I've been reading a bit about limiting alcohol and its effect on the spread of Covid, South Africa being the most interesting country with both the strictest measures and a particularly bad alcohol problem (during the apartheid era, some black workers were even paid in alcohol!). It cited gave many incidental benefits of the ban - fewer alcohol-related casualties in hospitals, either through accidents, alcohol poisoning, or alcohol-fueled violence - that certainly reduced pressure on hospitals dealing with alcohol victims, but I wasn't able to find any studies giving evidence that it reduced the spread of Covid. I'm very uncomfortable with the government argument that people will let their guard down and be careless after a few drinks as a justification for an outright ban on selling alcohol in bars, which has had an enormous effect on many people. It's not very scientific, is it? The spread of a disease is mainly a scientific problem and since all measures are going to have some adverse effects on people's livelihoods, we need to base our arguments on more scientific evidence. Alcohol probably makes the situation worse, but I feel it is being used as a scapegoat in Japan so that the government don't have to make more difficult and urgently needed decisions on how to control the spread of the pandemic.If I'd condemn the alcohol, I'd be a blatant hypocrite myself, lol. However, boozing in the heat makes people drop their guard. I thought about stopping and taking a photo but I didn't want to expose myself to a potential cluster.
@ authorities: had their been police present they would have acted as a deterrent, at least.
www.bbc.com
www.spotlightnsp.co.za
It's a complicated problem, but until recently, Japan was doing relatively well (though I'm sceptical of the official figures about the number of deaths and cases) despite relatively few restrictions on everyday life. It could be argued that this was largely because of mask use. I'm seeing more people without masks these days (maybe mask use is down to 90%), though I'm not sure why - a sense of security by vaccinated people, the heat, or a feeling of futility - by the end of August, people in Tokyo will have been under almost continuous measures for about 8 months but we're at the highest number of new cases ever. I think the spread is mainly due to the increased infectiousness of the delta variant.
| 28/07 (Wed) | 29/07 (Thu) | 30/07 (Fri) | 31/07 (Sat) | 01/08 (Son) | 02/08 (Mon) | 03/08 (Tue) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9,576 (+ 4,633) | 10,699 (+ 5,302) | 10,744 (+ 6,519) | 12,341 (+ 8,767) | 10,177 (+ 5,157) | 8,393 (+ 3,701) | 12,017 (+ 4,388) |
| 28/07 (Wed) | 29/07 (Thu) | 30/07 (Fri) | 31/07 (Sat) | 01/08 (Son) | 02/08 (Mon) | 03/08 (Tue) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
14 (- 6) - 522 (+ 132) | 14 (+ 8) - 539 (+ 147) | 14 (+ 6) - 626 (+ 195) | 14 (+ 6) - 667 (+ 231) | 5 (+ 1) - 691 (+ 243) | 5 (- 7) - 704 (+ 238) | 7 (- 5) - 754 (+ 240) |
| 28/07 (Wed) | 29/07 (Thu) | 30/07 (Fri) | 31/07 (Sat) | 01/08 (Son) | 02/08 (Mon) | 03/08 (Tue) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aichi | 265 (+ 156) | 250 (+ 104) | 230 (+ 161) | 287 (+ 218) | 231 (+ 122) | 147 (+ 77) | 258 (+ 84) |
Chiba | 577 (+ 275) | 576 (+ 233) | 753 (+ 419) | 792 (+ 491) | 767 (+ 488) | 787 (+ 278) | 781 (+ 376) |
