I caught a cold

Well, it's Sunday.
Sunday is the day I write whatever I feel like writing.
I hope you'll join me for a relaxed read.

Ugh, I feel terrible...

I had been feeling a bit of a sore throat since around the start of Golden Week, but by May 3rd, I started having a bad cough. The coughing would get worse when I lay down, and I also had a runny nose and phlegm. Since I also had a low-grade fever of around 37°C (98.6°F), I spent the latter half of Golden Week feeling as limp as boiled, slightly cooled spinach.

I went to the hospital to get tested, but since both COVID and influenza were negative, I was diagnosed with a cold that has been going around lately. Apparently, this type of cold is currently spreading in Tokyo.

Work started back in normal mode on May 7th.
This week is packed with meetings carried over from before Golden Week, so I'm reasonably busy and can't afford to take time off. That said, I couldn't go to the office, so I've been working remotely the whole time.

Trends in infectious diseases by prefecture

I found a rather interesting website.
This is a site set up by NHK that maps the number of cases of various infectious diseases nationwide and by prefecture (based on preliminary figures released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare every Friday) along with the increase or decrease compared to the previous week.

The number of infected people seems to be a figure "per medical institution."
The data available as of today seems to be for the 17th week of 2024 (April 22nd to April 28th), so I suppose that covers the first half of Golden Week.

In Tokyo, the number of COVID-19 and influenza cases seems to be decreasing. However, please be careful, as infectious diseases that young children are prone to, such as hand, foot, and mouth disease and herpangina, appear to be on the rise.

It seems there is a shortage of cough medicine...

Apparently, there is a nationwide shortage of cough medicine.
This has been talked about since last year, and you can find several articles touching on the subject.

The reasons for the shortage of cough medicine seem to be the following three:
1. With COVID-19 being reclassified to a lower category, the number of patients with infectious diseases requiring cough medicine has increased.
2. Production volume has dropped due to the discovery of scandals at generic drug manufacturers, and inventory has decreased accordingly.
3. The selling price of cough medicine is low, making it an unprofitable product, so manufacturers are reluctant to produce it.

My temperature is back to normal, and I no longer have a runny nose or phlegm.
All that's left is the cough, but...

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Thank you for reading until the end.

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Please take a look.

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