Jonny G comments

Again does seem odd that the worst year would be now given a milder variant and a successful vaccine rollout. The vaccines have done a spectacular job in the eyes of some, and masks are excellent at stopping spread. Yet I am just not sure then how that is reconciled with the facts - such high case numbers and covid related deaths. Guess we can say it would be far worse etc etc etc. And that we can never prove one way or the other. We can look at places that have not had such bad outcomes and have not had the mitigations and measures in place here and wonder why.

To echo what is said above. And I've had taken down before. This has been the worst year for Japan in terms of covid related deaths by some distance. All while globally cases and deaths are as low as they have ever been. My question to anyone here is why is that?

Mass masking and vaccines to the max clearly working here then Meanwhile the only mask I've seen worn in the stands at Qatar was the poor Iranian goalkeeper.

Tokyo - 1 in a million hospitalized in serious condition. If that's not miniscule not sure what is. Now, after seeing all the unmasked Japanese fans in Qatar yesterday and celebrating unmasked in downtown Tokyo, it shows the Japanese can move with the times and not have to conform to social pressures. Let's move on. The kids have suffered enough.

8th wave apparently. Knew opening the borders was a bad idea. More masks needed to be worn outside evidently.

Not sure the UK is a third world country but then again I see your point.

Regardless omicron is milder and borders are irrelevant.

Japan seemed better earlier on but like Korea and Taiwan etc the mitigations in place where never going to stop the inevitable. No wonder worse outcomes are happening in this area of the world now while everywhere else has moved on.

Still, the Japanese are not worried going by how packed everywhere is. So the reporting is not needed. It just perpetuates fear when most don't need it.

The masks are nonsense and also unhelpful. Harming children is very alarming and really needs to be addressed asap.

As long as you agree with that point then fair enough. If you don't then that misguided alarmism really is the bigger problem here.

Omicron is milder. Fact. This was seen everywhere - starting with South Africa that saw an explosion in cases but not hospitalisations. The UK followed next. And so on.

The vaccines are far less effective against it however. This is also a fact. But given that so many have had it at least once the natural immunity accrued is only good obv.

Recorded deaths may seem higher but that is probably down to deaths being recorded with covid even if that wasn't the chief cause. More a matter of higher prevalence in the community. You may recall this was the case when omicron first emerged and a lot of the MSM were running stories that it was a big threat to kids and resulting in record hospitalisations. It wasn't. It was just more prevalent in the community so more kids who were going to hospital for unrelated reasons we're testing positive for it. This too was a fact yet I don't recall the backtracking or corrections. That doesn't get clicks. Fear does.

Reminder that deaths are as low now as they ever were globally. So yes, time to really stop the fear. It isn't helping anyone now - especially the children. Next steps:

stop reporting these daily tallies like it's still Feb 2021

stop masking outside (which is obv unscientific anyway but creates a culture of fear and is just wrong)

Let kids be kids and drop all masks in educational settings like they did everywhere else. And no - schools didn't implode and children, who were never statistically at risk, didn't start dropping dead.

some children are now in their third year of schooling and have never seen their teacher's face when reading them a story. Scary what impact all this is having in terms of social and emotional development.

Those who want to keep vaxxing, triple masking and staying home are well within their rights to do so.

No covid cannot be eradicated. Obv.

Safe and effective vaccines - definitely debatable and contradicts your point about people still dying from it. But the option is there for all who want it.

Not all are equally vulnerable to covid by a long shot. It's clear the highest risk is age. Obesity/diabetes and those with underlying health conditions are also far more at risk. Men are also far more at risk - something not often talked about. But then neither is obesity risk.

Thankfully the risk of death to all - even the elderly with pre-existing conditions is relatively small. I should know as I know a fair few who are in the group and who got covid. All got through it thankfully and now have that natural immunity boost which will hold them in good stead in a world that has long since accepted living with it.

Interesting to see not a single mask in Qatar in the huge crowds seen in the fan zone. Despite all the criticism, even they seemed to have moved on and are treating this as an endemic virus that is not the threat it once was. The fear isn't healthy.

22 in hospital with severe symptoms in a population of 15 million?

250 odd in a population of over 125 million?

Miniscule numbers.

