Cloth mask deliveries to begin Friday under controversial Abe initiative

Cloth? Is the material microfabric? If just cloth, I have a better idea, for every household who gets this mask, give it back and exchange it for the ones the government issues to the police the N95 mask.

"Abenomask", wonderful. Humans are such smart@sses. (笑). Our institutions are failing us and I'm not certain how 'the people' are going to respond.

I live alone so I'll be wearing both of them for extra protection!

Thanks shinzy!

We're saved! And just in the nic of time to as this thing spreads to.....

It aims to complete delivery nationwide by the end of May.

Never mind.

46.6 billion yen.

Remember this later in the year when they're telling you to pay more tax because there's no money left.

I would love to know which of Abe's mates got the no-bid contract for this heist.

The 46.6 billion yen program - 100 million masks

That makes each mask worth ¥466? This guy has more money than sense!

Guarantee the next story you read related to Abenomasks will be about people stealing them from other people's mailboxes.

Nice one Abe san you know how to waste money don't you.

46.6 billion yen....sigh.

They mock the initiative as "Abenomask," a pun on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "Abenomics," his signature economic policy.

There are no words for the disdain I have for abenomask and his band of jesters..he is just a joke.

No-one with a scientific background on Abe's emergency committee?

Or even someone who understands the difference between the hole sizes in these masks and the size of virii, particles and aerosols, and what it means?

Just the usual oyaji, taking their turns to have some power and get money.

I closed my shop under your orders.

I pay a lot of taxes and social security.

I don’t want a mask! I want money in my hand, like you expect from me every few weeks.

Now you pay me back cash!

The fund should have been spent on the disinfectants to spray the streets like what they did in China or Vietnam.

Was this just something he thought of while eating his breakfast?

Apparently the masks are too small and don't fit properly:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200416/p2a/00m/0na/010000c

I would love to know which of Abe's mates got the no-bid contract for this heist.

There are various makers involved, it seems. It would be interesting to know who they are and where they're based.

For those who don't know, the Japanese equivalent to N95 is "DS" more specific "DS-2".

Sending mine back. My Chinese bought ones are fantastic and were cheap. ¥41 each. Got fifty. Came within 5 days. Arrived yesterday but Amazon said the 19th. Metal flexible band above the nose is perfect. My glasses are finally not fogging.

I notice that the guy in the photo is not wearing one.

WHO, despite their failings, stated a month ago in a report on masks and Covid19, and in referance to their effectiveness :

'cloth masks are to be considererd only as a measure of last resort.'

I really wish Abe would have found a better use for that money or that someone would have more strongly spoken out against the scheme.

Disclose the names of makers of the masks and who (governmental officials) ordered them and by what standard?

I thought for a second that those were a fresh consignment of JHS third grade English textbooks.

But I think that the masks will be of more practical benefit in stopping coronavirus than JHS English textbooks will be in teaching English.

That’s what we’re all worth in the eye of this government. 2 cloth masks talk about adding insult to injury

Cloth masks.

It' a whole lot better than nothing. Not as good as surgical masks, which are not as good as n-95 masks.

But better than nothing.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html

As I understand it, cloth does not protect the wearer as much as prevent the spread of virus-tainted droplets flaying outward.

Did you notice that it says two masks per household not per person? So if you have more than two people in your house, they're screwed.

It’s insulting to our intelligence. We are not that gullible Abe san.

Two points: One, do you know how much money this will cost tax payers? 46.6 billion yen! Is that right? Also, if you could think of the [least thing] to do to assist Japanese people due to CoronaVirus, wouldn't it be Abe san 2 masks per household brilliant plan?

many countries in europe are giving away free masks. so what exactly is the big deal here? more twitter-style outrage from armchair SJWs methink. if these masks can last six or more months, then they will easily have a great ROI for taxpayers.

Mine will be marked “Return to sender” and put straight back into the post box without a stamp!

Just waste of money. Let's send the mask back to Mr. Abe &  stop him making wee citizens fool!

