My nephew who lives in Japan got the virus. He had to fly to Australia for his business and became ill after he returned. He was contacted immediately by some part of the Japanese government upon his return because the guy he sat next to on the way to Australia was diagnosed with the virus. After he went to the doctor they diagnosed him of having Coronavirus without a test. Basically because they didn’t want to waste a test on him. He self quarantined for over a month. Fortunately, he and his beautiful wife were in the process of moving to a new home and she did not have contact with him between the time he came back until the time he was informed and self quarantined. He was isolating himself in his office which had a cot and bathroom but no shower. His wife brought him food everyday. After 2-3 weeks the powers at be (don’t know who is in charge) decided it was no longer a waste (of whatever) to test a white guy for the virus. He came back positive. He was getting terrible medical care due to his skin color and lack of English speaking doctors where he is living. After 5-6 weeks his temperature had not gone away and he was getting sicker. So they took him in an ambulance to the ER and isolated him due to his testing positive for the virus. They treated him for the virus and he got worse. For whatever reason, at this point they decided they didn’t want him in their hospital any more and took him to a different one where they found a doctor that spoke English and was willing to treat a white guy. The new hospital decided to waste another test on him and found he was no longer infected with the virus. BTW, at this point it was 6-7 weeks and he still had not taken a shower and no one was willing to give him a sponge bath. The new hospital allowed him to take a shower, finally.
He had been getting such bad medical care from the first doctor and hospital that he was preparing to pay for a plane to take him back to the US as he is still a US citizen. Just so he could get the proper medical care since the Japanese medical system was letting him down. But right before the flight was going to take place the Japanese government took away the visas of all non citizens traveling and living in Japan. He was informed that he can leave if he wants but he cannot return. With no word as to if his visa will ever be reissued ever again. Since the Japanese market is critical to his business and his wife is a Japanese citizen, he decided if he had left and not returned he would have lost his business and possibly his wife.
He is still in the hospital and I was just informed he is no longer in ICU due to him having a severe problem with his pancreas which is why he kept getting sicker. The problem with the Japanese medical system not wanting to waste Coronavirus tests on him means they cannot tell how long after he was exposed to the virus to the time he started feeling symptoms which is a data point that is desirable. And they could not tell when he was no longer infected even though the first hospital was treating him as if he still had it. We think the first hospital treated him for the virus when he was already over it because they refused to waste a test on him.
We are hoping he can finally go home in the next few days. It’s been almost 2 months now. In the meantime, if he can never get his visa back he may still lose his business as he has to be able to travel for his business. And if he can’t return to Japan, he’s done.