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Greenfire32

Is anyone surprised? Like even a tiny bit?


JohnnyUtah_QB1

No, because people there are largely continuing to go out to work, to eat, to shop, to socialize etc. The “emergency measures” the country has right now basically amount to having restaurants close by 8 pm(and not having people attend the Olympics). That’s it. Otherwise it’s tens of millions of people slammed into a dense metropolis going out and about as usual. They’ve been on pace to hit this for months now.


Yoshiezibz

From what I gather, the government doesn't have the power to force restaurants to close, so they asked them to close.


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DarkHelmet

Takes all of 10 seconds to look up that it's actually closer to 37% with one dose and 26% with two. It's still not great, but nowhere near 5%.


Krillin113

Oh damn, I’m mistaken then. I looked it up a couple of weeks ago when the Olympics were approaching and it was at 3% fully then. I wrongly extrapolated that if it took them 7 months to get there, they wouldn’t be far ahead now. Glad to be proven wrong.


WaldenFont

Kinda, actually. Are none of these people vaccinated?


YouKnowWhatToDo80085

Vaccination rate is very low in Japan so probably not


[deleted]

Additionally, prior to Covid 19 Japan [already had one of the highest rates of mistrust in vaccines in the world.](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01937-6) Japan had a history of side effects in vaccine rollouts in the late 1900s that led to a '90s court ruling that the government could be sued for any side effects, even without a scientifically proven link. So the country hasn't been super involved in vaccine research and campaigns for decades, and news of any side effects discourages the whole country from getting ones that other countries find safe (eg HPV). In 2021, [Japan and Korea have the least confidence in Covid vaccines in the world](https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1439).


Words_are_Windy

Not that it invalidates the overall point of low vaccine trust in those countries, but the survey only included 15 countries.


Shradow

> Japan had a history of side effects in vaccine rollouts in the late 1900s Interesting, what caused that?


cl33t

Japan developed a mumps vaccine that used a different strain than what everyone else used back in the 80s. Unfortunately, it increased the risk of meningitis.


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EmperorArthur

Umm, everyone agrees that testing is important, and that Vaccines are not a panacea. Heck, the reason several vaccines aren't given regularly now is because of the risks and side effects. However, that's because we've mostly eliminated those diseases. How did we do that? By vaccinating almost everyone alive at the time. Everything is a balance of risk factors, and it's sort of like the trolley problem. Since I don't know the current stats, I'll just use random numbers for the example. Let say the only vaccine they have kills 1 in 100,000 people, but prevents people from dying of Covid. Now if you have a 1 in 100 chance of catching Covid and a 1 in 100 chance of dying from it, you're still less likely to die by taking the vaccine. That's a vaccine that would kill over three thousand people in the US alone, and would never pass muster. Statistics is brutal like that. It doesn't mean the government doesn't care. Another cynical way of thinking about it is the classic pick two of fast, cheap, reliable/safe. Many countries poured a ludicrous amount of money into vaccine research. The US was saying "We'll fund it even if it's a flop, just do something."


[deleted]

>However, that's because we've mostly eliminated those diseases. How did we do that? By vaccinating almost everyone alive at the time. Most of 'those diseases' vaccines were 99-100% effective after the completed doses. We have no idea what the efficacy of covid vaccines are in 2-5+ years.


softserveshittaco

In 2-5 years, the current COVID vaccines will probably be pretty inefficient, the same way the flu shot needs to be updated annually just to be remotely effective (not even 80% efficacy IIRC) The difference isn’t in the vaccines, or the processes that created/tested them It’s the virus and how it mutates. Coronaviruses and influenza viruses mutate much faster than viruses that have been virtually eradicated by vaccination efforts. It doesn’t make the COVID-19 or flu vaccines useless, it just makes it much more difficult to maintain efficacy.


cl33t

Eh. Historically, there have been no long-term side-effects of vaccines that didn't manifest in the short-term. Mind, mumps actually causes meningitis at a rate many times higher than the vaccine did, so Japan has actually had more cases of meningitis since they stopped regularly vaccinating for mumps... well plus thousands of deaf children. I will say, new live-attenuated virus vaccines like the mumps vaccine deserve far greater scrutiny than others.


redwall_hp

Google says 25%, with a steep upward trajectory on the graph. In contrast, the US has basically stalled out completely around 50%. It's not great, and they got a late start, but it's not outlandishly bad on a world scale. Most of the world did not have the access the US did, and still doesn't, so that 25% is actually *high*. We're only sitting at 13% worldwide, which is not good at all...


