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© KYODOBusinesses hope tougher COVID-19 measures will speed return to normal
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sakurasuki
Tougher covid-19 measures? Vaccines is good for business not Japanese style covid-19 measures which no measures at all.
dbsaiya
There was a recent ToDai Economics department that found severe restrictions for a short period of time is more beneficial to the economy than half measures for an extended period. Nishimura and Suga are doing the exact opposite. Good luck with the economy and controlling this surge.
dagon
In Gunma Prefecture, a 58-year-old taxi driver waiting for customers in front of Maebashi Station criticized the government for its lack of foresight, saying, "Putting quasi-emergency measures in place after infections have surged makes no sense."
Why does a taxi driver in Gunma exhibit more foesight and perspicacity than lavishly compensated elected leaders?
Tom Doley
Well, simply because he does not get any back door money.
Do the hustle
They ‘hope’ tougher measures will speed the return to normal. However, very few are prepared to make sacrifices to accomplish it. It’s been proven by those countries that have beaten the virus that the only way to accomplish it is with strict lockdowns and penalties for those who disregard them. Lockdown the whole country for a month and watch the virus disappear. When the virus first broke out all pubs and restaurants were closed for nearly three months in Australia. Now, a year later Australia is virtually virus free. Japan will not control this virus with ‘urges’ and ‘suggestions’. One would think they have learned that by now.
ChiaPet
If the measures had been applied before the (Golden Week) holidays, I don't think infections would have spread this far."
Measures were applied before GW. People didn't listen. The airports were F U L L of travelers.
HBJ
If they want things to get back to normal quickly then it’s time they start speaking out against the governments actions and start calling for people who actually know what they are doing.
All these flip flopping, toothless actions have meant this has gone on far longer than it should have already.
As many countries are starting to take the first steps back to some sort of normalcy, here in Japan things are getting worse again and the vaccination program has barely touched the general population.
Aly Rustom
Not going to happen. As long as the schools remain open and people are still commuting to the office for work they can just as easily do at home, the vaccines are being rolled out at a snail's pace, AND the Olympics are going to be held, nothing will change- except a worsening situation. You can count on that.
JeffLee
I thought "tougher measures" are only for foreign countries, and the world looked to Japan as a model. At least that was what former PM Abe used to tell us.
OnTheTrail
As we say in IT "hope is not a plan".
n1k1
We don't need tougher measures ! We need to vaccinate 30 milion people ! that is it ! This whole thing will be over in 15 days.
anon99999
tougher measures!!!!!
I missed seeing where that is happening. In my prefecture under quasi SOE, whatever it is called now, the only thing closed are some city and prefectural facilities such as libraries and the car parking at the parks. Bars, restaurants, schools, gyms etc all open as usual. Maybe there is a 10.00 pm closing time, I am not even sure. Schools and universities and all their clubs and sports activities as usual. Honestly I don't see any difference in daily life at all. Daily virus numbers fluctuate wildly from 10 - 60 a day already for weeks now. Test numbers are minuscule to ensure they never can find more cases than that in a day. The one control method they do practice to keep official numbers down,
smithinjapan
WHAT tougher measures? Everything is still optional, for one, and second MORE places are opening up completely than were closed BEFORE the third SOE, saying, "Our services/products are a 'daily necessity', so we fit the criteria for remaining open".
Antiquesaving
In our neighbourhood the Shotengai shops have signs on then " no Olympics" "we need the help"
But then I live in a very working class area very Tokyo shitamachi and not the well off areas those running this circus live.
robert maes
What measures ? All shops, department stores, restaurants are open and streets busier than ever.
i see more and more people with masks on their chins , token waring.
theaters, sports venues allow fans so the situation can logically only worsen.
Either we have a 4 weeks full and serious lockdown or nothing but these ridiculous token measures do only harm on all fronts.
thelonius
The only thing that will ensure a return to normalcy is a vaccinated public. Period.
I think Japanese people have finally understood and accepted that. I wish the government can do the same.
Sven Asai
Speed return to normal? Honestly? Your beloved games , dear business people, those held in summer ones, with more than 100,000 virus spreaders intentionally and from all possible virus mutation areas invited, will slow that down even more.
Christopher Glen
Waste of time
Michael Machida
I guess hope is all they have left.
willie_html
Why should they listen?
Do they government officials listen to us? Do they care about our lives? Everyday people die. EVERY D A Y.
Do the hustle
Therein lays the problem. The vaccine is not the silver bullet the Japanese government and people believe it to be. There is a lot of evidence supporting that the vaccines are not effective against the mutated strains of the virus. The virus will not magically disappear after people are vaccinated. The virus must be controlled manually and not with a couple of jabs.
