Opening Up. If not now, WHEN?

[Mike J]

6 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Japan tends to be very conservative, and their "state of emergency" probably equates to GECQ here in PH.  I think they are biting the bullet harder because of the Olympics.  They will probably lose a ton of money hosting the Olympics without many visitors and spectators, but the last thing they want is for their Olympics to goes down as the starting point for another outbreak that spreads back to other countries when the guests leave.

Their recent numbers are not all that bad.  Maybe the recent small uptick in cases is for Tokyo.

  

 

It really is a tough call to make.  As you indicate the numbers are still small in relation to the past but they are trending up.   Japan leaders look at what happened the previous two trends and do not want to see that again.  The irony is that if the lockdown works and no big upturn there is no way to really determine if the lockdown worked, so the critics will claim "see it was never necessary".   Basically the government, like those around the world, are in a no win situation,  any choice is fraught with danger. 

[Guy F.]

"

MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic managers are cold to the proposal to extend quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and other areas deemed at high risk to COVID-19 until yearend, as doing so would keep hunger and joblessness high.

Instead, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua on Monday (July 12) sought to continue managing pandemic risks while speeding up mass vaccination to protect not only lives but also livelihoods from the threat posed by more contagious virus variants which forced recent lockdowns in neighboring countries.

"

Quoted from https://business.inquirer.net/326895/duterte-economic-team-cold-to-prolonging-gcq-in-ncr-high-risk-areas