Why are Italy and New York so bad when Japan and South Korea seem to not be spiking like crazy?

As of this week, South Korea has tested less than 0.6% of their population. You are fake news.

Below is a report from a friend in Canada:

Here there are lines 6 feet apart in all stores in the floor to show where to stand in line, they restrict shopping between 7 am and 10 am to folks over 65 and all public buses board from the rear and are now free.

Hand sanitized is on every tree it seems.

If you are tested and are positive and you are caught out, $10,000 fine . if you are suppose to quarantine and do not same thing.

Schools closed 2 weeks ago will not be reopening till the fall. All bars, restaurants, theatres , etc have been closed for 2 weeks now.

Simple: because Italy and NYC are full of unhealthy Europeans.

Japan had a lot going against it:

An elderly population

Lots of smokers

High population density

Heavy use of public transportation where they pack in like sardines every morning

A ship packed with COVID docked in Tokyo that was visited regularly by Japanese doctors who were not themselves tested

Poor nationwide testing

Minimal effort to lock down - only a few major tourist attractions were closed, restaurants and bars are still open

Limited travel restrictions - they limited people coming fromWuhan, but allowed travelers from other parts of China

One of the earliest countries to see community spread

And they have one thing going for them: everyone wears masks. Especially now, but even in an ordinary spring, 1/3 of Japanese will be wearing masks either to guard against seasonal allergies or prevent the spread of colds and flu. Now, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Tokyo not wearing a mask, and the English language papers remind westerners in Japan to mask up.

Here in the US we had a lot going for us, but the government told us not to wear masks because they said masks don’t work (oh, and save them for medical personnel because somehow masks do work for them).

And here we are.

Gaijin wrote:

but the government told us not to wear masks because they said masks don’t work (oh, and save them for medical personnel because somehow masks do work for them).

And here we are.

When you and your citizens are buying masks from the same source (China) and you aren't able to get them for hospital workers, you'll make up all kinds of lies.

Another possibility is: maybe they've already had it and are mostly immune. China's "patient zero" had no connection to the bat market, so it could have originated anywhere. And this virus has put up low enough numbers in most countries that it could easily blend in with the ordinary flu season without being noticed. Only when it migrated to China and caused a big enough cluster of cases right under the noses of a bunch of virologists did it get identified, sequenced and named.

Vietnam is another one. They had reported cases very early after China. Now they have 113 and no deaths.

Excellent points. I've been following the Japanese situation closely - a little over 1,100 cases and a few dozen deaths. All with this an aging population - 26% of the total population is over 65!

"Look around Tokyo now, and you’ll see no such scene has unfolded. Despite the cancellation of sports events, the closure of schools, and the shutting down of some, but not all, larger entertainment venues, much of Japan continues as normal. There is no quarantine and no enforced closures of bars or restaurants. Even clubs (easy places to get sick at the best of times) remain open."

"If you want to eat ramen at 4 a.m., fine. If you get on the subway, you’ll see it slightly emptier, but still heaving. If you want to rent a car and drive from one end of the country and back again, do it — there’s nothing stopping you. Which means there’s very little stopping the spread of the disease either."

And you're right - just about everyone over there is wearing a mask. Here's a recent video of downtown Tokyo with people out & about (starts @ 7:00 in):

:

Actor Daniel Kim took "TamiFlu, the antibiotic Azithromycin, a Glycopyrrolate inhaler, and the antimalarial drug Hydroxychloroquine".

In Japan it’s part masks and part lower testing rates. Japanese wear masks for cold and flu season and allergy season. But unlike the American idea that you mainly wear the mask to protect yourself, they wear the

mask in part out of courtesy to others. It is rude if you have a cold to go to work, school, or out in public without a mask on. They know that masks don’t prevent you from getting another person’s cold. But, they are taught even though it isn’t 100% effective, it does decrease the chance of transmission. My hunch is that when the virus first showed up from China it had a harder time bouncing around Japan because of the masks. Japan’s current problem is overconfidence due to the reported infections being relatively low. The virus has started popping up at places where masks aren’t typically worn, like live music venues. And, they announced that the nationwide K-12 schools are opening soon. They could easily get a second wave if they don’t stay vigilant.

I honestly think that gloves are more effective than masks. I wear them to shop for sure, then dispose.

YMMV wrote:

I honestly think that gloves are more effective than masks. I wear them to shop for sure, then dispose.

CDC says surface contact (more than aerosol transmission) is the bigger risk.

japantraveler wrote:

My hunch is that when the virus first showed up from China

... they said, "welcome back!"

Nobody ever proved the virus originated in China. That's just where they started tracking it. It could have flown in on a plane. Maybe from Japan. Maybe from Germany! It could have been around quite a while already.

A confirmed case of the novel coronavirus emerged on 17 November 2019, according to 13 March 2020 reports of official Chinese government sources,[8] but was not recognized at that time. There may have been earlier patients; the search for them continues.[9][10][11]

1 December

The first known patient started experiencing symptoms on 1 December 2019. He had not been to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market of Wuhan. No epidemiological link could be found between this case and later cases.

A Hungry, Violent Mob wrote:

YMMV wrote:

I honestly think that gloves are more effective than masks. I wear them to shop for sure, then dispose.

CDC says surface contact (more than aerosol transmission) is the bigger risk.

Yeah, surface/skin-to-hand-to-face seems to be the major route of transmission. I don't think this message is really emphasized enough.

coach wrote:

I’m starting to tire of the hysteria wrote:

This politicizing of the crisis weakens your argument. As does the over-the-top hysteria.

I guess it works on Trump-hating leftists, but fair-minded people are still not sure if we should wreck our economy and throw millions into financial distress based on so many unknowns.

Why did Trump cave in?

re: politicizing weakens your argument

Fair point; very true.

re: Why did Trump cave in?

I don't know.

Two (wild) guesses

- Someone who seemed knowledgeable told him that his poll numbers would fall unless he tried to lead

- Or, someone told him that his hotels were losing money

Ding ding ding. Winner winner chicken dinner.

A friend in Japan says they are all in on trying to cover up the deaths they are experiencing and they purposely are not testing many so as to keep the numbers low so they can make the case to host the Olympics still.

Once the Games are cancelled in a day or 2 you will see them start to release real numbers.

Track Blazer wrote:

Ding ding ding. Winner winner chicken dinner.

A friend in Japan says they are all in on trying to cover up the deaths they are experiencing and they purposely are not testing many so as to keep the numbers low so they can make the case to host the Olympics still.

Once the Games are cancelled in a day or 2 you will see them start to release real numbers.

I love all these anonymous conspiracy theories designed to frighten people. You're doing a bang up job. Keep going. See how many people's lives you can ruin.

YMMV wrote:

Assist feel wrote:

Asians are uber.....

No smokers and no obese.

Japanese men smoke a lot, but eat lots of meat, fish and eggs, are hygenic and are not obese. Also restricted entry of Chinese during the Wuhan phase I would guess.

The Japanese and Koreans are most likely lying. Period.

That is really interesting UK guy. Thank you for posting it. Patient 31 is selfish as fukk.

Japan and Korea realized that lockdowns slow the spread to the point that you never develop herd immunity. Opening the doors speeds the spread but minimizes the total infections as a result because healthy people cause a herd immunity. Immunity of everyone is higher when getting sunlight and exercise and human interaction.