Tom:

Today  05:14 pm JST

Sending mine back. My Chinese bought ones are fantastic and were cheap. ¥41 each. Got fifty. Came within 5 days. Arrived yesterday but Amazon said the 19th. Metal flexible band above the nose is perfect. My glasses are finally not fogging.

??? Two days ago you said you got them ‘yesterday’

Apr. 14  04:20 pm JST Posted in: Firms inventing high-quality masks to battle virus 

I ordered masks from China. Quality good. Got them under a week. Arrived yesterday but was told by an Amazon message the 19th. ¥41 each. Got fifty. Passing them out to people I see walking without one.

Still, quite a turnaround from your opinion just over a month ago:

Mar. 10  05:32 pm JST Posted in: Food deliverers split on whether to wear masks amid virus spread  See in context

Masks are a waste of time unless you are sick...and I do not think you should be delivering food if you are sick.

Two of my family members are doctors and others RN's. Masks are useless for protection. But work for stopping spreading the virus.

Can you guys stop blaming Abe though the buck stops with him, the whole idea of the mask is some bureaucrat in mhlw. He should have used his discretion and not over rely on bureaucrats.

All of you need to be more thankful that Japan's PM is thoughtful enough to provide protection from this deadly disease. You wouldn't find trump giving out life saving maskes to Americans would you? Abe is saving Japan.

ill be grateful for this mask if they dont take too much taxes.. sigh...

Does this man ever listen to the public?

I'm sending the masks I receive back to the government with a note asking to not waste tax payers' money. Masks should only be sent by requests from citizens.

Sadly for Abe, THIS will be his legacy, and one of laughter by everyone else. Unfortunately for us, it could have been a LOT of money going towards relief. Instead, we're paying for tiny gauze virus traps that will barely cover our mouths and maybe parts of our noses. I bet if we looked into it Abe has some vested interests in manufacturers.

I'll be paying my bills in masks from now on.

it would be interesting to know who they (the mask makers) are and where they're based

Yamaguchi-ken would be my bet...

These masks are a symbol of Japan’s inevitable decline...

I wear a mask for two reasons: 1. people think I’m taking the virus serious, 2. It gives the impression I’m serious about the virus. I also wash my hands constantly and stay away from people.

The moron Abe, who thinks two washable cloth masks will give this virus pause, will definitely ask the taxpayers (who just laid out 4 billion dollars) to pay more in consumption tax. He’s already shelled out 30 Billion dollars for the Olympics. Worst LDP president ever. Except for him and his friends.

Sending them strait back, I will not partake in this mockery.

If you send them back, pay our own postage.

I cannot believe this government. All they seem to do is sit on their fat behinds, draw fat paychecks and hold endless meetings and write reports. Two masks per household. Are we supposed to share them with our kids? Izakaya's in Tokyo are to close at 8PM. Corona is only active at night?

Germany has been testing for corona since January. Yes, China took a few days to wake up, but when they did, they dealt with it. Even Trump is holding public briefings about it.

But what is Abe doing?

Sitting at home, playing with his doggie while people are dying?

This is too much!

(Invalid CSRF)

 It aims to complete delivery nationwide by the end of May.

So does the virus.

Stay home and stop the spread.

ungrateful people /s

doesn't anybody feel the pain of the cabinet members

and their 20% salary pay cut due to to the pandemic

from 1,200,000 a month to 1,000,000

They are really feeling the pain of the average Japanese Taro and Hanako /s

Wonder how long before I starting wondering if they are edible

will foreigners get masks at least? we know we don't get any stimulus

I have already purchased masks and so have all the people I know, these are not needed so I also will be returning to sender.

I must say that I am really shocked with the actions of the Japanese government all in pretense to save the economy. However in the long run it will be more detrimental to our fragile economy. It has been shown that 80% of the population needs to be restricting movement for it to last up to 2 months japans goal is 70% which could be anywhere between 3 and 5 months before it is gone if we maintain the closure of schools and some businesses, currently we are not even close to reaching 60% which means it will continue indefinitely.

