Not good. Japan is starting to match the US daily covid deaths, with only 1/2 the population.

Those are some rookie numbers /s. On a more serious note, it isn't really surprising, given the older population, is it?

Much older population though

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Do you mean matching now or during other periods?

They went through a long time being way way below the US.

Having an acceleration that matches the US at one point doesn't really tell any long term tale.

“It’s just the flu we don’t need masks or restrictions any more” /s

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Have you been to Japan? Many wore masks everywhere even before pandemic.

He is probably referencing the fact that Japan has said they will downgrade covid-19 to flu status, which means masks aren't encouraged as much any more and businesses don't have to require them.

Also the whole "everyone wears a mask in Japan" was kind of blown out of proportion. Before Covid some people wore masks due to flu season or allergies, but it was probably like 1% or less of the population.

Is that in the article somewhere?

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I’ve lived in Japan almost a decade. I’m referring to all the idiots (mostly expats) who keep dismissing the risks of covid that are still very much real.

No it's just a talking point to minimize the seriousness of the pandemic.

Yeah I get it. When I was last in Japan i would say maybe 30% of the time I saw someone without a mask they were a foreigner. The others are mostly the elderly who just don't care.

Given foreigners make up a tiny fraction of Japan's population, that 30% is significant. I'm in PH now and I would bet less than 25% of white people I see wear masks.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2119266119

Peer reviewed research says you’re wrong.

I heard 100 year old +

At least in Tokyo they're still very much expected everywhere inside and even walking on the sidewalks. Big cities' schools are expecting them to be worn as well.

You got downvoted for raising a completely valid and logical point. Reddit at work!

Seriously though, I don't know the answer, but I'd love to hear one.

I should have clarified that my second point about masks was prior to covid. Most people still wear them here (probably 90% but it varies on neighborhood and time of day) now because of covid.

The government is making pushes for April/May for less restrictions, but I think most people will still continue to wear them.

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Rookie numbers, gotta get them up.

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>It's time to face the fact that masks have zero effect on the transmission of an airborne virus as contagious as the current variants of Covid -19.

What logic are you using to come to that conclusion? Just because people are wearing masks and there is still covid transmission? Covid transmission might be 100x worse if they didn't wear masks.

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A cloth mask with gaps in it isn’t going to do anything anyway. If people want to actually protect themselves against COVID, they should use respirators with high quality filters

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> A cloth mask with gaps in it isn’t going to do anything anyway.

Why is this being downvoted? If you can see your mouth and/or nose, your floppy cloth mask is not a "magic virus shield".

Because the average person isn’t capable of critical thinking

This news prompted me to look up US stats. Apparently there have been 15,000 deaths in the past month. Ofc, Japan now has more deaths/capita but it just goes to show how the pandemic is still very much alive but as long we are not locked down and the media doesn't talk about it, it is like an alternate reality.

Had no lockdowns been instituted in the first place, perhaps there wouldn't have been any need for that much of an economic hit and the debt fuelled stimulus spendings.

If anything people overestimate the risk for young people vs old.

This shows how pointless restrictions are unless you want to keep them forever.

Well, we don't. Maybe Japan does.

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Didn't the Japanese Ministry of Health just declare an official end to the necessity of public mask wearing? Whoops.

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Because most masks you can't see your mouth or nose even with minimal gaps, and masks aren't generally protecting YOU they're just preventing your spittle from your mouth from getting in people's eyes and shit. So it's bringing up an argument nobody is really making in order to dismiss mask use at all while focusing on a hyper specific example.

I wear an N95 that fits perfectly with no gaps and I still don't expect it to do anything to protect me, it's to lower the odds of getting someone ELSE sick from me.

Had no lockdowns been instituted before vaccines or even masks were a viable option way more people would have died which would have hit the economy significantly worse and likely would have lead to even more "debt fueled stimulus spendings."

If mask mandates and social distancing were enforced with no lockdowns, would the situation really be that much worse?

Vaccines would have eventually come out too.

Ultimately, politicians saw other countries locking down and FOMO'd. If I rememeber the head of the swedish public health authority pretty much reached this conclusion and he and the govenrment were attacked by panicky folks.

For those of us who wfh, the impact of the lockdowns may not seem like much. But there are many people whose lives and small businesses have forever been impacted by them. I seriously don't think any government would want to lockdown over any pandemic in future after this.

> For those of us who wfh, the impact of the lockdowns may not seem like much. But there are many people whose lives and small businesses have forever been impacted by them

I can't speak to other countries, but "muh small businessmen" in the US got insanely generous handouts, many of which were almost entirely forgiven without question.

I understand the whole "DAE literally everyone on the planet just became a total pussy in Spring of 2020 when they shoulda sacked up and dealt with it?", but medical supplies aren't infinite. Or did you forget that whole part of it? I'm real sorry some shithead had their Mom and Pop bowling ally closed down, but everyone was dealing with some shit at the time and "idk maybe most of us are gonna be ok..." sounded as stupid then as it does now.

Yeah, but the US has had 1.1 million total deaths. In Japan we've had under 70k.

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I guess the population density is also way bigger, although I don't know if that matters that much

I think so. And gymnasiums/arenas/stadiums are planned to be back to full attendance soon.

COVID 19 is a leading cause of death for children and young people in the USA so I'm going to disagree. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/978052

Edit: I said "the" not "a", sue me. Still a boat load of morons trying to underplay the seriousness of the pandemic. It's a big deal and it's not only old people who die and even if it was, it would still be a big deal.

🦗🦗🦗

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Alot of my female coworkers wore mask because they didn't want to do makeup lol

The numbers were going up this whole time?

How many deaths from vaccination? /s

I think it was more, went to Tokyo in 2019 and it was rare to jump on a subway wagon and not see at least a couple people with masks, even if it wasn’t crowded. Though outside of Tokyo it’s probably less common.

That said, anti-mask protests got quite wild in 2021, for some bizarre reason

Kinda makes sense since foreigners are exposed to a global news cycle where COVID is now mostly an old topic, while Japan handled it differently and ended up with a bit of a delayed pandemic cycle

It says eighth

Lovely. I fly out to Japan on the 7th for 3 weeks.

Number 1 for deaths caused by infections though

>COVID 19 is the leading

Not quite

COVID 19 is a leading cause of death. No reason to exaggerate, it is serious enough of an issue without misinformation

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