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

Kazuki Shimizu, Stuart Gilmour, Hiromi Mase, Phuong Mai Le, Ayaka Teshima, Haruka Sakamoto and Shuhei Nomura
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Kazuki Shimizu: Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, 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
Shuhei Nomura: Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-12

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; heat illness; mass gathering; health systems; health security; health services; risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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