As coronavirus cases in Tokyo surge, gov't gives expert advisory panel a makeover

They can make it over as much as they want, but it wont change the facts that Abe's government is lost.

Yes agreed there

Panel of experts = Panel of useless drones.

Nonetheless, Japan has so far avoided the explosive coronavirus outbreak seen elsewhere by leaning on the advice of an ad hoc group of disease experts, such as Hokkaido University Professor Hiroshi Nishiura, who called for drastically curtailing social interaction and business.

Mr Nishiura is not an official member of the expert panel. His SIR model failed to predict the pattern in Japan, now come under criticism.

I'm surprised that Shinya Yamanaka is allowing the government to use him like a pawn. They must have promised him a boat load of research money for this gig. The others are not medical experts and their expertise is not needed. Much like Peter Navaro giving Trump advice. He is a trade specialist, but Trump trusts him above Dr. Fauci!

It's actually funny the government have a story that experts don't agree with so the government sack those experts get new experts reduce testing to reduce results and even then the number of people infected rises. But that's not how the LDP want this to be. It's regrettable and I urge all of you to suck it up but don't go anywhere near me or a LDP politician.

"But amid tumbling corporate sentiment, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura disbanded the group last week and pledged to reassemble it with members from various specialties including economists."

Get ready for Japan to be hit like it luckily was not the first time around.

The ‘experts’ haven’t ended the virus.

The second wave won’t be dictated to either...

Is this like a ‘Queer Eye’ makeover?

If so, I’ll pay to watch this, especially if Aso is involved.

But amid tumbling corporate sentiment, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura disbanded the group last week and pledged to reassemble it with members from various specialties including economists. The expert group, under the four new advisers, has not yet been identified.

Thats' a joke. Panel advising on managing a serious health crisis should be formed primarily of Health experts, not yes men and economists

a Nobel-prize winning geneticist, an artificial intelligence expert and a cardiologist 

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke

Nobel-prize winning geneticist + AI expert + cardiologist = infection control = money

With new coronavirus cases in Tokyo surging to a two-month high, Japan faces the prospect of a second wave without the experts who tackled the first phase of the epidemic.

just how exactly did they tackle the pandemic? they didn't do squat. the prefectural governors were the ones who showed real leadership and declared SOEs in their respective prefectures, even facing criticism from the central gov in the case of the Hokkaido governor, so excuse me if I don't worry, much less panic, that the "experts" are not around to lead the pack into running around in circles.

First measure, close the hostess bars/snacks/karaoke bars.

I think the group of advisors should come from a broad range of expertise, given the complex nature of the problem. But, surely an infectious disease expert and an epidemiologist should at least have a seat at the table.

This must be mind boggling for the geniuses who think the govt is keeping the number of new cases down by keeping number of tests low

Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a physician who has served a variety of government posts and chaired a commission on the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

lol, a LDP yes man per chance......

Instead a new panel comprising a Nobel-prize winning geneticist, an artificial intelligence expert and a cardiologist will advise the government, as Japan seeks to revitalize its recession-hit economy.

Its not so much what these people’s job titles are, more where their allegiances lie.

Musical chairs as Japan is always apt to do.

To summarize this article: The Japanese government only wants yes-men in its panel of so-called experts. They are choosing to ignore the advice of university professors just to keep Nippon Kaigi going at the expense of hundreds of new cases every day.

This isn't the second wave; this is a continuation of the first wave. The second wave will come after the first wave subsides world wide, not just in some safety island nation that doesn't test.

In past pandemics the second wave doesn't come a few weeks after the governments decide the first wave is done; it comes a year or so after the pandemic appears to peter out. Then, it roars back. People, who think all is well, lower their guard (no masks, no social distancing).

As for the new advisory group, its focus will not be on disease control as seen in this sentence:

Japan seeks to revitalize its recession-hit economy.

No need for a contagious disease expert on a panel that is trying to figure out how to improve Japan's economy; just LDP yes-men who will suggest more government funding for LDP-favored industries/companies.

chaired a commission on the Fukushima nuclear disaster

> four new advisers, has not yet been identified.

> Kurokawa, leader of the new board, did not respond to a request for comment.

> government request was not the only consideration when deciding whether to inform the public about asymptomatic transmission

Those made my eyebrows go like ー＿.

I mean I'm rather disappointed at the govt.

Oh dear, Abe really has no clue, does he...?

Why would it need a make over? If this is the beginning of using pictures and using crayons for color coding, then I understand. The use of numbers was way to easy to view the lies. By using color coding and drawing animal cartoons the Japanese Government ~ which includes Koike san, can confuse and hamper the truth. A kind of DonaldTrumpism kind of a thing. Is that right?

led by Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a physician who ... chaired a commission on the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Oh, right, because we got that little hiccup under control really quickly, didn't we?

Governments are going to have to fully understand comprehend the difference between clear guidelines and polices when populating/assembling these so-called expert panels to advise on tasking best practices to deal/end this pandemic.    