Yet this is the 8th wave.

Maybe it's time to return to normalcy like almost all of the rest of the world.

To move on is to stop reporting it and suggesting it's still something to fear and be alarmist about. It's not helpful to anyone except those who crave the hysteria. Of which, the pandemic has shown us there are many. And sadly the fear allowed so many things that with hindsight were wrong and harmful to take precedence.

How does Japan move on?

Maybe end all meaningless mitigations that do nothing and were long since removed elsewhere - from temp checks (because you somehow don't know if you are running a fever or not, and cheap electronic thermometers are always reliable and accurate anyway) to plastic divider screens in restaurants (long since they were shown to potentially increase risk by limiting natural airflow), the sanitizing obsession and irritations that come with that - not just inconveniences, to enforced masking - which brings with it many harms that are not talked about here, not just the waste and plastic pollution, but social, emotional and language development, particularly in elementary children and teens. It's criminal that this has continued now for so long. For what?

The border controls/restrictions were something that were never justified beyond late 2021 (and hardly justified before). No one would disagree with that I'm sure. And at it's heart was xenophobia and the fear of the dirty foreigner sadly.

Japan did some things right in the early days. No not masking. Which hasn't worked. Clearly. But keeping society relatively open despite some nonsensical stuff like making businesses close early as covid only comes out after 9pm.

But it's looking silly now and has for the last year or so.

It's not 2020 or early 2021 anymore. Covid deaths globally are at lowest levels since it began. Winter is kicking in in the UK and cases are falling. Hospitals are fine but for dealing with all the fallout that lockdowns and missed screenings for cancer caused.

We don't keep running records and daily fatality numbers for suicides or cancer deaths or deaths from cardiovascular disease or flu or car accidents.

They would raise a few eyebrows above the Uniqlo cloths masks I'm sure.

Move on.

Masked and vaxxed to the max.

Yet huge numbers. Again.

All this when globally it seems every other nation has moved on. Long ago.

Getting silly now isn't it? For those that claim it would be worse without masks, you can compare with unmasked countries that are doing far better if you wish.

Or when masks were not the norm.

Or when the vaccines were not rolled out en masse

Different times. But you can compare and contrast.

And there is a contrast.

Having kids maskless rather. Seems only here masking kids is not questioned despite the many harms it brings. Why isn't this ever talked about in the media?

So this is the 8th wave we were warned about?

Maybe it's time to move on. The fear mongering continues but only a militant minority still subscribe to the belief that this was as dangerous as the media and govt tried to make us believe. Seems they are going to be wrong about this just like everything else.

No cases didn't explode when airlines dropped the masks.

No the UK didn't implode after freedom day.

No omicron was not the severe variant we were warned about.

No opening schools and not having kids in masks did not lead to massive outbreaks.

No large gatherings outdoors have not been superspreader events. Ever.

And on and on...

World deaths and cases are at lowest since the start of all this.

Wonder why mass vaxxed and masked Japan is not doing as well? You would imagine such mitigations would be effective against the milder variant we have had for a year now.

Masks are having zero impact. Clearly.

Vaccines are not working. Clearly.

Time to move on like the rest of the world. Clearly.

Enclosed unventilated arena in Japan and no one bothering with a mask. Hiros all of them!

42 deaths? From covid? Really? Isn't everyone vaccinated who needed to be - many many times? And given that the variant is significantly milder - a breakdown of those deaths showing age, health status, vaccine status and whether the virus was the chief contributory factor in the death is needed. Otherwise the numbers are again totally meaningless.

Rather than daily posting of meaningless numbers (other than fact they are tiny), why not cover stories about the impact of masking kids and teachers for 3 years? Why?

What are the benefits of continuing to do this? And given there are none, why not examine the costs on social and emotional development? Not to mention the hygiene issues or the environmental costs of more plastic waste and pollution?

Cases down in Tokyo despite the hordes of maskless foreign arrivals entering the country after border restrictions were lifted. Who would have imagined that?!

It's almost as if the 'masks work' narrative has slipped so far now that it lies soggy and trampled in a gutter...which is sadly something you see daily on the otherwise litter-free Tokyo streets.

So we can only conclude - again - the masks and vaccines aren't working.

