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Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

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Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#741

Post by ghaff »

kingosticks wrote: post #661
akg_67 wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just FYI, this evening NHK news announced that most museums, theaters, and art galleries are being asked to close. Most events such as Sumo wrestling tournament are also considering closure. PM has asked all large events to be cancelled. In my city, not on your itinerary, all elementary and junior high schools are being requested to close. All community volunteer oriented events and classes are being cancelled for wh…

I don't suppose you have an (English) link to that news story? Im getting concerned about my (tourist) trip next week if stuff I want to visit is closed.

Check the websites for places you're interested in visiting. A number of museums have announced closures.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#742

Post by Cookingboy »

celticninja wrote: post #376
Cookingboy wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well from what we've seen in Japan and South Korea, that seems to be far from guaranteed. Those countries had all the warnings they needed, and knew much more about the virus than the earlier days, yet they still failed to contain the initially small outbreaks.

In part likely due to the fact that China misled everyone so significantly in the beginning other countries could not plan appropriately

Ok, which part did China mislead people? China told the world the virus can be transmitted asymptomatically, can be transmitted human to human, with a 14 days incubation period, and provided all the clinical data.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#743

Post by Barrin92 »

akg_67 wrote: post #242
Barrin92 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm curious how other folks who work at large tech shops in the valley feel about working from home for a while. Am in the UK and not the US but given that I'm healthy and relatively young I don't really see the point. This disease is scary in the aggregate, i.e it imposes huge economic costs. The average case of it is basically having flu symptoms, and I never stayed at home unless I got sick during bad flu seasons…

You are being downvoted, IMO, not for not locking yourself in but ignoring the chance that even you may survive for having strong immune system, you may still potentially be a carrier and transmit to others with weaker immune systems. Don’t be selfish and consider safety of other less fortunate people. As a society, cost is much higher than cost to yourself only.

>Don’t be selfish and consider safety of other less fortunate people.

In the country right now there are a few dozen cases on a population of 60 million people. Even assuming there is hundreds or thousands of cases, the idea that I stay home (which is a trade-off, because I'm needed at work) isn't rational at all.

If I get sick I'll obviously stay home, as I always do to avoid spreading any disease. But to preemptively lock myself in to avoid a disease that isn't particular dangerous in 80% of people and that has barely spread anywhere is ridiculous.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#744

Post by gumby »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #678
gumby wrote: post #676

This might be enough to kill the Olympics. There have been such near-cancellations before (consider Moscow and LA in the middle of the cold war), but the context was different: the Olympics were seen as an important trans-national counterforce to the conflict of the two superpowers' spheres of influence at a time when there were few such opportunities. This was ostensibly the original basis for the Olympics being rev…

Cities will have to smarter with reusing existing and purpose built stadiums and buildings. One cancellation will not kill the brand.

Cities all know they have to be smarter but have not demonstrated an ability to do so. Just asserting they need to be doesn't really suggest any change might happen.

As for a single cancellation: I discussed why this time could be different from the two previous examples. If you think that's wrong I'd like to read the counterargument.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#745

Post by jfkebwjsbx »

unethical_ban wrote: post #690
jfkebwjsbx wrote: post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I have never seen sports as "culture". Neither the Oscars. They are just PR events in this day and age. By the way, hosting the Olympics does not boost the local economy. Quite the opposite, in fact, at least in many cases. They are a heavy loss and increase in debt for almost every city that did it, as well as detrimental for the environment overall. Governments do it as a long term investment in publi…

Well there is the big difference - you don't see sports as culture. What is culture to you?

Education, science, art, "enlightenment"...

Giving awards in a posh ceremony to commercial movies and running very fast for a medal does not sound like any of those to me.

Yes, sports are a very big deal in many countries. Fancy social gatherings too. Neither means necessarily "culture".

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#746

Post by biztos »

el_cujo wrote: post #615
trengorilla wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand the masks are utterly useless against this anyway.

The common surgical face masks you'll often see people from Asia wear in public are only useful if YOU have the virus by reducing the chance of people catching the virus from you. There are, however, N95 respirator masks that are useful for protecting the uninfected from catching the virus. Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/respirator-use...

> only useful if YOU have the virus

Yes, but given the incubation period and so on, how do you know you don't have the virus?

I'm not going to wear a mask in Central Europe (at least not yet) but I probably would in Asia just in order to not be selfish.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#747

Post by I-M-S »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #463
t0mislav wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happened yesterday in my company. :( Big tech company, 2000+ people, central Europe. First registered patient with COVID-19 in my country is from company I'm working for. We all received notice to work from home. It will be huge test now for remote work. I bet lot of people doesn't even know how to connect from home. (people from administration etc)

Which country are you from?

Based on info OP provided, Croatia

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#748

Post by chefkoch »

marcosdumay wrote: post #639
stef25 wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Belgium it's almost impossible to find masks as well, except if you want to pay 70+ EUR https://i.imgur.com/dGd56Ng.png I suspect Asian customers have been plundering online EU shops for a while. Having said that, I don't think it's the responsibility of the WHO to distribute masks to health professionals like your partner.

The WHO acts like an advisory board that could have recommended governments to stockpile them before the disease appeared. Whether they should or not is a different story.

There are emergency stock piles, but not enough for everyone and clearly we haven't reached the point where we would need to use them yet.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#749

Post by kingosticks »

ghaff wrote: post #741
kingosticks wrote: post #661

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't suppose you have an (English) link to that news story? Im getting concerned about my (tourist) trip next week if stuff I want to visit is closed.

Check the websites for places you're interested in visiting. A number of museums have announced closures.

I did that, I only found the Ghibli Museum and Tokyo National Museum, the former announced last week. Hello kitty land also seems to be closed.

Re: Tokyo Olympics “looking at a cancellation” if coronavirus not contained

#750

Post by HBKXNCUO »

littlestymaar wrote: post #728
FriendlyNormie wrote: post #660

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

“There are hundreds of millions of people who agree with him. Get over it.” Somebody talking about Germany in 1932

No matter where you were in the developed world, the majority in 1932 (though not necessarily the majority of the elites) would have held similar views or views that were even further away from yours. The US, for instance, had just recently passed an immigration law that was explicitly racist in design, which wasn't repealed until 1965, and even then the proponents of the replacement legislation had to lie through their teeth claiming it would not alter the demographics of the country. England similarly was cracking down on immigration during that period.
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