I am referring to judging people expectations. Defining a non-mandatory recommendation and detailing policies into formalized public statements applicable to a sector/ task.

The economic devastation this pandemic has wrecked on people livelihood, has in honesty yet to be fully realized. There are risks involved, people must be told all the facts so decisions can be made.  

Cannot have it both ways. No best of both world to be had here.

YubaruToday  06:51 am JST

They can make it over as much as they want, but it wont change the facts that Abe's government is lost.

So true and the worst part of that is you not knowing it or not taking proper action.

Helmsman: I believe the ship is off course, captain.

Captain: No, it isn't but I've got the cook and the laundry guys working on a new course anyway.

They used the word "experts" a lot here. So far, I haven't read anything reassuring.

Wearing a mask protests other people, to not wear one is to signal you don't care.

or maybe you cannot breathe in the 100 percent summer humidity.

@Tokyo M

 and people who look non-Japanese

Exactly what I am saying here many times!

But I got many complains here.

Look at the picture! If I see it correctly, who is not wearing a Mask??? The foreign guy!

Meaningless dribble coming out the side of the mouth of the govt,.

Close the hostess bars / night clubs / karoke bars / pachinko parlors , keep social distancing in eating establishments / enforce hand washing / wear masks / encourage reduction of movement on public trasnport as much as practical / keep teleworking for workers / do this and watch the infection numbers reduce.

Dont need a panel or study group or some other group of silly fools , just some basic common sense guidelines .

"First measure, close the hostess bars/snacks/karaoke bars."

You Sir, win the internet this day!

Wow, that girl is healthy.

No one seems to care about deaths anymore, because if they did, no one would be making a fuss about a rise in asymptomatic detected cases.

Detected cases depend completely in testing capabilities, and it is never going to give you numbers near the real ones, but excess deaths do not lie. In fact excess deaths is how influenza deaths are calculated for each flu season.

Excess deaths raised back in April, and now they are back to normal, with no apparent rise at all.

But the media and politicians only seem to want to continue to exploit fear as much as posible.

Wearing a mask protests other people, to not wear one is to signal you don't care.

What a load of monkey droppings! Masks do nothing to stop the spread of the virus in the general population. It is only healthcare staff who are constantly exposed to the virus that need to wear them and, they wear 12x medical masks that are changed every 30 minutes or so.

That's why the government Abe only think about money and economy and never think about people of Japan citizen safety. If he still doing stupid thinking I'm sure he will lose his seat and quit as a President. Make an example from other Asia country Malaysia as you seen they had been lockdown about 2 months as today about 97% people had recovered. Can President Abe follow Malaysia what they do and make Japan more safety?

gov't gives expert advisory panel a makeover

It should read experts give gov't a makeover.

Get rid of them first.

Just announced, 120+ new casese today in Tokyo.

Japan faces the prospect of a second wave without the experts who tackled the first phase of the epidemic.

What did the experts of the first phase really do except narrate the government narrative that Japan was holding well against the virus and there was no overshoot. All the while not advocating or pressing the government to increase. Testing widely is the 101 of containing any pandemic. Unfortunately here. the image of the country is more important than truly tackling the virus.

@Do the hustle.

“CDC recommends that people wear a cloth face covering to cover their nose and mouth in the community setting. This is an additional public health measure people should take to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in addition to (not instead of) social distancing, frequent hand cleaning and other everyday preventive actions.”

Tokyo confirmed 107 more infections on Thursday,

More than 90% of the population believe the daily numbers of infections shown, So many people where in shock learning that infections had climbed to triple digits. It goes to show the government succeeded with the help of the mainstream media and the bunch of so called experts the channels call to sing how wonderful japan has contained the virus and fan nationalism.

*Just announced, 120+ new casese today in Tokyo*

Really troubling.

Osaka, kobe and other major cities with night entertainment districts like Tokyo have decided to adopt the Iwate model of reporting zero cases and giving their people a false assurance that infections are limited to Tokyo. While Tokyo is giving the false impression that infections are limited to the entertainment establishments and so far as you don't visit them you are save. All these due to the lack of testing and utter lack of willingness to tack the virus even if it means, the number of infections skyrockets, the most important thing is minimizing death and keeping the death rate low.

This headline is way too generous to the government. I feel like a more accurate headline would be something closer to "As coronavirus cases surge, government backpedals and chooses to ignore all previous emergency benchmarks."

How long has it been. Been many months now since all this started but it seems there are still many who are clueless about how facemasks help in mitigating the spread of infection.

Pathetic.

i came to the conclusion that the simple act of wearing a mask is sending a subconscious signal to my body that my immune system is not capable of dealing with the virus which would in turn increase my chances of getting sick. add to that, the fact that masks cause headaches, hypoxia, build up co2 levels and acts as a barrier to prevent the immune system from getting regular exposure to the pathogens needed for a robust constitution, and masks are a net negative for me.

While I get your bro-science bro, I'll stick with real-science myself.