Finding a Middle Ground A bigger shift in how Japan treats the virus may change public perception about the threat of infection, as well as help to diffuse the impact of future mutations.
Currently, Japan draws on 450 or so public health centers to contact trace and hospitalize people with the virus. Space is limited because hospitals, especially small or privately owned ones, can refuse to take patients unless they are severely ill.
Though deaths have remained low in Japan throughout the pandemic, despite the country’s large elderly population, scores of people have still been turned away from hospitals during previous waves.
Hundreds were left to die at home without seeing a doctor. Some countries have already started to see omicron waves peak. In South Africa, where the variant was first reported almost two months ago, the omicron death rate topped out at 15% of the delta wave, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases.