Diamond Princess quarantine critic says Tokyo Olympics should be halted

This doctor is just an infectious disease expert. What does he know. (Sarcasm)

It's a farce that the Olympics will go on as planned. The faster Japan Inc can accept that fact the faster they can propose another date, perhaps a year, to hold the games.

Oh look, a grown up. An expert in infectious disease should be listened to, authorities that ignore them will have blood on their hands.

But soon there will some who will call into account his qualifications and state the he is only looking for publicity and he is not the right person to speak on this topic. But if not him, then who?

Sadly I think it's going to take an Olympic athlete or two to catch the virus before there is any serious consideration given to postponing the games.

A number of athletes have commented that it is ludicrous for them to keep on training and preparing for the games during this pandemic, and if Abe is truly looking to put the athletes welfare first, then it's a not brainer to postpone!

The government won't like this.

Calling a spade a spade is decried in this country even here kn Japan.

His lab will have difficulties getting funding from the government.

Last time it looked like they got to him and made him pull his video but now this... interesting, it’s a refreshing change to read logical comments coming from anyone but from a professional on the subject give me hope for Japan’s future. Give this man a top job at the ministry of health!!!!

Although many of us have shown the shared the same opinion here now a true Japanese expert in this field has spoken in a direct and straight forward way.

Kentaro Iwata, a professor of infectious disease at Kobe University, said on his blog on Thursday that it's not clear that the outbreak in Japan will have subsided by the planned start of the Games in July. Also, the flood of foreign visitors could exacerbate the spread of the disease, known as COVID-19.

I am pretty sure none of us here have Dr. Iwata's credentials and expertise and is is nice to hear some of our thoughts being reinforced. I hope his words gain traction internationally.

This man should be the man chosen to head up the fight against this virus in Japan; not the existing politicians who studied economics or some other unrelated subjects.

I actually think the disease is all over the world like a common cold that the Olympics might as well be held.

I agree with Tom

Of course it should be cancelled. The sooner the better too - so time, focus, and resources can be spent on the more serious problem at hand.

It's becoming clearer to me that the Japanese government and the IOC are just waiting to see who blinks first. I would guess that whoever makes the decision to cancel or postpone will become liable for all the associated costs that taking such an action will incur.

To me, that is the only logical conclusion as to why the Japanese government is continuing to spout 'business as usual', when actually holding the Olympics this summer would be absolute insanity.

All plans have started to be rolled out for our local leg of the torch relay next week. Notices of road closures set up, big posters and banners advertising the event. Nothing saying 'please stay at home and refrain from a mass public gathering' in sight - or for that matter on the local city office website.

The dream of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 is fading with each passing day.

Iwata said that bureaucrats, and not infectious disease professionals, were running the quarantine, and that basic protocols on zoning and the use of protective gear were not followed.

In other words, the inmates in charge of the asylum...

I'm sure the doctors in whatever advisory committee Abe has have the same advice. Unfortunately the perspective from the doctors would only be one of many they will consider.

If possible, spring or autumn in 2021 is much better. Ms.Ikee will be able to revive.

FULLY AGREE, OLYAMPICS SHOULD NOT BE IN 2020. THATS IT. Killing humans to gain what ???.

By the way, more than 70% of patients of DM have already been recovered at 6 pm on March 18.

Infected : 712

Recovered : 551

Cancel and use the facilities built to treat the infected.

Thank you Dr. Iwata.

Japan think games are going ahead ?

Hahah !!

As a last ditch effort to save the Olympics, Japan will announce some drastic measures next week. Be prepared for the news.

"Diamond Princess quarantine critic..."

Or you could also call him what he actually is: a renowned professor of infectious disease, who was spot on with his criticism. In fact, after more than likely being forced to say the situation was not bad after his video went viral (pun intended), the government had to admit many of the things he said were true, and their claims that the handling of the Diamond Princess quarantine was perfect, were in fact false. Now he is once again letting it be known how wrong the government is, and no doubt they will come on and say the Games will be perfect and should go on, and the doctor is wrong, it's all "under control", "just the flu", etc. Then in a couple of weeks they'll do a Trump-like 180 and claim that they never said what they said, and that the Games should be postponed -- like it was their idea, etc.

Can you imagine half way through the games and one athlete got infected? Then are they going to cancel the games halfway or continue and risk spreading even more? Don't start if you are not sure.

Another voice speaking out against the Games, this time a very knowledgeable one.

I think it's a matter of when, not if, the Games get moved or cancelled.

@kokontozai

By the way, more than 70% of patients of DM have already been recovered at 6 pm on March 18.

Which is on part with statistic as more than 80% of these people were tested positive at least 1 month prior and the recovery time is usually 6 week at most even for critical case. Good for them. Hope the rest follow suit soon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019#Prognosis

Unfortunately the economic cost of covid19 has made the pushing thru of the Olympics even more necessary for Japan.

The only way it could possibly happen is if the infection is controlled and ultimately stopped.

The government wants the Olympics to push through so they must be doing everything in their power to make it happen.

To suggest that they are just ignoring the infection and wishing for it to go away is simply lunacy.

@ Tom and Steve M

“I actually think the disease is all over the world like a common cold that the Olympics might as well be held.”

it’s an interesting concept you raise which should maybe be considered, kind of like a short cut to thinking.

By now, nobody really believes the Olympics will happen. But they need another 6 weeks of meetings to finally get the seating chart down before they can call it off. The people involved are afraid to meet due to the risk of Kung-Flu. ;)

We outsiders don't know about the 4 yr planning cycle for the next games. There are lots of issues around rescheduling. How do they determine qualifying teams for sports that have a 2-yr cycle to qualify?

What happens inside the IOC with only 3 yrs of planning? There's a reason the games always happen in August. Shifting to any other time of the year will lower viewer counts. With billions already spent, there won't be any refunds on that, but ticket holders will demand refunds. Companies who haven't paid anything already, will not honor their contracts if the games don't happen. There must be 50K contracts that need to be checked.

They want to have a plan before they say, "cancel" or "shifted 1-year."

Yep it's just a common cold. Right.

Since when do a pecentage of people who recover from the common cold potentially have scarred lung tissue that will certainly shorten their lives? And since when does a common cold kill 2% of its victims?

If it's a common cold then tell me why entire continents are closing down and why markets have tanked around the world ?

Tokyo 2020 will be postponed or canceled, no two ways about that. It can never be held as scheduled. Many athletes have not qualified yet, and the qualifying competitions are either canceled or postponed. You can't tell Athletes to keep training for the games while you tell all others to stat at home. Individual athletes can continue training but how about team sports players? When do they train? At a time when all team sports are suspended. Tokyo 2020 is doomed. I feel sorry for Tokyo and Japan but public health first.

Bureaucrats do not listen to experts. I know.

Having Olympics NEXT YEAR 2021 would be even better . I bet to push it this year is IOC idea $$

dumb idea at this time

that would actullay make sense

just hope everything is ok

Wow, I am finally seeing a Japanese expert who is truly a voice of reason. More real experts like Professor Iwata should speak up and influence Abe and the company for the sake of Japanese people. Too often, media only covers those so called experts who just repeat government propaganda like parrots.

It looks obvious that is all about the money. Check DW article.

https://www.dw.com/en/tokyo-2020-what-happens-if-coronavirus-causes-the-olympics-to-be-canceled/a-52826826

and another very interesting article on EUObserver.

Why would some government not report on the coronavirus?

https://euobserver.com/opinion/147776

Postpone until the end of the year or until next year. The damage has been done already, the number of visitors will be much lower than expected.