Know the area quite well - I used to live in Hoya a few miles to the north. Still, you've got the lovely Tama cycle trail starting close by, which quickly gets you out into green areas.I addressed this in my post.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with this part of Tokyo, but Kichijoji/Mitaka is essentially indistinguishable from Suginami/Setagaya in terms of streetscape, lifestyle, etc. Both have their fair share of bustling stations and shopping arcades (as I mentioned, Kichijoji in particular was taking huge flack for its main drag, Star Road, being packed even after the state of emegency) as well as parks, greenery, etc.
I literally lived on the exact border of Mitaka-shi and Suginami-ku once.
Believe me, it's not like Tokyo instantly transforms from a suffocating, dreary urban concrete jungle to a beautiful green paradise the second you step outside the 23 wards.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with this part of Tokyo, but Kichijoji/Mitaka is essentially indistinguishable from Suginami/Setagaya in terms of streetscape, lifestyle, etc.
Only 39 people testing positive yesterday in Tokyo, and 172 people testing positive in all of Japan. An astonishingly low number of people.
Bear in mind there is an equally astonishing low number of tests being administered. On the 26th of this month, in the middle of a pandemic in one of the worlds's largest cities, there were only 314 PCR tests given.
Still, a trend is a trend, and it truly feels as if the corner has been turned, and now we can start thinking about returning to work.
(The low numbers present a difficult dilemma, as it will be hard to convince people to stay at home when there is such a tiny number of daily infections.)
Will post yesterday's graph once NHK updates their site.
(The low numbers present a difficult dilemma, as it will be hard to convince people to stay at home when there is such a tiny number of daily infections.)
Why do you keep insisting that there will be an "explosion" of cases after cherry blossom season?
Cherry blossom season has already come and gone in most places and no one (or almost no one, compared to usual) is doing hanami this year. Gatherings are being strongly discouraged or outright prohibited, and many parks are even being closed down. No offense, but sometimes it looks like you're just searching for reasons to work yourself into a panic.
I'm not saying we can all rest easy, but there's far more cause for cautious optimism than your doomsday scenario posts suggest.
I asked my wife why testing counts are so low (because we have Japanese TV on probably 4 hours a day). She thinks it's because all the places to put CV-positive people (hospitals, hotels) are full. If they don't have capacity to deal with positive tests they don't test.Bear in mind there is an equally astonishing low number of tests being administered.
I don't know if that is really well-known, or if it is even what it means for making policy decisions. The figures I was looking at were saying the average time from exposure to showing symptoms was slightly over 5 days. Something like 5.2 days. And the same figures I saw showed that something like 97% of people with covid19 came down with the disease within 2 weeks of being exposed to it. So nearly 100% of the people with covid19, will have come down with it well within two weeks. The WHO says the same thing on its website.It is well known around the world by now that the asymptomatic carrier can carry the virus up to 42 days without any major symptoms.
I asked my wife why testing counts are so low (because we have Japanese TV on probably 4 hours a day). She thinks it's because all the places to put CV-positive people (hospitals, hotels) are full. If they don't have capacity to deal with positive tests they don't test.
If that's really the reason it's way premature to celebrate these low numbers.
I don't know if that is really well-known, or if it is even what it means for making policy decisions. The figures I was looking at were saying the average time from exposure to showing symptoms was slightly over 5 days. Something like 5.2 days. And the same figures I saw showed that something like 97% of people with covid19 came down with the disease within 2 weeks of being exposed to it. So nearly 100% of the people with covid19, will have come down with it well within two weeks. The WHO says the same thing on its website.
The consensus from the Japanese commentators I saw, was that the cherry-blossom viewing that occurred during the 3-day weekend of March 20, 21, 22, was the cause of the initial surge in cases, and I am aware that there is chatter that says the cases we've seen recently were perhaps secondary infections of family members from that initial surge. But I believe all of that is behind us now. The main problem now seems to be clusters developing among health-care workers, and nursing homes.Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
WHO is continuously monitoring and responding to this pandemic. This questions and answers page will be updated as more is known about COVID-19, how it spreads and how it is affecting people worldwide. For more information, regularly check the WHO coronavirus pages. https://www.who.int/covid-19www.who.int
We don't see any resurgence in Korea, Taiwan, or Hong Kong so far. Singapore had a resurgence, but it was all located in migrant dormitories, not among the general population. Europe seems to be seeing a decline in their numbers. So, no need to be overly paranoid about a resurgence just yet.
I predicted the government would take credit for what spring did. What I did not predict was that the people would be so willing to help them do it. (SMH)
I suppose I should have seen it coming because to believe it means the (in)action of the people staying home positively effected the world. Always suckers for the slightest bit of validation. The government could reap the whirlwind by passing out stay at home medals of honor next....."Here citizen! Your tax money pinned to your chest in the form of a useless ornament! And of course half the cost went to my buddy with the metal presses and I got ten percent in kickbacks! Good job citizen! Here is a cookie too! I got a buddy who makes them!" (groan)
It just got way easier for the government to put us all under house arrest on a pretense. Congratulations.
Here is yesterday's graph from NHK showing the remarkable decline in numbers, thanks in part to social distancing and the stay at home requests issued two weeks prior by Tokyo and the national government.
A worrying trend is the increase in people out and about.
I really hope the kids can go to school quickly, they just fought, the small one cannot move his arm now, my wife has to go to the hospital with him, exposing everybody to the COVID-19 in the process.
While some, including U.S. President Donald Trump, have expressed hope that the virus's spread will slow as the temperature in northern hemisphere countries rises in the summer, Chinese experts on Monday said that they found no evidence for this.
"The virus is heat sensitive, but that's when it's exposed to 56 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes and the weather is never going to get that hot," said Wang Guiqiang, head of the infectious diseases department of Peking University First Hospital. "So globally, even during the summer, the chance of cases going down significantly is small."
"This is very likely to be an epidemic that co-exists with humans for a long time, becomes seasonal and is sustained within human bodies," said Jin Qi, director of the Institute of Pathogen Biology at China's top medial research institute, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
Maybe you'll have the opportunity to make some more great art of your experiences. So not a write off from that perspective. But I'm guessing you mean financially.Started a two week quarantine on Saturday. Already going stir crazy.
The first 'lockdown' in Hokkaido wasn't one, since the only thing that closed were the schools. This time most stuff is closed. Two weeks probably won't do the job though. My buddy and I try to laugh that this year is a write-off.