talk to a woman in her thirties who lives in Tokyo, who posted on Twitter that she asked for an online supermarket for the first time in half a year because the number of infected people increased and she couldn't go to the supermarket.



As the infection spread rapidly in the "fifth wave", women refrained from visiting supermarkets to shop and ordered foods such as vegetables and meat at online supermarkets on the 4th.



After the third wave, which peaked in January, the number of infected people decreased in Tokyo, so they were shopping at stores, but recently, infected people have also appeared in nursery schools where children go and their husbands' workplaces. For that reason, I refrained from going out as much as possible for prevention and used the online supermarket for the first time in half a year.



A woman said, "I'm worried that infections will come out even around me. Net supermarkets are a little expensive, but I think they can't be replaced by infection prevention, and I plan to use them until the number of infected people decreases." I did.



In addition, a woman in her 50s living in Tokyo was treated at home after her husband was infected with the new corona, and she became a close contact.



At the request of the health center, he could not go out and requested the local government to deliver food, but he was told that he did not know when.



For this reason, I used the online supermarket for the first time in a long time and ordered the foods I needed during my medical treatment.



The woman said, "I was able to secure food the day after I ordered. My family is doing well at home and securing food, but I think there are more people who are having a hard time." I was talking.

Sometimes medical staff are waiting at home

On the other hand, new issues are emerging in the medical field where beds are tight.



At Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, as of the 6th, there were 6 inpatients with severe illness and 23 with moderate illness, and all beds were full.



In addition, many patients with heavy conditions are transported during the past week, and half of the hospitalized patients need to be given oxygen. A respirator and a medical device called "Nasal High Flow" that administers a large amount of high-concentration oxygen through the nose. We are preparing and responding.



Healthcare workers have been given priority vaccinations, but there are a number of cases in which they are unable to work due to infections of family members living together who have not yet been vaccinated, making them close contacts.



Approximately 30 of the medical staff working in hospitals have been waiting at home so far, raising a sense of crisis when the labor shortage becomes serious.

Kenji Wakabayashi, assistant director of the hospital, said, "The characteristic of the" 5th wave "is that there are many infections among the working generation, and when the family members who live with medical staff are infected, there are many situations where they have to become close contacts and take a rest. As the number of patients increases and the number of seriously ill beds increases, the number of staff, which is the foundation of medical care provision, is decreasing, and I feel a sense of crisis. "