Fukuoka | 405 (+ 269) | 366 (+ 227) | 478 (+ 326) | 504 (+ 405) | 434 (+ 272) | 358 (+ 186) | 510 (+ 274) |
Hokkaido | 227 (+ 109) | 260 (+ 120) | 250 (+ 171) | 284 (+ 166) | 267 (+ 154) | 217 (+ 80) | 211 (+ 73) |
Hyogo | 254 (+ 134) | 280 (+ 131) | 265 (+ 204) | 329 (+ 207) | 317 (+ 179) | 165 (+ 90) | 441 (+ 181) |
Kanagawa | 1,051 (+ 529) | 1,164 (+ 533) | 1,418 (+ 766) | 1,580 (+ 1,033) | 1,258 (+ 727) | 1,686 (+ 1,146) | 1,298 (+ 540) |
Okinawa | 347 (+ 178) | 392 (+ 239) | 382 (+ 282) | 439 (+ 340) | 367 (+ 158) | 209 (+ 93) | 467 (+ 113) |
Osaka | 798 (+ 307) | 932 (+ 471) | 882 (+ 503) | 1,040 (+ 757) | 890 (+ 419) | 448 (+ 74) | 1,079 (+ 338) |
Saitama | 870 (+ 489) | 864 (+ 354) | 853 (+ 452) | 1,036 (+ 691) | 899 (+ 450) | 762 (+ 313) | 1,053 (+ 460) |
Tokyo | 3,177 (+ 1,345) | 3,865 (+ 1,886) | 3,300 (+ 1,941) | 4,058 (+ 2,930) | 3,058 (+ 1,295) | 2,195 (+ 766) | 3,709 (+ 861) |
| 04/08 (Wed) | 05/08 (Thu) | 06/08 (Fri) | 07/08 (Sat) | 08/08 (Son) | 09/08 (Mon) | 10/08 (Tue) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
14,207 (+ 4,631) | 15,263 (+ 4,564) | 15,645 (+ 4,901) | 15,753 (+ 3,412) | 14,472 (+ 4,295) | 12,061 (+ 3,668) | 10,574 (- 1,443) |
| 04/08 (Wed) | 05/08 (Thu) | 06/08 (Fri) | 07/08 (Sat) | 08/08 (Son) | 09/08 (Mon) | 10/08 (Tue) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15 (+ 1) - 777 (+ 255) | 9 (- 5) - 823 (+ 284) | 12 (- 2) - 1,020 (+ 394) | 15 (+ 1) - 1,068 (+ 401) | 18 (+ 13) - 1,138 (+ 447) | 7 (+ 2) - 1,190 (+ 486) | 17 (+ 10) - 1,230 (+ 476) |
| 04/08 (Wed) | 05/08 (Thu) | 06/08 (Fri) | 07/08 (Sat) | 08/08 (Son) | 09/08 (Mon) | 10/08 (Tue) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aichi | 376 (+ 111) | 364 (+ 114) | 387 (+ 157) | 459 (+ 172) | 375 (+ 144) | 256 (+ 109) | 259 (+ 1) |
Chiba | 840 (+ 263) | 942 (+ 366) | 1,057 (+ 304) | 1,075 (+ 283) | 988 (+ 221) | 952 (+ 165) | 860 (+ 79) |
Fukuoka | 752 (+ 347) | 718 (+ 352) | 840 (+ 362) | 742 (+ 238) | 434 (+ 272) | 625 (+ 267) | 458 (- 52) |
Hokkaido | 366 (+ 139) | 342 (+ 82) | 283 (+ 33) | 347 (+ 63) | 308 (+ 41) | 217 (+ 80) | 347 (+ 136) |
Hyogo | 422 (+ 168) | 459 (+ 179) | 477 (+ 212) | 503 (+ 174) | 450 (+ 133) | 310 (+ 145) | 228 (- 213) |
Kanagawa | 1,484 (+ 433) | 1,846 (+ 682) | 2,082 (+ 664) | 1,893 (+ 313) | 1,860 (+ 602) | 2,166 (+ 480) | 1,572 (+ 274) |
Okinawa | 602 (+ 255) | 648 (+ 256) | 565 (+ 183) | 548 (+ 109) | 574 (+ 207) | 332 (+ 123) | 332 (- 135) |
Osaka | 1,224 (+ 426) | 1,085 (+ 153) | 1,310 (+ 428) | 1,123 (+ 83) | 1,164 (+ 274) | 995 (+ 574) | 697 (- 382) |
Saitama | 1,200 (+ 330) | 1,235 (+ 371) | 1,220 (+ 367) | 1,449 (+ 413) | 1,364 (+ 465) | 1,160 (+ 398) | 1,166 (+ 113) |
Tokyo | 4,166 (+ 989) | 5,042 (+ 1,177) | 4,515 (+ 1,215) | 4,566 (+ 508) | 4,066 (+ 1,008) | 2,884 (+ 689) | 2,612 (- 1,097) |
www.newsweek.com
My Japanese wife told me today that person was to be an olympic participant. She says that info was only recently released and was basically covered up. I now see some about it: Japan Allegedly Covered Up COVID-19 Lambda Variant Entering Country Days Before Olympics
I think that in Japan people's perceptions of risk have changed, and that going on a holiday where you are traveling in a way that doesn't interact much with others (cycling and camping) will not be considered a major risk, unlike during the early days of the pandemic. I assume that you've also been double jabbed, so I'd go for it.
