Nov 02 (NHK) - A survey by Japan's health ministry shows that more than 80 percent of "dementia cafes" across the country remain closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There are about 7,000 such places in Japan, where people with dementia and their families gather and seek advice.
Municipalities say that as of the end of August, 83 percent of about 6,000 such sites that they had information about had not resumed operations due to the pandemic.
Many operators said they could not reopen as they had been using elder-care facilities as the cafes' sites, but these had become unavailable because of the infection risks.
Others said many of the cafe visitors were over 80, and that gatherings involving food and drinks had to be avoided due to the risks.
Twenty-three percent of municipalities said the shutdown of the cafes has affected users and their families.
They cited cases where users had no places to go, and tended to confine themselves to home. In some cases, dementia symptoms appeared to have worsened.
Tohoku Fukushi University Associate Professor Yabuki Tomoyuki said that with dementia cafes closed, there could be instances of diagnosis being delayed or the dementia worsening.
He pointed out the need to keep the functions of such places operating through means such as visits, letters and telephone calls.
