Phil comments

Suga told Bach. “As the host of the games, I do hope that the IOC will make the efforts so that all athletes and stakeholders will fully comply with these measures.”

Its is always Hope this and Hope that. We should be Demanding the IOC ensures the athletes and stakeholders follow all the rules. After all, if the Olympics does lead to a spike in infections and medical system overload, the IOC will be long gone.

7 a.m.

Time for a daily coronavirus test -- a requirement for everyone staying in the village. They will administer the saliva antigen tests themselves and then submit them for processing.

The report is missing what time the results of the tests are know. Is it before they mix in the village and leave for events ?

Just watched the NHK 6 o’clock news, not a mention of the Tokyo infections. Maybe now IOC have said nothing will stop the games, what is happening here does not matter anymore.

In a SOE Tokyo residents are requested not to make non essential trips to other prefectures. Last night there was a report of Bach going to Hiroshima and in the above report he is off to Sapporo and Fukushima.

im sure he will not be travelling alone, there will be his staff, JOC, The Government and local officials.

Bach spent his first three days in isolation at the International Olympic Committee's five-star hotel in central Tokyo, and his movements in Tokyo are limited — like almost everyone entering for the Olympics — for the first 14 days.

If his movements in Tokyo are limited, how can he travel to Hiroshima within the 14 days? He arrived on the 8th July

I must admit I thought the remote events would have had a local hotel / resort allocated as an Olympic Village for all competitors. Obviously I was wrong.

letsberealisticToday  06:35 am JST

I still don't get this focus of 'bringing in' the virus including the Delta variant when it is already spread throughout Japan already. (?!)

Can anyone explain?

Could be that we are not aloud to talk about that. Like you hardly hear about Long Covid here.

There is a reason why we have been required to quarantine when re-entering Japan for the last year. The government reacting to the Delta Variant requires us to be quarantined in a government control location for 3, 6 or 10 days depending where you travel from.

In case they have forgotten, we have to do this to protect all the people living or visiting this country.

So a person tests positive at the airport and then it take 4 to 5 days to find out it is a nasty variation. Meanwhile there fellow travellers are out in the wind and not all of them will be connected with the Olympics. Or worst, every one it negative then tests positive a few days later. What a nightmare.

Watched a YouTube vid today of a Japanese guy travelling from Europe to Japan a couple of months ago. He showed the bus he had to take to the quarantine hotel. Every surface was covered in plastic sheets and gaffer tape. In these times that maybe the best thing to do. Somehow I don’t think our Olympic visitors will be get that treatment.

This was on the news last night and I was confused at to what the real punishment was for the doctors.

There were found guilty and fines 60 million yen. They did not need to pay this to the parents as the hospital had already paid compensation. Have I missed something, was there any punishment?

Referring to the organizing body's repeated promises to stage a "safe and secure" Games, Hashimoto, an athlete-turned-politician, said, "Safety and security are inseparably linked to each other. I have always thought that people would not feel secure unless they fully understand that it is safe."

I fear even more for “safety and security” it is not only about 2 people out of a group of 9, what about the other people on the flight into Tokyo?

I hope the IOC, JOC and Government are looking into the timescale of the people receiving there vaccines. Was there a big enough gap from last jab and travelling here. This time there is enough time to quarantine the group for at least 2 weeks. That will not be the case for teams arriving just before the Olympics village opens.

People here worry enough about the side effects of any vaccine. Having athletes and officials who have been fully vaccinated testing positive when arriving, is not going to calm people fears.

Many Japanese remain skeptical about the possibility of holding even a scaled-down Games safely during a pandemic.

I can think of a couple of reasons why I’m sceptical about the Olympics happening

I have no idea when I can get vaccinated

We already know that our medical system struggles when there is an increase in infections. In some areas it get to the point of breaking down.

We will not know if infections will increase due to the games, until after they have finished. By which time the athletes, officials and IOC will be back home. Maybe taking home a little more than they leaving gift of condoms.

Oh another reason, summer Bon holiday with people travelling back to home towns.

This issue feels like a distraction to grab the headlines. I’m sure people would be prepared when they travel.

Now they are allowing alcohol into the village, it could be party time. So hopefully they will rethink and make condoms available.

I knew someone who competed in the Olympics, the stories they came back with……..

Hoping that was a mock up room that’s on the ground floor and next to the pathway.

I remember when they first showed the cardboard beds, the British team commented that they would be using the beds from one of there sponsors.

like previous comments, I hope there is AIr Con.

So discussion have taken place, meetings held, decisions made and the the medical advisers consolidated. SOE lifted.

I really hope that we do not end up with a dramatic increase in infections before, during or after the Olympics. I also hope that there is a plan in place to deal with it if it happens. One can hope.

If we end up with a Super Spreader event, this will not just be a problem in a Japan, it could end up being a world problem.

Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world, yet they cannot get people through the doors. Has anyone looked into why that is , or would that mean too many meetings?

However, a former Olympian turned public health expert said she believed the Games can be pulled off with an acceptable level of risk.

I hate to imagine that there was a meeting where they discussed what was “an acceptable level of risk”

At the end of the day no one know what will happen during or after the games. It is just the wrong time to bring people from all around the world to Japan. It is not just going to effect around Tokyo and Sapporo. Teams are going to be in training camps all over Japan over the coming weeks.

