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Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
11–20 of 196 posts
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#12> it peaked at more than 2,500 cases per day in Tokyo
That's 0.027% of the population of Tokyo per day in a city that has over 6,000 people packed in per square kilometer.
By comparison, Idaho has a population density of 7.64 people per square kilometer, and right now the infection rate there is 0.021% of its population per day.
That's only a 30% difference in percentage of population infected per day, but there are three orders of magnitude between their population densities!
Whatever Tokyo is doing to keep COVID under control with such a crazy high population density, it looks like we've got an entire state over here in the U.S. that could still learn some of the basics.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#13> it peaked at more than 2,500 cases per day in Tokyo That's 0.027% of the population of Tokyo per day in a city that has over 6,000 people packed in per square kilometer. By comparison, Idaho has a population density of 7.64 people per square kilometer, and right now the infection rate there is 0.021% of its population per day. That's only a 30% difference in percentage of population infected per day, but there are…
Taiwan (and Vietnam) both have high densities in their cities, but low COVID numbers.. So there's definitely countries that have handled it better than Japan.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#14> it peaked at more than 2,500 cases per day in Tokyo That's 0.027% of the population of Tokyo per day in a city that has over 6,000 people packed in per square kilometer. By comparison, Idaho has a population density of 7.64 people per square kilometer, and right now the infection rate there is 0.021% of its population per day. That's only a 30% difference in percentage of population infected per day, but there are…
I'm from Idaho. No, things aren't great. Lots of idiots there. But you're comparing a dense, large city to a state that has only a few concentrated areas of people. The rest of Idaho is barren, or the Rockies.
You have Boise, Pocatello, and the CdA area up north. Besides that, there are only a few small, sparse towns. This affects the average density greatly.
Be fair in your conclusions, please.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#15> it peaked at more than 2,500 cases per day in Tokyo That's 0.027% of the population of Tokyo per day in a city that has over 6,000 people packed in per square kilometer. By comparison, Idaho has a population density of 7.64 people per square kilometer, and right now the infection rate there is 0.021% of its population per day. That's only a 30% difference in percentage of population infected per day, but there are…
> Whatever Tokyo is doing to keep COVID under control with such a crazy high population density, it looks like we've got an entire state over here in the U.S. that could still learn some of the basics.
I lived in Japan, have many friends there whom I keep in touch with, and watch the local news regularly. The restrictions in the major cities have been substantially fewer than we've had here in the US. There have been two voluntary states of emergency, where businesses were encouraged (but not required) to reduce hours. Nearly all have remained open. This winter, the government discussed enacting emergency laws to allow fining businesses that don't comply (not sure if that went anywhere...), but mostly they tried to incentivize businesses by providing subsidies to places that reduced hours.
To be sure, fewer people are going out and using transit, but a large number of my friends are still going to work in the office, going out to eat, etc. Until late this past fall, the government was actually encouraging domestic travel, via a national voucher system. This was only suspended once cases were clearly spiking around the nation. Compared to (e.g.) New York, Tokyo looks basically normal, even today. The most visible difference is the lack of tourists.
AFAICT, the only broad conclusion one can draw from Japan is that most of the things that are held sacred here in the US don't seem to matter very much at all in their context.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#16The sad truth is that COVID accelerated xenophobia and isolationism throughout the world, and Japan is no exception.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#17Tokyo Olympic situation is sucks for politics against covid. Gov softly ordered people/business to stay home, etc... , meanwhile they must make the event succeed with foreign people. It's inconsistent and it prevents strong operation. I wish they did this decision (or cancel the event) last year.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#18This seems like the worst outcome for Japan and best outcome for the IOC. Japan incurs all the cost of hosting the Olympics while reaping none of the tourist yen, while the IOC gets paid the broadcasting fee. At this point the optimal outcome for Japan is probably to cancel the game altogether.
Is it an example of the political pull of the IOC? The Asian culture of face-saving? Or plain old sunk cost fallacy? I honestly don't know.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
As far as I know, all versions of the vaccine reduce symptoms for the vaccinated, but they can still catch covid and transmit it to others. That’s a risk to a large unvaccinated local population.
This is outdated speculation. The preponderance of current evidence points toward what we expect from previous vaccines -- once you've been immunized, you are incredibly unlikely to transmit the virus to others: https://reason.com/2021/03/08/contrary-to-what-the-cdcs-new-... In fact, the CDC just updated it's own guidelines to reflect these same facts: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/0... I…
So no need to wear a mask then.
Re: Japan to stage Tokyo Olympics without overseas spectators
#20> it peaked at more than 2,500 cases per day in Tokyo That's 0.027% of the population of Tokyo per day in a city that has over 6,000 people packed in per square kilometer. By comparison, Idaho has a population density of 7.64 people per square kilometer, and right now the infection rate there is 0.021% of its population per day. That's only a 30% difference in percentage of population infected per day, but there are…
The thing is, in Japan there is a lot of fluff happening. You can't just get tested unless you meet fairly stringent requirements, or pay for a private clinic. Private clinics aren't required to report numbers, or the government isn't reporting the numbers from private clinics.
So if you're living in Japan, you're basically flying blind, it's very hard to ready what's really going on and assess the situation.
It's also worth noting that he number of tests performed each day wildly fluctuates between 2000-9000 in Tokyo, so again, it's very hard to read. Weekend testing is far lower than weekday etc.
See https://covid19japan.com/ for more information.
My guess is, Western countries have much more transparent agencies and government watch dogs which help keep things honest, whereas Japan is a grey area when it comes to Government influence over the situation and the perception surrounding it.