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© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Fans to be barred from Paralympics
By STEPHEN WADE TOKYO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
39 Comments
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sakurasuki
Nothing strange about it, with current rising covid cases it even should be canceled.
https://japantoday.com/category/national/Number-of-severe-COVID-patients-in-Japan-hits-record-for-3rd-day-in-row
Kev James
THe right decision but how did it take so long to come to this? Why the hesitation?
as for crowds not gathering on the roads etc, good luck stopping that!
Asiaman7
Barring paying fans at venues elicits a sense of safety during a pandemic, but I question whether the JOC will then be filling those venue seats with non-working volunteers, like was done at the U.S. - Japan gold medal game in women’s basketball nine days ago?
Albert DeFilippo
They were barred from the regular Olympics too but many of my acquaintances showed me their photos of them and crowds of others around the Olympic stadium and village hoping to see some athletes. Something you won't see one TV.
Suga's word are as much listened to as his words about "state of emergency". Noone is listening and every place is packed with people.
So you have two choices. Listen to Mr. Suga or just go out and enjoy your life and pray for the best. Based on what I see, most all are going with the latter.
Mr Kipling
Good start.. Now add competitors, officials and the numerous "hangers on".
Yubaru
Once again, pushing an event down the people's throats, and at the same time, "urging" the public to stay home!
Another in a loooooonnnnnggggg line of head scratching declarations from the powers that be!
Antiquesaving
The mass delusion continues.
Still holding the event with cases at the level they are even with the ridiculously low testing to somehow pretend things are not as bad as they really are.
This was the same delusion that we had before the Olympics extremely low testing giving the illusion things were not so bad then even "officially" cases triple.
Now more illusion so we can what get a gold medal for quadrupling cases?
Jim
And we the sheeple are supposed to be grateful to govt for making this decision and say a big thank you???? (Sarcasm)!!
Antiquesaving
KentarogaijinToday 08:24 am JST?
Try reading the article first before commenting.
if you need help with the English someone here can.
shogun36
and the crowd goes mild.
one thing we can cheer about.
Now that the second “official announcement” has passed. We never have to hear this redundant garbage ever again.
shogun36
Oh, how convenient.
All the Japanese representatives in the meeting are women.
I guess the “men” had enough of taking the blame for this crap show already.
They decided to give all “the power” to the women for the lesser of the two “Lympics.”
Give women “equal power” and make them the “scapegoat” all at once, kill two birds with one stone, yet keep all the dirty tax money being wasted.
”geniuses…..”. (SMH)
Robert Cikki
Remember the 安全、安心? They forgot to mention that 安全、安心 without any spectators. It was cheaper to film the athletes in their home countries during a sporting event, compare the results, edit it and put it on TV. For the viewer, the effect would be the same.
bo
Well everyone is now back on the jam packed trains everyday so it would be silly to congregate after work or at events, wouldn't it, smh
mz16
I can't believe they were even considering having fans attend.
Phil
i think this was to be expected after no spectators at the Olympics and the surge in infections.
Why do they think it is OK to have children at the events, as reported in a number of other news outlets.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/08/57231f368834-paralympic-committee-chief-arrives-in-japan-for-tokyo-games.html
It appears to have “educational value”. In normal times this would be a good thing to do, but these are not normal times.
TheTruthIsOutThere
Probably this is not allowed by Japanse law. Are there enough medical equipment and doctors and nurses to take care of patients from a highly infectious disease ?
louisferdinandc
It’s surreal how much effort is put into blaming the Olympics - not saying public should be allowed, but at least there’s a zillion tests run on every non Japanese incoming participant- while literally every-single-day sports events like soccer and baseball matches are attended by 5,000 people, in smaller stadiums because of the attendance cap, which means people are even closer than usual in contradiction with the whole idea of limiting the number of fans. For instance 5,000 people in Yokohama F Marinos Nissan stadium of 80,000 capacity can could at least respect social distance rules, but if they play in a smaller stadium like last Saturday vs Oita then every seat is occupied.
I try to point at the moon, let’s not spend too much time on the finger.
Antiquesaving
TheTruthIsOutThereToday 09:49 am JST
If you need a better reason why Japan needs to loosen testing requirements read the following article
https://japantoday.com/category/politics/japan-pm-suga-inspects-covid-19-antibody-cocktail-treatment?comment-order=latest
Not mentioned is the fact it is only effective if started early, under Japan's restrictive testing this reduces the chance of it being effective as the treatment is started far later than if people know early on if they have covid.
TheTruthIsOutThere
I agree with you that Japan needs to test 10 times more to apprehend the situation. I never wrote that Japan was doing right with the pathetic number of tests done now.
And the antibody cocktail is just another show from the most incompetent government of a rich country.
Hello there
Not to sound rude, but are crowds rushing to see paralympians? There is so little media coverage that it seems the whole thing has already been swept under the rug anyways.
Fard
These athletes need the support.
Tokyoite
And yet, fans continue to attend J League, Baseball and even Fuji Rock, and go to work on packed trains.
Despite this, some will still claim the Paralympics and Olympics before it are the cause in the rise in cases, and so the problem persists.
PerformingMonkey
I had my doubts about that too.
Gaijinjland
Pointless. Yeah the paralympics are not as exciting. Watching disabled people in wheelchairs and prosthetic legs. But just with the Olympics, people are just going to gather in mass and watch from afar. Makes absolutely no difference in curbing the spread of the virus.
TheTruthIsOutThere
Japanese government is just useless.
Antiquesaving
TheTruthIsOutThereToday 01:26 pm JST
Next time perhaps a bit of context would be needed to avoid confusion.
I was really starting to wonder as one moment you seem to be on one side of the government the next the other side.
Thanks for the clarification.
kohakuebisu
A sensible decision, but still a highly regrettable outcome.
The blame lies with those who decided on 2021 and not later. It seems that that was the LDP and Abe for personal pride and electioneering purposes. The second year of the Spanish flu of 1919 was worse than the first, so there was a historical precedent which urged caution. This is what happens when politicians ignore experts.
gogogo
Just cancel, Bach has already made his money.
Ubesh
Spreading coronavirus is a sure way of increasing the profile of the paralympics.
Tokyoite
Exactly. How are they not being questioned about the 2022 option that was offered?
wanderlust
"The Olympics," Ozaki added, "is a festival and might have affected the people in ways to loosen up and served as an indirect cause of rising cases."
Starting to introduce and publicise the idea that holding the Olympics was a contributory factor to the higher rates of infection...
kurisupisu
The millions reading this on the trains and in the stations must be wondering must be wondering
starpunk
Suga has been a Sukkup to Bach and lost all credibility and valodity. His words should be ignored.
.'Just a few hundreds'?. That's what some idiotic Hitleresques Senato officials are daying. That's hundreds of lives more than what God allows.