Infections have gone down during SOE, then it’s lifted and the infections increase. What is the plan if that happens again? The medical system will struggle yet again right on the eve of the games. Only this time round we already have at least 2 variants in the mix.

They are also largely confined to a "bubble" environment, consisting of hotel and practice facilities, to minimise contact with people.

Isn’t the idea of a Bubble to stay inside it?

"However, if you go and look at the very strict controls the Japanese organizers and IOC have put in place, they have practically completely cut off any direct connection between international visitors and Japanese people," he told AFP in a phone interview. "There is the bubble, most foreigners will be vaccinated before traveling, they are tested twice before they fly out and tested every day in Japan

I find it hard to believe that all international visitors for the Olympics are going to be in a bubble. Or for that matter tested everyday, maybe the athletes will get tested daily.

You have to wonder if these “experts” really understand the medical and vaccination situation here.

A couple of days ago received my invitation for my annual health check. Surly things like this can be delayed for 6 months or so and give vaccine jabs instead.

Asked what the organizers would do if there was an explosive spread of infections, Endo was non-committal

This is why the Olympics need to be delayed again. We cannot afford to risk flooding our health care system with yet another increase in infections. It is not coping well now.

If we had been able to vaccinate a high percentage of the population this would not be such a big issue.

MotMotMotToday  08:29 am JST

These are things they should have figured out 6 months ago.

My sister works on the admin side of a local health centre in the UK. They started thinking, considering and planning last summer. Then they used the plan to build a drive through vaccine centre in the car park. This was ready to use for the flu jabs, which allowed them to iron out the problems. She used to think I was joking when I explained what is happen here.

We need better here and quickly now it could become a free for all when we all receive our vaccine tickets at the same time. More people here need to be allowed to think out of the box to get the more staff and facilities up and running. Personally I have no problem with people like vets being used.

We live in a small town well away from the big cities. My mother-in-law in her 80’s finally yesterday found a clinic locally were she can get a jab. She is on the list and told her the 1st jab could be mid July, hopefully.

To me, it almost sounds like you have problems getting the vaccine in local clinics if you have been healthy and not needed to visit them recently. This may well be because a number of the local clinics and small hospitals only have 1 or 2 doctors.

Maybe to help speed up the vaccine process, the pharmacist checks the patients health form before the nurse gives the vaccine. After all, all the clinics and hospitals have a pharmacy in the car park or across the road linked to them.

Shouldn’t we be using the SDF medical staff in places like Osaka helping to support the general medical system. It horrified me the other evening when a news report suggested having a heart attack is no guarantee to get into a hospital.

Also the staff dealing with Covid need all the support we as a country can provide. It must be soul destroying for them hearing about all the medical staff being diverted to the Olympics.

Hopefully there is also a plan for a major natural disaster. We will need all the help the SDF can give at that time.

I have thought for a long time now, that the best money Japan can spend now, is delaying the Olympics again. No one knows what will happen if the Olympics go ahead, but one thing is certain. If we have a spike in infections because of it, the IOC will be long gone, after they got what they wanted.

The government need to put all it time and effort into controlling this virus and getting us vaccinated. After all, other counties are now showing the effect getting jabs in arms is having to there healthcare systems and economies. We are in danger of being left behind as the world economy recovers.

We live out in the sticks and in our area getting 10 infections a day is crippling our hospitals. It is difficult to get an appointment for a vaccine, as it appears at the moment we are getting so few doses. Also so few clinic’s are offering it to non patients.

You would of thought the the ioc would have turned up for the Tokyo meeting. This would have given them a change to experience The Bubble by staying at the Olympics Village.

The retired nurses are going to be spread thin. Every other day there is talk about them helping with the much needed vaccination effort.

@Tokyo-Engr is spot on, you have to be living here to know what things are really like. The outside world is always hearing about how low infections and deaths have been. Japan is seen as having weathered the storm well. A few reports in overseas media are starting to highlight some of the problems, but it is a splash in the bottom of the pot.

The medical system is not coping well in a number of places now. People are having to stay at home when they should be in hospital and some have died at home. Ambulances pick up people but then have to find a hospital to take them, this can take hours or all day.

The other big fear hear about getting sick, there is not a welfare system like other countries. You can get a loan, but you do not know if or when you can pay it off. Or you are expected to go around your family first to get support.

The risk for the Japanese people is great and the slow vaccine rollout is not helping. My mother in law is struggling to find somewhere locally that is offering the jab. There are 2 private hospital offering the jab, but only to there current patients. ( town pop over 20,000) So she is trying to get the phone answered in the city next door.

My 80+ mother-in-law is beginning to think she will still be hanging on the phone trying to get an appointment at the end of July.

Something needs to change very quickly

I wonder how many people outside of Japan, be they the general public or sports associations understand most of us are not being vaccinated yet. The risk to Japan’s residents is huge.

We are seeing a higher percentage of infections due to the variants. This is leading to infections spreading quicker and leading to more serious hospitalization. There is very little slack left in the medical system. With all the best will in the world, now is just the wrong time for these two events. I understand this is devastating for all people involved in the organisation and taking part.