Antiquesaving
Really? That would be around 23% of the population.
Canada has vaccinated 33.67% of it's population and is now in a 3rd wave/surge. So that blows the " over in 15 days" theory.
Goodlucktoyou
Punish the people.
promotivedigitalsolution
I guess hope is all they have left.
1glenn
Japan is a wealthy country, and should have contracted to purchase the highly effective vaccines now available a long time ago. I could understand if Japan were a penniless Third World country, but that is far from the case.
justasking
There's no going back to normal, because every time the SOE is lifted, the cases go up. Not only in Japan, but everywhere.
The ONLY viable path to normality is the vaccine.
The other natural but undesirable solution is to let everyone get infected. Millions will die, but we'll finally have herd immunity. This second choice doesn't require a competent government, so Japan can do it.
GBR48
Lockdowns are economically and socially damaging, and only give a brief respite to health services.
Only vaccines will nail Covid. Japan needs to speed up the vaccination process. The bizarre delays are endangering lives.
The more time this virus has to spread amongst unvaccinated groups, the more chance there is of serious variants. So far we have been lucky. All the variants only increase transmission and vaccines still work on them.
Variants are not things that foreigners get. Mutations can happen anywhere. Japan's slow pace of vaccination is making it the weakest link in a global chain. It does not want to be the place where a variant occurs that the vaccine does not work on. So get on with it.
Everywhere needs the majority of citizens to be vaccinated, including the poorest countries and North Korea. China and Russia need to vaccinate NK, or a more dangerous variant will see them right next door to a serious biohazard, with no DMZ.
Stop fussing about the Olympics and anything else and get as many people vaccinated as you can, as quickly as you can. Nobody is being forced to be vaccinated - it is voluntary. But get vaccines into as many arms as possible, or there will be more lockdowns and potentially much worse ahead.
Whatsnext
Talk about an oxymoron of a headline.
Do the hustle
This is an armchair theory with no base. Australia and New Zealand are virtually virus free and their economies are on the rebound due to strict lockdowns. London has got control of the virus due to lockdowns. Japan has not used strict lockdowns and the virus is still rampant throughout the country. Lockdowns work and allow economic recovery in their wake. Japan’s SOEs only slow the spread, which bounces back immediately after they are lifted. The ongoing cost of this back and forth SOE cycle is far greater than a month with no pubs or restaurants. All pubs and restaurants in Australia were closed for nearly three months last year. However, they are now open and thriving again. Lockdowns do work!
spinningplates
I agree with Do the Hustle, but with the caveat that Japan through it's focus only on short term Yen and the disgusting Olympics, has created the situation where the virus is so entrenched in the community that vaccination is now the only way out.
The worst outcome for Japan is the current 'no mask' ideology of the U.S. You can already see on TV shows tonight, the masks are gone, the PVC shields are gone, the situation here is going to get a lot worse before enough vaccinations are carried out simply because the 'leaders' here live in some fantasy world and mimic countries that have got on top of the situation without taking any action whatsoever.
virusrex
That is because you assume lockdowns are the cause of the problem and not the consequence.
If the population in general obey the measures stop doing risky things the lockdowns become unnecessary, on the other hand if the infection is already widespread but people insist on acting as if normal then the situation becomes worse and worse until the point the lockdowns become necessary. This is like saying that Japan proves mask mandates are useless, since there has never been a mask mandate and still transmission is decreased (obviously hiding the fact that mask widespread use makes the mandates irrelevant).
If you want to research the scientific value of an epidemiological measure an economist article is terribly substandard evidence, specially when he keep trying to ignore all the published evidence that proves otherwise and can't even produce the minimum statistical considerations to prove his conclusions are even valid, much less correct.
There are much better science being done, by actual statisticians and epidemiologists
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-78652-0
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6531/eabd9338
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32153-X/fulltext
Alan Harrison
Businesses hope tougher COVID-19 measures will speed return to normal
I'm skeptical, because I don't think that the tougher measures are tough enough.
Desert Tortoise
There is no such data that I am aware of. All the studies I have seen say the current vaccines are effective against all strains of Covid -19 identified so far. Can you show us research, not speculation but actual research, that says otherwise?
Desert Tortoise
From where do you get this bizarre notion that Sweden and Texas are fine? Sweden's infection and death rates are the highest in Scandinavia. Texas infection and death rates are mid pack among US states but vastly greater than those of countries like Taiwan, South Korea or Japan. A lot of people in both Texas and Sweden died unnecessarily due to a stubborn resistance to taking social distancing measures and wearing masks.