From a business view point this is not good for the economy. When other countries start to open up again Japan will not be on the list and people will not be able to enter or leave. which will be devastating to the tourism industry and other industries that rely on tourism. which will cascade on all other industries. Japan needs to change course and do it now before it is to late. 1 month of a proper lockdown with prosecution for people ignoring the rules, will probably be enough for japan to contain the virus. However the current course is going to cause more harm than good.

Funny that the postmaster inspects the cloth masks but does not wear one

Abe no mask...

https://cdn.japantimes.2xx.jp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/EUhcnV3UcAU3qGi.jpg

Look, I’ll take it. Before the emergency was announced in Tokyo, I had been teleworking for a month already. I had no family that I could send to the drugstore to hoard the masks that were there at the time. So whatever I had from influenza 2 years ago, I’m using now and down to my last 2. So could’ve been good if at least these masks were any good instead of a cloth that’s same as the hankeys that I already have. Feeling like the last gazelle in the herd with the lion closing in.

I think we can assume that many of these masks are going to be 'missing' from mail boxes. I'll be ready with my baseball bat when some punk tries to snatch my 2 masks.

In capitalism there are two things: capital and labor.

The people who want the economy restarted because of this are telling the laborers they need to put aside their health concerns, because the capitalists have lost the stream of capital.

So get to work laborers. We can't let the elite's income revenue go down, that's anti-capitalist.

So here’s the thong.

They say it takes about five to six days to get the results for pcr tests.

And you need to show symptoms for at least four days to get the test.

And it takes about two weeks for someone infected to actually show symptoms.

That adds up to 24 days at least, meaning the number of infected being reported everyday are actually the people who got infected more than three weeks ago.

And the government is taking measures based on those test results.

Meaning all of their measures are at least three weeks too late.

Worthless.

In capitalism there are two things: capital and labor.

Not sure work and survival can be directly tied to any particular economic system. People must work to survive. That was the case way before Adam Smith was born. History has shown that a capitalist system is much better at producing life saving products such as Abenomasks than Marxonomics ever could.

I’ll be glad to receive those mask. For personal use. Yes, it’s not the proper mask. But at least in some way it will protect you. Just continue staying at home , don’t leave unless necessary.

I work in the hospital and caring for those covid19 positive patients. We are only given I set of protection gear for the entire 12 hours of duty. Some employee are kind enough to make those cloth mask that all employees should use while in the hospital. So the n95 is just being used when entering the patient’s room. And is being reused the entire shift. The cloth mask offered to us is being returned every after duty so they will laundry them and can be used again.

That’s how bad the situation is on hospitals dealing covid patients. Already have colleagues who contracted the virus, but still we continue to serve because that’s our duty.

Each and everyone of us can contribute on how we can eradicate this virus. As simple as staying at home and washing your hands regularly would do.

Be safe guys..

No Thank You,

We'll take the 100,000 Yen instead, and please hurry because things are slowly getting worse.

Let me guess, it's either Mr. Abe is heavily vested in this company, or the CEO paid a some members of the parliament a bonus. one of the two Guaranteed.

That makes each mask worth ¥466? This guy has more money than sense!

Of course he does, it’s an affliction of rich kids whose parents were rich kids.

People must work to survive.

Not if you own the means of production, you don't.

Not if you own the means of production, you don't.

Ownership requires labor. Anyone can own the means of a portion of the overall economic production if they choose to take the risks inherent in the pursuit and are willing to work twice as much as people who would prefer an office or retail job.

And anyone who has investments such as a 401k, IRA, or stocks are also owners of the means of production.

Ownership requires labor.

Incorrect. But if you’re willing to abolish all inheritance, I’m willing to listen.

Anyone can own the means of a portion of the overall economic production if they choose to take the risks inherent in the pursuit and are willing to work twice as much as people who would prefer an office or retail job.

Actually, it’s the people who are already wealthy that get to take these risks, because they have a support network to rely on. Your woeful naïveté is, sadly, a mark not only of religious dogma but also of intellectual incuriosity. Do relieve yourself of these dual faults at your earliest convenience.

Not sure work and survival can be directly tied to any particular economic system.

Then why are the capitalists pushing to re-open the economy, over doing the socially responsible thing of quarantining while the virus is managed?