Diamond Princess Whistleblower: “Nobody was professional infection control specialist” | Disease Specialist Kicked Off of Diamond Princess | VIDEO
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Professor of Infectious Diseases at Kobe University. Dr. Iwata Source: Unseen Japan
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 ā and why what he saw on the ship alarmed him.
The English video is only 12 minutes long and well worth a watch. However, Iāll summarize briefly what Dr. Iwata says.
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 āother powersā at the Ministry blocked him from entering the ship.
His friend discovered that Dr. Iwata could enter the ship as a member of Japanās disaster medical response team. The downside? Heād have to commit to doing āroutineā medical work related to disaster management. Dr. Iwata wasnāt 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. āThere was no distinction between the Green Zone, which is free of infection, and the Red Zone, which is potentially contaminated by the virus.ā 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).
āIt was completely chaotic.ā
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. āBut 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.ā
āYou Have To Be Outā
It was clear, Dr. Iwata says, that āthe bureaucrats were in charge,ā and they werenāt 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. āYou have to be out,ā he said. The official who offered him the position of infectious disease expert aboard the ship apologized.
Dr. Iwata says heās 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 ā the incubation period for the virus.
Dr. Iwata finishes his video by asking for the international community to ācall for Japan to change.ā He also calls for better protection for those still on board the Diamond Princess.
āAn Onboard Pandemicā
Dr. Iwataās videos were uploaded within the last 24 hours. Since then, theyāve begun to spread in both English and Japanese.Ā Dr. Iwataās own Twitter post of his video has already been shared over 40,000 times. Noted Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Mogi Kenichirou (čęØå„äøé) shared the video earlier today as well, saying, āOfficials didnāt respond and collect the data they should have and now we have an on-board pandemic.ā
Unfortunately, it may be too late. Passengers who have tested negative are slated to leave the ship Wednesday February 19th JST ā i.e., within hours of this articleās publication. Time will tell if the Japanese government heeds Dr. Iwataās words before itās too late ā and whether it does anything to improve its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in general.
