“Even thinking about the Olympics is just ridiculous:” Japanese Health Official

Can’t they just mandate anyone attending the games be fully vaccinated?

Nuclear radiation?

No problem.

Covid?

Shut it down.

finallyransub17 wrote:

Can’t they just mandate anyone attending the games be fully vaccinated?

Agree.

And how is Japan so lousy at testing?

Such faith in the vaccine.

Why?

Because I understand things you don't understand or choose not to understand.

I don't know Uncle B, maybe because the vaccines work, as much as you wish they didn't.

We’re any of these people that are complaining about the Olympics now in favor of Tokyo hosting 10 years ago or have they always been anti Olympics?

Woke up.

Respect the wishes of another country/culture. It is a "foreign culture" AND they are not white, so they are, de facto, right, no matter what.

Why do you all want to force yourselves on this country?

What? Yeah, they originally said Yes, but now they say No. Woke up! You not suggesting raping them, are you?

(I get the feeling that being woke and sleep walking are synonymous.)

Move it to the UK ffs

All the vulnerable vaccinated, most other people have had at least one dose. Barely 10 deaths a day which is negligible on a 60mill population. Things are pretty much back to normal already. If anything Soho was *more* busy than normal yesterday. It's all over here. It's done. Just give the athletes the vaccine when they arrive if they're flying in from India or USA or wherever.

The whole world can't wait for the slow countries.

Kwasi Ezreke wrote:

Move it to the UK ffs

All the vulnerable vaccinated, most other people have had at least one dose. Barely 10 deaths a day which is negligible on a 60mill population. Things are pretty much back to normal already. If anything Soho was *more* busy than normal yesterday. It's all over here. It's done. Just give the athletes the vaccine when they arrive if they're flying in from India or USA or wherever.

The whole world can't wait for the slow countries.

+1

If the Japanese are so worried why is only 1% of the population vaccinated? They dropped the ball bigtime. Get it done or let the UK or someone else host.

Yes give the games to the egoist and individualist countries while a country like India record 300.000 cases by day.

That’s just one man’s slant on things.

I don't even live in Japan and don't want these Olympics to happen. The world doesn't need an event like this during or just after a pandemic. We should boycott the 2022 Winter games because China is a terrible country doing terrible things so see everyone in 2024.

We skipped the Olympics for 2 World Wars, we can skip them for this

Yesterday’s New York Times has more discouraging information on the lack of public health measures that will be in place, if and when the Games go ahead. A part of the “plan” is that neither the Japanese athletes nor any volunteers will be vaccinated. Some highlights from the article:

For protection against the Covid virus, the 78,000 Tokyo Olympic Games volunteers are being offered little more than a couple of cloth masks, a bottle of sanitizer and mantras about social distancing.

Volunteers have been left largely on their own to figure out how to avoid infection because much of the planning has been seat-of-the-pants.

There are a lot of people who are not protected at all and not even being tested. Organizers are not considering prioritizing Japan’s Olympic athletes for vaccination, much less volunteers.

The Olympic organizers will not have the resources to monitor for adherence to the rules, which include wearing masks, avoiding dining in restaurants and staying off public transit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/02/world/asia/olympics-volunteers-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=2

And now The Guardian on resistance in Japan to the Games taking away desperately needed healthcare workers from the public health system, and how those workers are resisting. Some highlights:

Japan’s medical community warned that the Olympics could place an intolerable strain on exhausted health workers. The Japan Olympic Committee asked 500 nurses to volunteer at the Games, a request that prompted anger and was denied. Olympic officials say 10,000 medical workers will be needed during the Games. Where these will come from is not clear.

Medical staff say their professional focus must remain on coronavirus patients. Osaka prefecture has run out of beds for seriously ill patients and others spend hours waiting in ambulances.

The Medical Workers’ Union said “we must stop the proposal to send nurses … to volunteer at the Olympics.” “I am furious at the insistence on staging the Olympics despite the risk to patients’ and nurses’ health and lives.”

Many medical workers have yet to be vaccinated and unprotected medical staff fear contracting the virus while treating patients or administering vaccines.

Yet the IOC and Tokyo organizers continue to insist that it will be possible to put on a “safe and secure Olympics in 81 days’ time.”

Haruo Ozaki, head of the Tokyo Medical Association, has said it will be “extremely difficult” to hold the Olympics. “We have heard enough of the spiritual argument about wanting the Games,” Ozaki said. “It is extremely difficult to hold them without increasing infections, both inside and outside Japan.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/may/03/japan-nurses-voice-anger-at-call-to-volunteer-for-tokyo-olympics-amid-covid-crisis

Yesterday’s Washington Post has more bad news (many would call it realistic) for the Covid-19 Games in Tokyo. The biggest barrier to a successful Olympics is Japan’s rejection of innovation and change:

Japan has just 1.6% of the population vaccinated, on a par with Myanmar and is dead last among wealthy nations. This dismal performance…is challenging basic notions about whether Japan can change at all.

Prime Minister Suga bet on a Japan-developed vaccine, but none was developed.

And Japan can’t use foreign-made vaccines until long and complicated studies are done in Japan, not in any other country. Only one vaccine has received approval.

And Japanese can only get vaccinated by a doctor – no CVS or Walgreens – reflecting Japan’s “insularity, red tape, bloat, opacity and aversion to foreign ideas.”

Now Japan faces flopping on the world stage. With the jumble of rules constantly changing, no one really knows about testing, quarantine and contact-tracing protocols.

Even the torch relay has cancelled some legs, and last week at least six relay staff were diagnosed with covid-19.

The WaPo concludes: “Japan has left the Olympics vulnerable…the 80,000 athletes and support staff are set to arrive this summer in one of the world’s most densely populated cities from all corners of the globe where they can mix and match viral variants. Gee, what could go wrong?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/04/why-is-japan-failing-so-badly-vaccinations/?utm_campaign=wp_todays_worldview&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_todayworld&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F322ead4%2F6092174a9d2fdae302434332%2F596b5325ae7e8a44e7d58d96%2F51%2F75%2F6092174a9d2fdae302434332

The Unkle wrote:

Such faith in the vaccine.

Why?

Because he's not a dope.

Now a column in the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/05/05/japan-ioc-olympic-contract/

Kwasi Ezreke wrote:

Move it to the UK ffs

All the vulnerable vaccinated, most other people have had at least one dose. Barely 10 deaths a day which is negligible on a 60mill population. Things are pretty much back to normal already. If anything Soho was *more* busy than normal yesterday. It's all over here. It's done. Just give the athletes the vaccine when they arrive if they're flying in from India or USA or wherever.

The whole world can't wait for the slow countries.

I actually agree with this. If Japan ends up incapable of hosting, move it to the UK or the US, where everyone who wants a vaccine will already have had one and we have the infrastructure to host giant athletic events with little preparation.