Zoroto comments

Notice that she has quietly abandoned her claim that the Games would be "symbolic of humankind's triumph over the coronavirus"?

Suga said that, not Koike. But Suga is busy packing, so he's is MIA.

And NHK and TNN are blabbing about how successful the Olympics will be. How tone deaf can you get?

They are propaganda arms of the government. This is not at all surprising.

Well, I hope Suga will beg The President to airlift some vaccines, and I hope she agrees.

Osaka does more tests. Go figure.

Why is that a surprise? If the Tokyo went back into a State Of Emergency, they would have no choice but to cancel the Olympics, as nobody in their right mind would come.

So they are gambling that quasi (a.k.a. less than half-arsed) effort will somehow suppress the virus. The problem is that the mutant variant has an R number of around 4.0, compared 2.5 with the regular one, so simple measures such as mask-wearing may be insufficient.

What is the meaning of the caption with the photo?

I think it has absolutely nothing to do with coronavirus, but asking the construction people to wear a hard hat. I agree, very odd choice for the article.

510 cases are a 25% increase over last Tuesday, with the same number of tests.

Olympic torchbearers run through empty Osaka park

Nothing shows "humanity's victory over the virus" than this image...

Osaka at 1000 while Tokyo only at 510. Why has this balance shifted so much?

Because they ramped up testing. The number of tests in Tokyo are suppressed because of the Olympics, undoubtedly.

Only 60% dissatisfied? That's impossible.

There may be two extra doses available for you and your wife.

Did you decide for her?

306 cases is a 23% increase over last Monday.

5600 tests on a Friday, when it's known that the case count is up.

I would lie if I said I was shocked by the ineptitude shown here.

branch covidians

Lol. Very ept.

This is the way it needs to be, for the good of the greater population.

You have the right to be an anti-vaxxer, but you have no right to be free from the consequences if your choice.

174,100 by the end of April.

We are looking at many months before any significant number of people will have received a shot.

Sorry, 174k * 5 = 870k people. Still less 1% of the general population by the end of April.

Vaccine deliveries to the country's prefectures started last week with 100 boxes, each enough for two shots for 500 people, so far distributed.

50 freaking thousand...

from the final week of April, when all of the 1,741 municipalities in Japan will have received one box.

174,100 by the end of April.

We are looking at many months before any significant number of people will have received a shot.

No way in the world I'm talking the Pfizer or Moderna shots.

We know you are anti-vaxxer. You make it very obvious from all your posts. By all mean, don't take it, but then suffer the consequences if you cannot do certain things because you are not vaccinated.

More theater (in this case almost literally) instead of real measures.

We, we know the vaccine is not effective against the Eeek mutation.

met a Spanish guy today at the beach

So the athletes are supposed to be not allowed to travel around and take public transport, but these people do?

Nothing show that the Olympics are about "humanity's victory over the virus" than 300 rooms dedicated to infected athletes...

You really cannot make this up.

But Butantan stressed that the vaccine is 78% effective in preventing mild cases that needed treatment and 100% effective in staving off moderate to serious cases.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55642648

I am OK if it prevents moderate to serious cases.

As Thomas Sowell says, nothing is more permanent than a temporary government measure.

I don't know who Thomas Sowell is, but the pandemic measures that were lifted in every other country proves him/her wrong.

Current pandemic will take that announcement like ordinary people?

Sorry, I missed a word: The inept government said the quasi-SOE was set to start on Monday.

although the area is still less crowded than before the pandemic.

The area would be less crowded with or without the SOE, the quasi-SOE, stronger measures, or medical emergency.

There are no tourists.

The government said the quasi-SOE was set to start on Monday. So the population listened and assumed it was fine this weekend still.

is it a pandemic with so few with severe symptoms?

Japan has 511 severe cases. The UK has 421. You be the judge.

I wonder what's really causing the surge in Osaka. It can't be just people going out eating and drinking at night. People are going out at night in other big cities, too, such as Sapporo, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Chiba, but their infection numbers seem to have been around 100 or so for the past week.

Osaka actually ramped up testing. So this is not surprising at all.

If Tokyo was not testing around 7000 on a weekday, who knows how high the numbers would be.

At this rate not looking good for China's February Olympics either.

I think you are right.

all bets are off if the variant from Osaka takes hold in Tokyo.

Vaccines apparently work 10-60x less well against the Eeek variants. The Japanese government needs to worry about this, as that means even vaccinated Olympic athletes are at danger. In other words, the Olympics are pretty much toast, as no sane government will send the athletes and allow the mutated virus to be brought back with them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variants_of_SARS-CoV-2#E484K

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(21)00068-9/fulltext