Good thing it's so mild and the hordes of unmasked foreigners are about to help dilute those high numbers.

Ridiculous to say cases will rise because of tourists?

Aren't they vaccinated? So how is that possible?

14 serious cases (with/of covid) in a population of 15 million. Comical that masks are STILL worn. Why?!?

Either they do not work (given the high cases numbers we have seen that would suggest they don't)

Or they do work but given that many wear the ones that definitely don't work (e.g Uniqlo cloth masks), and are not worn in cost and unventilated izakayas, restaurants, bars, onsens, etc - they are meaningless. This has been the case throughout the entire pandemic. The only reason for wearing them is to save/hide face. Wearing them outside is obv the height of stupidity.

Why care about masks? Think about it. Nigh on 3 years now. For kids 7 and under that means their entire formal education has been masked - unable to see the faces of their friends or teacher. Why? Obviously it is not in their interest. Obviously it harms communication. Obviously it harms learning. We know they are not at risk (and a mask will not stop them getting the virus in any case).

They have to go.

Why are people here still wearing masks again?

Presumably the hotel onsen, bar and restaurant are all no go areas too then? After all, these are public areas where masks aren't worn. The only difference being people spend fleeting moments in hotel lobbies, but extended periods, often in close contact with other guests, in the aforementioned areas of a hotel.

Otherwise it's just really silly. Completely unscientific. And embarrassing for all concerned.

Besides, no one likes to look like a fool, especially when they are paying to do so and are on holiday.

So the cases fell of their own accord. As we knew would happen despite the usual fear mongers here. Tough times.

Mass vaccinations and widespread masking did absolutely nothing to prevent tens of millions getting covid here. Record numbers. Indeed global record numbers.

Underestimates. Millions of cases going unreported. Millions more unknown given the mildness of the virus for so many, including the recently departed 96yr old Queen. Thanks South Africa.

Our dear Emperor and honourable PM now galavanting around the world. Maskless no less. It's like it was all about face. Saving face. Or, rather, hiding face.

The realisation that you simply can't stop a tidal wave with a piece of cloth from Uniqlo and some hand sanitizer is now upon us. After nearly 3 years.

More are seeing the light in the land of the rising sun. 6.5/82 unmasked in the station this morning. (.5 = chin masked)

Good times.

Just stop with the masks and sanitiser. They didn't work then. They don't work now. Huge case numbers showed that here, in Korea and Taiwan. Masked and sanitiser to max and covid central. End of.

And for those who think they do work - explain how they work when inside and eating together? Will this not happen at all? Ludicrous then to don masks outside (when the risk of transmission is effectively non existent) only to remove them when dining/attending meetings, banquets indoors, etc. And this will happen. Obv.

If you want no chance of transmission then ban all mass meetings of people. Close all restaurants and bars, ensure all families are masked at home at all times, and don't hold state funerals.

That said, getting a virus that is so mild many don't even know they have it, a virus that poses next to zero risk to most - not least the young and healthy, a virus even the late 96yr old queen managed to see off, not to mention the oldest person on the planet, is really not as scary as we once believed a few years ago.

Move on Japan. Looking silly is, like walking alone outside with a mask on, or sitting masked outside a packed, smokey unventilated restaurant waiting to get inside to eat, is not a good look.

The pandemic has given rise to so many nonsensical things, but the ubiquitous mask wearing outside is up there with the most ridiculous. Especially given we are 3 years into this and it's been over elsewhere for half of that time.

It's nothing to do with "staying safe". The masking simply hasn't worked as we all know. It's 100pc social conformity. And it's harming so many in the process, not least tens of millions of children.

Embarrassing. We can surely do better.

And the fall continues despite no need for any measures whatsover (which do nothing anyway).

It's like it was entirely predictable. Thoughts with the fear mongers who were calling for long downs or suggesting healthcare had collapsed. Painful times I know.

Now let's lose the masks. Kids have suffered enough. Why on earth are they still forced to wear them when they are not at risk and neither are adults who are vaxxed to max?

Unless the vaccines are just not working against the milder variant? Seems so. Can't have it both ways.

At least those at risk can try their fifth vaccine now which is supposedly more effective against the milder variant. Though obv will not prevent catching the virus. Never did.