IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i7p3620-d527355.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

COVID-19 and Heat Illness in Tokyo, Japan: Implications for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2021

Author

Listed:
  • Kazuki Shimizu

    (Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
    Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK)

  • Stuart Gilmour

    (Graduate School of Public Health, St. Luke’s International University, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan)

  • Hiromi Mase

    (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London EC1E 7HB, UK)

  • Phuong Mai Le

    (Graduate School of Public Health, St. Luke’s International University, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan)

  • Ayaka Teshima

    (Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London W2 1PG, UK)

  • Haruka Sakamoto

    (Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
    Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan)

  • Shuhei Nomura

    (Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
    Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan)

Abstract

The 2020 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo were postponed to July–September 2021 due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. While COVID-19 has emerged as a monumental health threat for mass gathering events, heat illness must be acknowledged as a potentially large health threat for maintaining health services. We examined the number of COVID-19 admissions and the Tokyo rule for emergency medical care, in Tokyo, from March to September 2020, and investigated the weekly number of emergency transportations due to heat illness and weekly averages of the daily maximum Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) in Tokyo in the summer (2016–2020). The peak of emergency transportations due to heat illness overlapped the resurgence of COVID-19 in 2020, and an increase of heat illness patients and WBGT has been observed. Respect for robust science is critical for the decision-making process of mass gathering events during the pandemic, and science-based countermeasures and implementations for COVID-19 will be warranted. Without urgent reconsiderations and sufficient countermeasures, the double burden of COVID-19 and heat-related illnesses in Tokyo will overwhelm the healthcare provision system, and maintaining essential health services will be challenging during the 2021 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Suggested Citation

  • Kazuki Shimizu & Stuart Gilmour & Hiromi Mase & Phuong Mai Le & Ayaka Teshima & Haruka Sakamoto & Shuhei Nomura, 2021. "COVID-19 and Heat Illness in Tokyo, Japan: Implications for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2021," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-12, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:7:p:3620-:d:527355
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3620/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3620/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kazuki Shimizu & Ayaka Teshima & Hiromi Mase, 2020. "Measles and Rubella during COVID-19 Pandemic: Future Challenges in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Takahiro Yamamoto & Masaki Todani & Yasutaka Oda & Tadashi Kaneko & Kotaro Kaneda & Motoki Fujita & Takashi Miyauchi & Ryosuke Tsuruta, 2015. "Predictive Factors for Hospitalization of Patients with Heat Illness in Yamaguchi, Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-11, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kwon Joong Son, 2023. "Thermo-Electro-Fluidic Simulation Study of Impact of Blower Motor Heat on Performance of Peltier Cooler for Protective Clothing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Emily J. Tetzlaff & Nicholas Goulet & Melissa Gorman & Gregory R. A. Richardson & Glen P. Kenny, 2023. "The Intersection of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the 2021 Heat Dome in Canadian Digital News Media: A Content Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Yina Yao & Pei Wang & Hui Zhang, 2023. "The Impact of Preventive Strategies Adopted during Large Events on the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of the Tokyo Olympics to Provide Guidance for Future Large Events," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-22, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Takahiro Yamamoto & Motoki Fujita & Yasutaka Oda & Masaki Todani & Toru Hifumi & Yutaka Kondo & Junya Shimazaki & Shinichiro Shiraishi & Kei Hayashida & Shoji Yokobori & Shuhei Takauji & Masahiro Waka, 2018. "Evaluation of a Novel Classification of Heat-Related Illnesses: A Multicentre Observational Study (Heat Stroke STUDY 2012)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:7:p:3620-:d:527355. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.