Record 327 daycare centers in Japan shut due to pandemic

Really sad. I do understand that it's kind of a dilemma between the safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and that's alright. But I do appreciate the work of daycare centers for adults and children alike. I'm 29 and autistic. When I was a child and early teens, I spent my mum's shift work hours at a daycare center where I did drawings and painted. It creates a safe environment and helps mental health in a great deal.

I truly regret this black-and-white decision, which I understand. But I regret it because it's just another sign that the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide will leave deep scars in our mental health, whether we are autistics (or have other disorders) or not.

Stay safe.

A sore throat, a runny nose?

Is that not what Omicron is?

Judging by the symptoms then why are these closures happening?

Kids at daycare centers have coughs and colds a lot of the time,right?

No!

There is no reason to do anything other than lead a normal life as Omicron is not a significant threat.

No!

There is no reason to do anything other than lead a normal life as Omicron is not a significant threat.

Before spread of omicron practically noone was dying.

Yesterday there were17 reported.

So many idiots downplaying

My kid's daycare closed last week due to someone testing positive. And no surprise, we all got it a couple of days later...

If they keep closing for 10 days every time there's a positive case though, it's going to be rough going for working parents.

R.T.,

For one, kids don't wear masks at daycare. Also, you probably don't have to wipe your coworkers' noses (and other body parts) all day. So yeah, it's a bit different.

all companies are working and employees are commuting to work every day, because that's life and that's what adults do

No, there are situations when they don’t, earthquake, tsunami, Fukushima radiation. Or do you still happily commute and work in such other threatening situations? I guess no. And that’s why other adults, those working in daycare centers for example, decided for themselves to close the facilities, because they consider their situations at the workplace threatening at the moment, for themselves and for the children and their parents, when they all gather morning and late afternoon etc

R.T., then what do you propose if a kid or worker tests positive? Let everybody and their families get infected?

At our children's daycare, they had a positive kid last week. They closed the day care for two days, disinfected, did close contact tracing, and then reopened. It was a huge inconvenience for me and my wife, but far better than getting infected, missing work for two weeks, closing the office for disinfection, etc.

"...Before spread of omicron practically noone was dying.

Yesterday there were17 reported.

So many idiots downplaying..."

@Ian that simply isn't true....the 7 day average deaths is currently around 12.....in September the 7 day average was as high as 113 and in Feb last year it was just under 100 at around 96 at it's peak......unfortunately people die all the time, the current death rate of this variant, while absolutely heart breaking for families involved, is nothing extraordinary. It isn't unusually high, if anything it's unusually low when compared to the highest ever infection rate. The cycles of shutdowns is not the answer, we have successful vaccines and medicines now to combat the virus, it's time to get back to living.

Just as they would do if any worker gets infected anywhere else. Each worker should measure his body temperature in the morning, if they have a fever, stay home until they figure out if they're infected. If they are infected, they quarantine, and life moves on. Simple.

At least at my office, my wife's office, and my friends office, if somebody tests positive, they do trace contact, close the office to disinfect for a few days, then people other than close contacts are allowed back. Same with the day care.

And don't forget that the current wave of omicron is transmitted a lot through schools, so they are extra careful with that. You can tell people at the office to wear masks and keep social distance, it doesn't work with 2 year olds

A reminder from Oct 8, 2021: Policy Speech by PM KISHIDA Fumio to the 205th Session of the Diet: “Here at the opening, I extend my sincere condolences to all the people …I also express my profound gratitude to the many people providing the support for our nation’s medical, health, and nursing facilities, the business owners cooperating with our measures to counter the virus, and the members of the public.”

“It is against that backdrop that I was recently designated as the nation’s 100th prime minister.”

I am resolved to invest all my heart, mind, and strength to overcome this national crisis together with the Japanese people,... The second pillar is enlarging the middle class and addressing the declining birth rate.

“We will also provide support for families with small children.”

 We will promote support for child-rearing by preparing childcare arrangements, strengthening cooperation among day care centers, kindergartens, and elementary schools, and expanding the after-school childcare system and preparing the environment for it to be used, among other initiatives. We will examine what government administration should look like from the viewpoint of children and make that a reality.

The third pillar is increasing the incomes of those working at facilities providing medical nursing, elderly care, childcare services and the like. 

https://japan.kantei.go.jp/100_kishida/statement/202110/_00005.html

(A free link, no fees or subscription required.)

@Sheikh Yerboaby

My comment was directed to people who keeps saying "no threat"

I'm sure your analysis was well considered but before the spread of omicron there was a significant stretch of period where deaths were very low.

You also very well know I assume that the low infection mortality rate of omicron can easily be negated by sheer number of cases becauee of its very high infection rates, potentially leading to number of deaths comparable to that of delta and other variants

Makes sense to me, definitely one of the biggest vectors of infection and it is only a temporary closing, not a permanent shuttering. Being near that many children is a surefire way of getting sick when there isn't a pandemic going on.

Especially considering more people are presumably working from home anyway to begin with, should really not be an issue. Kind of surprised this wasn't the case already for most schools.

Spot on, Virusrex!

Kurisupisu: Mate are you for real. Runny nose and cough and bit of a temp. That what happens when the person is fully vaccinated or up to date with the vaccination as the health experts contracted by Governments had been advising. Non vaccinated will die. As they are infected and dying they are causing health workers and their work place to be unsafe and huge disruptions to they usually work load. This continues throughout the community infecting non vaccinated children under 5 and guest what those children go to day care and infect others like the carers. Hence day care centres have to close down. All of this is public knowledge not government or non vaccers propaganda. It’s is your own stupidity if you choose not to take on this information and this information has been consistent since COVID pandemic started.

@Addfwyn

I guess you mustn't have children to say something like this...

Our kindergarten is close this week due to coronavirus, my daughter is 1 year and 3 months old. I am a freelance, so I usually work from home. But with my daughter around, it is simply impossible to work as she is not old enough to play alone, and it would be dangerous to let her alone. I also need to prepare her meals (that she would have taken at the kindergarten otherwise), and get her out to play.

So this just became a lost week for me, trying to catch up as much as possible during nap and after 6:30pm when she's sleeping.

So yes, having kindergarten close is a huge headache, being a working at home person or not.

That also means thousands of parents can not go to work. Is the government of this self-proclaimed ‘rich country’ going to give financial support to these families? Highly unlikely!

John San

You really think the healthy, under 80 non vaccinated are at a high risk of dying from Omicron? Please check the stats for this variant.

They can’t seem support, though, because it’s not actually a state of emergency and is there choice to close dow .

Japan: Have more babies every one!

Every one: They just shut down and closed our day care centers because of corona.

Japan: Don't go to work! Take care of your kids!

Businesses: workers, take parental leave. you will not get paid.

Every one: Can we get government money to help us stay at home?

Japan: Can't, we gave all the money to restaurants and bars to stay closed...................

Ahh, the wonderful priorities of Japan.

What a horrible misguided decision.

This virus is not letting up, and it is not likely to go anywhere! Just when the governments think they have it under control it morphs to something different.