Nearly all prefectures shut schools over virus outbreak

"According to the Ehime prefectural government, the woman, who works for a local bank, is not displaying symptoms such as a fever or coughing. She visited a music venue in Osaka in mid-February, where a few others had tested positive for the virus."

But we're gonna tell what music venue or on what date.

Also, "a few others tested positive for the virus?"

How many is a few? This hasn't been on the news in Osaka.

Abe is trying to save his Olympics. Nope. Too late.

monthly maximum of 52,800 yen ($488) to 264,000 yen 

While this increase is great, it doesn't do anything to combat the standing issue. There are not enough daycare centers to send children to so what does an increased maximum do when you can't find a place?

As predicted, McDonald's was PACKED today with junior high and high school students as well as a few elementary kids with their moms. Convenience stores, to my surprise, had 7 or 8 kids crowded around a three chair space in their "food corners", all watching one or two kids playing games, hanging off each others shoulders, and at McDonald's licking their fingers as they share fries. And of course the parks are full, too. Great job, Abe!

So, if I am reading this correctly, they are mostly testing those are suspected of been in places where another infected person was, and they are coming up mostly positive.

And this lady had no symptoms! Yet, she is a carrier. Are they going to test all the customers who visited the bank? What of the thousands of others with symptoms, who can't get tested???

As Tora asks, did the woman in Ehime ask herself to be tested and have it granted because she was at the venue identified as the source of infections?

Contaminated yens, yes the virus can be spread by money

Thanks Educator60!!

My bad.

Just watching the Osaka news. They aren't saying what live house in Osaka or how many people infected. You would think they would be telling people who had been there to self isolate especially if they have symptoms.

My Kindergarten and daycare centre, where I work in Japan, is open as usual and has no plans to close.

Either the authorities here are so inept that they are not able to properly warn the people or this is part of an agenda to allow the virus to spread

Many private schools are forcing the teachers to come to school even when the school has been closed for the students. The private Kinder Gartens are still on. Crazy stupid ways to play with teachers' health for no reason at all..

Just follow the guidelines and reduce your risk of getting sick (not only from COVID-19) by 95%:

1) Wash hands often

2) Don't touch your face with unwashed hands

3) Stay away from infected people (and everyone if close contact is not necessary)

4) Avoid poorly ventilated places with many people

5) Treat your clothes as contaminated. They should be washed in very hot (80C) water or with 0.1% diluted Clorox bleach. (That comes out to 0.0024% chlorine concentration) Hanging clothes outside to dry exposes them to fresh air and sunlight which will weaken or 'kill' viruses. (I hesitate to say kill since viruses are not living things)

6) When you must go out do so off-hours

It's OK to go outside, fresh air weakens viruses.

Teachers still need to go to their empty schools everyday! Why!?

I still cannot understand this policy. Can someone please explain it to me?

The other thing the media should report is that the students who have to stay in their houses do not have enough study for all subjects they must learn. Due to PM's sudden request, school teachers are so confused that they cannot prepare suitable amount of homework or materials for self study long enough to cover approximately a month. Furthermore, every student might not necessarily study for themselves like they do in their regular school days, so I'm really concerned that students' motivation and their skills can deteriorated unpredictably. Also, the second year students in high school are supposed to take a newly changed national entrance exam, thus they will lag behind for a month to prepare for that, though the situations are same to most of high schools.

I think the name of the music venue visited by the Ehime woman is Osaka Kyoubashi 'ARC' Live House located in Toshima-ku, Osaka-shi...

As noted above, the venue was Live House Arc, in Osaka. The Ehime woman becomes the fourth concert-goer out of a total of 100 to test positive. Photos and more info here: https://note.com/gekiura/n/nad525081c261

Paul: "My Kindergarten and daycare centre, where I work in Japan, is open as usual and has no plans to close."

Of course it won't. They need babysitters now more than ever. I mean, if the government were actually SERIOUS that the closure of schools and suggestion kids stay home (with no enforcement) and it were not just political since Abe was being grilled about his ineptitude, they would not be putting babies at risk. Instead, they're probably grouping kids at such places more than ever as parents struggle to deal with Abe's stupidity. I mean, he can only make parents SO angry... closing nursery schools would be the final straw of inconvenience.

When speaking of this in the future the root cause should not be forgotten

https://nypost.com/2020/02/29/china-officials-knew-of-coronavirus-in-december-ordered-cover-up-report-says/

Richard-san,

Clearly, you do not live in Japan. HOT water is a dream. It's all cold water here. "5) Treat your clothes as contaminated. They should be washed in very hot (80C) water" is a dream.

HOT water is a dream. It's all cold water here.

Cold and hot water is available for the ex-pats, freezing ass cold water is available for the gaijin. :D

5) Treat your clothes as contaminated. They should be washed in very hot (80C) water or with 0.1% diluted Clorox bleach. (That comes out to 0.0024% chlorine concentration) Hanging clothes outside to dry exposes them to fresh air and sunlight which will weaken or 'kill' viruses. (I hesitate to say kill since viruses are not living things)

If I hang clothes outside to dry today, they will still be wet the following week.

And the week after. Probably until May, in fact.

Medical staff always use Cold water to wash hands - common sense really. Hot water opens the pores in your skin, and therefore makes infection a whole lot quicker... Medical Class 101 stuff.

Clothes are not hands though are they?

@ Richard

I totally agree with your comment could those who don’t please bequeath is with thy knowledge, ta very much.

wash your hands more people, it a no brained, but not in ikea yesterday no other male did while I was 4-7 men in 2 minutes span. Ridiculous

All these restrictive measures contribute to maintain fear and make believing the virus can be anywhere at anytime. All countries are in the same trend.

If no clear outbreak like Wuhan, some cities in Iran or Northern Italy, what is the need ? Will it really slow the spread ?

Yea, but will not stop it.

Taking simple hygienic measures that make sense should be enforced, not restricting life movement if no local outbreak.

My coworker will not take the Shinkansen next week, canceling a business trip but will still go for an overseas business trip, with long flying hours. So it makes no sense to me , like all the restrictive measures

Medical staff always use Cold water to wash hands—mmwkdw

No they don’t! I don’t know where you are referring to. I worked in a large ICU unit here in SoCal for 9 years and in public health for over 20 years and never heard that. Water should be at least 38C to help remove grime and oils that allow pathogens to adhere to skin surfaces, and also allow soap to work more effectively. 38C is a public health minimum temp used around the US, whether in a hospital or food service or otherwise. Although I saw many old school MDs forget to wash hands after visiting each patient.

Serrano:

...freezing ass cold water is available for the gaijin.

I must have missed that setting. :)

Thank you @Educator60. Considering the severity of this virus, we need to make absolutely sure that we have the right information, before acting like this. Because if we were to get it wrong, it would risk even more people getting infected, and then people would be blamed simply for that.