Medical facilities across Japan were so stretched this summer that long waits were common for COVID-19 patients waiting to hear back from local public health centers about whether they would be treated at a hospital or have to self-isolate at home. 

But in the case of one Tokyo woman, no call ever came as the hospital where she tested positive for the novel coronavirus failed to report her condition to the local public health center.

The woman, who was in her 50s, was found dead by her husband at their home on Aug. 14, eight days after her infection was confirmed.

Until her death, the hospital, as well as the public health center in the jurisdiction where the couple resided, were unaware that her case had not been reported to the appropriate health authorities even though she had called both the hospital and health center to inquire about the holdup.

The woman, for reasons that are still not clear, simply slipped under the radar of health authorities. She died without the minimum care--food assistance and frequent monitoring of her health condition--afforded to all those forced to self-isolate at home due to a shortage of hospital beds.

Under the Infectious Disease Law, medical institutions are obliged to promptly report any case of infection to a public health center. Based on that report, the health center determines treatment policy for the patient, including whether the individual should be hospitalized and where, after getting more details from the individual.

Speaking to The Asahi Shimbun, Masamichi Katori, the head of Musashimurayama Hospital, described its failure to covey the woman’s case to the public health center as “extremely regrettable.”

“We offer our utmost apology to the family of the woman,” he said.

The woman tested positive in an antigen test performed at the general hospital in Musashimurayama, western Tokyo, on Aug. 6, according to her bereaved family and hospital officials.

She was one of 11 patients whose infection was confirmed at the 300-bed hospital that day.

All of the cases were supposed to be reported to public health authorities by fax. But the hospital for some reason neglected to notify the Tamatachikawa public health center in Tachikawa, which was tasked with handling her case.

The woman was advised by the hospital to wait for instructions from the health center about the treatment.

Following that advice, she kept herself isolated in a room at home so as not to pass the virus to her husband and their two teenage children.

On Aug. 11, five days after receiving a positive result, she called the hospital to say she had not heard back from the health center.

The person who took the call at the hospital gave her the number for the health center. But the staff member did not realize the hospital had still not reported her case to the center.

The woman called the health center right away.

Her mobile phone records showed that she talked with the health center for 10 minutes that day.

But no record of the conversation exists at the health center.

Despite the positive reading for COVID-19, her family never imagined the disease would prove fatal.

Given her symptoms, they expected her to recover. The woman ran a high fever for a while, but did not cough much. Her husband, who was working from home, took care of her.

In the interim, no call came from the health center.

At the time, the capital was in the grip of a fifth wave of infections and grappling with more than 4,000 daily new cases driven by the Delta variant.

Day after day, news media reported that hospitals and public health centers in the capital and elsewhere were stretched to their limit dealing with the sharp spike in new cases.

The woman and her relatives assumed the health center would eventually get in touch with her when her turn came, never suspecting that the hospital had failed to alert the health center in the first place.

Her husband recalled that she told him the health center had promised to call her back when she called there on Aug. 11, but it never did.

On Aug. 13, the day before she died, the woman told her sister during an online chat that even going to the bathroom was an effort as she felt dizzy standing up.

“In retrospect, she appeared to have difficulty breathing from then on,” the husband said.

The following morning, the husband, puzzled to find his wife lying still in bed without having tossed and turned in her sleep, found her body was already cold when he touched her.

He said he had never imagined his wife would die from the illness.

It was only after emergency personnel showed up at their home in full protective gear following his call that realization of the severity of the disease set in.

“I’m afraid I wasn’t fully aware that my wife was fighting such a dreadful disease,” he said.

He explained that he had become so accustomed to news reports about overwhelmed hospitals and health centers that he did want to trouble those facilities by pressing them to attend to his wife’s case.

The hospital only realized it had erred after police got in contact following her death. It was at that point the hospital notified the health center of her case.

It was not until early October that senior officials with the hospital and health center, as well as the Tokyo metropolitan government, which oversees heath centers, only got around to visiting the couple’s home to explain what had transpired and apologize.

A senior health center official said a staff member who talked with the woman did not relay her case to a doctor or nurse, believing that hers was just another routine consultation.

(This story was written by Emi Iwata and Taichi Kobayashi.)