Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

dropdeadfred, Again your anti-mask, anti-vaccine stance is recklessly irresponsible. Your leaning to
treatment to avoid serious illness rather than vaccine to stop the spread is still highly irresponsible.

This a bit dated, still goes toward yours and Trump's open everything early.

Japan Acted Like the Virus Had Gone. Now It’s Spread Everywhere.

By Lisa Du and Rie Morita

1 August 2020, 9:00 am AEST Updated on 3 August 2020, 11:47 am AEST

* After first wave, Japan re-opened quickly, urged travel

* Focus on economic recovery over infection control blamed

VIDEO 4:14 Covid-19 Surges in Emerging Markets as Global Cases Top 18 Million

After initial success, Japan is facing a reality check on the coronavirus.

The country garnered global attention after containing the first wave of Covid-19 with what it referred to as the “Japan Model” -- limited testing and no lockdown, nor any legal means to force businesses to close. The country’s finance minister even suggested a higher “cultural standard” helped contain the disease.

But now...

[...]

“This is the result of the government prioritizing economic activity by getting people to move around again over infection control,” said Yoshihito Niki, a professor of infectious diseases at Showa University’s School of Medicine.

[...]

Although Japan understood earlier than many Western countries that the virus was more likely to spread through droplets in the air, and warned residents to avoid crowded, unventilated conditions, it wasn’t enough to change individual behavior as the restrictions were lifted. While people have continued to wear masks throughout the pandemic, the current infections have largely occurred in situations where face coverings aren’t typically worn, like group dining and drinking events.

Unlike New Zealand, Japan never spoke of eliminating the pathogen. Experts tried to encourage a “new way of living” and spoke of an era in which people lived with the virus. But the messaging from central and regional governments was mixed, with local officials in Tokyo warning against travel even as the national government encouraged it, and both sides bickering over who was to blame.

[...]

The national government continues to argue that the situation this time is different. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga reiterated Friday that another state of emergency isn’t required. The death rate in Japan remains low by almost any standards, and the medical system isn’t over-burdened -- a key factor public health officials use to judge success of virus containment. The country has fewer than 100 people in critical care due to Covid-19.

But treatment won’t bring the current spread to a halt.

“Hospitals can treat the infected,” said Koji Wada, a public health professor at the International University of Health and Welfare in Tokyo. “But only the government, through public health measures, can reduce the number of infected people.”

When Shigeru Omi, the head of the current panel of experts advising the government, told officials to delay the domestic tourism push, he was ignored. The “Go To Travel” campaign then turned into a public relations nightmare, as Japan’s rural residents grew angry over the potential of infections being brought to the countryside by city-dwellers. Eventually, Tokyo was excluded from the campaign in a last-minute about-face.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-31/japan-acted-like-the-virus-had-gone-now-it-s-spread-everywhere