Ani comments

The fact that such a question is even being asked publicly is a sign of how bad the situation is around the world. Under "normal" circumstances, just the thought of finding any number of deaths being "acceptable" would be horrendous. But these are not normal circumstances and health workers around the world are having to make these impossible decisions every hour, every day, for weeks and months at a stretch. The sad reality is that while this happens, politicians in many countries are arriving (secretly or openly) at "acceptable death counts" based not just on the economic factors, but more on the consequences of their actions/choices on their own political futures. Most of the discourse in political circles about economics centers around the long term impact of decisions taken now on the political ramifications in the future. And that is why the crisis has gone completely out of control in so many countries. Japan may be looking at a very bleak future if the country's leaders don't step up to this challenge and take decisive action, without thinking about saving their own careers or protecting other vested interests... The true cost of human life being lost at such a global scale can never be accurately calculated. Only time will tell what is the wider impact of this unprecedented crisis on human society. My view is that this is one of those once in a millennium events that is changing the world forever. Economic numbers and job losses will be overwhelmed by the unfathomable social turbulence that we are all hurtling towards.

The biggest problem in Japan is the complete absence of independent reporting. When you combine that with a population that rarely, if ever, openly questions what the "news" networks dish out, you end up with a deadly concoction of lies and cover-ups. If there was ever a time for Japan's media to take a stand and do some serious & unbiased journalism, this is that time. Unless and until that happens, nothing will change.

Meanwhile, the Association of Coronavirus Infected Droplets (ACID) has agreed to also pause its activities in the country to abide by the Governor's request. The official spokesperson of ACID has said it will resume normal operations from Monday, like the rest of the population of Japan.

These mistakes are not because of specific individuals. The fault rests with the leadership. To mitigate risks, policies and frameworks must be clearly defined and communicated to those responsible for enforcing them. Otherwise, under pressure, even the most experienced frontline staff can make mistakes. A sorry state of affairs indeed... :(

Fast forward to 6 months later... Japan "analyzes" the situation and finds "inadequacies" in the way the coronavirus crisis was handled. The people responsible call a press conference, make a statement of apology, bow for 60 seconds and leave the room. They continue to hold on to their jobs with no legal or social consequences. End of story. Life moves on. The country looks forward to enjoying the autumn colours and counts down to Olympics 2021.

They seem to be crawling towards declaring the emergency that would allow a total lock-down.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-japan-headquarters/japan-to-set-up-coronavirus-hq-possible-step-to-emergency-declaration-media-idUSKBN21D0A1

And here come the skeletons... tumbling out of the corner closet. The coming days and weeks will make it very clear how poorly Japan has handled this crisis...

Delaying the Games was the right decision. Hosting an event that celebrates human resilience and capability while thousands are sick or dying around the world would have made everyone associated with the event look cruel and selfish. No doubt this will cause a lot of problems in terms of logistics, but even so, human life must come ahead of any global event. All we can do at this stage is hope that the coronavirus situation comes under control much sooner than next year. Fingers crossed.

Despite the negativity surrounding the situation in Japan, for our own sake, I do hope Japan does not have to go through the chaos that many other countries are going through now. This is one time I hope that all the decision makers who many of us thing screwed up, actually didn't and the calls they made turn out to be the right ones. Because a catastrophic health crisis is the last thing this country needs at the moment. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but time will tell.... fingers crossed. Hoping that everyone stays safe and we can all get through this stressful phase as a united world.

This is Japan's idea of "Social Distancing"?? God help this nation...

Have these so-called experts completely lost their minds? It would be very interesting to see the data these people are analyzing to make such predictions, because they seem to be defying all global trends and projections. If they know more than the rest of the world, they should share their knowledge with the rest of the world. No?

The fact is that around 30 to 40 cases are getting reported every day, consistently for the last several weeks. So, anyone who thinks this is "over" is just living in denial. Leadership means clarity of communication and decisive action based on real information. By asking people to "cooperate" during a global crisis with no clear set of restrictions or rules that will be properly enforced, it is unreasonable for anyone to expect that people will just "figure it all out" and "do what's needed". High time people calling the shots learn from what's happening around the world and take immediate action.

While thousands die around the world, these people are happily and very selfishly celebrating the arrival of spring. Really disappointing to see how disconnected so many people in this country have become from the rest of the world. It's a lack of empathy for others and virtually no foresight of the potential dangers of such reckless behaviour.