There’s been a lot of news in recent weeks around Japan’s handling of the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) infection. Lately, attention has centered on the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that Japanese authorities placed under a two-week quarantine after finding cases of the infection on board. However, in recent days, the number of infections has skyrocketed.
Now, we may know why. A professor on infectious diseases at Kobe University has uploaded a video to YouTube explaining how he was kicked off the ship the same day he boarded – and why what he saw on the ship alarmed him.
Related: Japanese Government Denies Iwata’s Claims, Says Infection is “Under Control”
“It Was Completely Chaotic”
The video was uploaded by Iwata Kentaro (岩田健太郎), a Professor of Infectious Diseases at Kobe University. Dr. Iwata is a renowned and respected expert in infectious diseases who has dealt with the Ebola, Cholera and SARS outbreaks.
Dr. Iwata uploaded two versions of his video: one in English (below) for an international audience and one in Japanese for domestic consumption.
[UPDATE – 2/19/2020: Dr. Iwata has deleted the video and issued an apology on Twitter. It’s unclear if this is a completely voluntary action or was done under pressure. What follows is my original description of the contents of the video.]
Dr. Iwata spent a few days working with a contact in the Ministry of Health to get him on the ship. He explains that he wanted to use his expertise to understand why so many people were becoming infected. At first, Dr. Iwata says that “other powers” at the Ministry blocked him from entering the ship.
His friend discovered that Dr. Iwata could enter the ship as a member of Japan’s disaster medical response team. The downside? He’d have to commit to doing “routine” medical work related to disaster management. Dr. Iwata wasn’t too happy with this restriction but consented so he could board.
Once on the ship, two heads of the disaster management response team told him to ignore this restriction. Since he was an infectious disease specialist, they told him, he should be working infection control.
What Dr. Iwata saw alarmed him, he says in his video. “There was no distinction between the Green Zone, which is free of infection, and the Red Zone, which is potentially contaminated by the virus.” Dr. Iwata says he saw people walking around freely (including the Minister of Public Health) and eating and using smart phones while wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).
“It was completely chaotic.”
Dr. Iwata says that, in his travels treating infectious diseases worldwide, that he never had a fear of becoming infected with Ebola, Cholera, or SARS. “But inside Princess Diamond [sic], I was so scared. I was so scared of getting COVID-19 because there was no way to tell where the virus was.”
“You Have To Be Out”
It was clear, Dr. Iwata says, that “the bureaucrats were in charge,” and they weren’t trusting the process to actual infectious disease control specialists. He approached officials and calmly recommended some changes, such as obtaining consent from cruise passengers to treatment verbally instead of on paper. (The transmission of paper aboard the ship, he says , could spread the infection.)
By 5pm the same day, another official approached Dr. Iwata. “You have to be out,” he said. The official who offered him the position of infectious disease expert aboard the ship apologized.
Dr. Iwata says he’s now staying in a separate room isolated from his family. He also says he expects he will be away from work at Kobe University for the next two weeks – the incubation period for the virus.
Dr. Iwata finishes his video by asking for the international community to “call for Japan to change.” He also calls for better protection for those still on board the Diamond Princess.
“An Onboard Pandemic”
Dr. Iwata’s videos were uploaded within the last 24 hours. Since then, they’ve begun to spread in both English and Japanese. Dr. Iwata’s own Twitter post of his video has already been shared over 40,000 times. Noted Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Mogi Kenichirou (茂木健一郎) shared the video earlier today as well, saying, “Officials didn’t respond and collect the data they should have and now we have an on-board pandemic.”
Unfortunately, it may be too late. Passengers who have tested negative are slated to leave the ship Wednesday February 19th JST – i.e., within hours of this article’s publication. Time will tell if the Japanese government heeds Dr. Iwata’s words before it’s too late – and whether it does anything to improve its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in general.
