Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: strategies and challenges for an aging society in Japan

IF 1.2 4区 法学 Q3 POLITICAL SCIENCE
T. Hasegawa, Koki Hirata, Kunichika Matsumoto
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Abstract

PurposeThis article analyzes the challenges of infectious disease control under a super-aged society through Japan’s experience with COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThis article provides an overview of Japan’s COVID-19 measures and their characteristics, discusses their successes and failures, and identifies future challenges.FindingsJapan’s basic strategy for COVID-19 consists of three parts: the border defense (Stage 1), slowing down the spread (Stage 2), and damage control (Stage 3). One key policy feature in Stage 2 and Stage 3 is based on “voluntary restriction”. It had a certain effect, but it was prolonged with each recurring “wave of infection”, resulting in economic exhaustion and people’s dissatisfaction. Thus, the effect of the voluntary restriction has weakened, while the percentage of people who have been vaccinated is improving, making it difficult to predict the damage of the next “wave”. Under the hyper-aged society, it was necessary to identify and protect particularly vulnerable areas, i.e., psychiatry hospitals, chronic care hospitals, and long term care (LTC) facilities. On the other hand, secondary impacts extend to young people. The most serious one is the decrease in births which further accelerates the aging of society.Originality/valueThis study is original as it investigated why Japan’s unique countermeasures against COVID-19 without mandatory lockdown worked well for a considerable period. It also revealed that secondary impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic are broader and more significant than the direct loss of life, and that the social system, especially super-aged society with many vulnerable areas should be reformed in consideration of the threat of infectious diseases. Lessons from the Japanese case may contribute to other countries.
新冠肺炎大流行的教训:日本老龄化社会的战略和挑战
目的通过日本应对新冠肺炎的经验,分析超老年社会传染病控制的挑战。设计/方法/方法本文概述了日本的新冠肺炎措施及其特点,讨论了其成功与失败,并确定了未来的挑战。发现日本应对新冠肺炎的基本战略包括三个部分:边境防御(第一阶段)、减缓传播(第二阶段)和损失控制(第三阶段)。第二阶段和第三阶段的一个关键政策特征是基于“自愿限制”。它有一定的效果,但随着每一次反复出现的“感染浪潮”,它都会延长,导致经济疲惫和人们的不满。因此,自愿限制的影响已经减弱,而接种疫苗的人的比例正在提高,这使得很难预测下一波“浪潮”的损害。在老龄化社会下,有必要确定和保护特别脆弱的地区,即精神病医院、慢性病护理医院和长期护理设施。另一方面,次要影响扩大到年轻人。最严重的是出生率的下降,这进一步加速了社会的老龄化。原创/价值这项研究是原创的,因为它调查了为什么日本在没有强制封锁的情况下应对新冠肺炎的独特对策在相当长的一段时间内效果良好。它还表明,新冠肺炎疫情的二次影响比直接的生命损失更广泛、更重要,社会制度,特别是有许多脆弱地区的老年社会,应在考虑到传染病威胁的情况下进行改革。日本案件的教训可能对其他国家有所帮助。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
2.50
自引率
7.10%
发文量
30
审稿时长
8 weeks
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