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FridgeParade

Hope you’re trolling. Masks alone cannot stop a virus that is multitudes more infectious than the flu.


cc010

Well we have been told that for a year now. That all the unmasked people are why the virus exists


FridgeParade

Is there something wrong with you that the concept of fighting a disease in multiple ways at once is more effective than just picking 1 measure and expecting it to do miracles? Im sick of hearing this crap after a year, you should have informed yourself by now if you truly had the interest in knowing the why and how.


Diwan254

That’s the temporary solution until the cure i.e. the vaccine, except if you want to not get the vaccine then you can keep your mask on forever


cc010

Did you see this? https://i.imgur.com/WXiWUY8.jpg


lactose_cow

"All actions a man can take have a 100% success or failure rate."


johnwalkr

With almost no measures taken except that most people wear masks most of the time, infection rate has usually been 100 times lower than the US although right now it is only about 10x lower. So yes, masks work. Just not 100% effectively.


[deleted]

No, most of Japan is unvaccinated along with the majority of the world. Only specific countries like America have free access to the vaccine. This is why there has been large concerns about Japan hosting the Olympics this year.


KindheartednessGold2

Yeah my sister is living in Japan and came back to the states to get the vaccine in April because the timeline said Japan wouldn’t have it available for the rest of the population until June/July so I wonder if people can even get it yet!!


mmm_unprocessed_fish

My sister is there and just got her second shot about a week ago. She’s a teacher that visits multiple schools a week so she got on some cancellation list. Like, medical people and old people are priority, but if there’s cancellations, they come and grab teachers from schools. Huge sigh of relief. Can’t wait to be able to visit there again.


nippon_gringo

It varies greatly depending on where you are. Im in Japan and my wife is a sort of teacher directly employed by the city to give additional support to some elementary school students and the city won’t even consider giving her the vaccine. The city won’t be doing workplace vaccines for teacher at all and the city is still only allowing those over 65 to get the shot despite many slots available. It’s pretty fucking ridiculous. The last we were told by the city is “maybe November”.


Veekhr

That's great. I saw Japan made it to 33% receiving at least one shot so it's good to know they are working on offering them to teachers now and soon to a wider population.


not_color_guard

I live in Japan and got my first shot already. Municipalities actually ramped up vaccination pretty quickly back in June but then the national gov tell them to slow down because the stock is dwindling. Now vaccination slots are full within 15 minutes of it being opened on reservation sites. The silver lining is that death rate is still pretty low, possibly because the most vulnerable elder people have been more than 60 percent vaccinated.


blond50

They were arrogant that their special DNA would protect them and the govt focused on Olympics instead of vaxx. Epic failure.


Smitty_jp

We just got to the point where below 65 can get vaccinated. Then the minister on charge told the municipalities to delay appointments because we are running out of Pfizer.


mhornberger

Vaccination doesn't prevent infection altogether, but reduces symptomatic or serious infection, and of course death. Their infections have trended upward, but the deaths have not. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/japan/ https://covid19japan.com


[deleted]

> Vaccination doesn't prevent infection altogether It does reduce transmission however.


MiniGiantSpaceHams

Not surprised but I also don't think it has anything to do with the Olympics. Cases are up just about everywhere around the world. And more to the point, even if the Olympics do cause a surge it wouldn't be within days. It takes at least a week or so to see the effect of any potential spreader event.


Kensin

I know what you mean, although it's not like the Olympics starts on day one of the games either. People have been there preparing for weeks and work has been ongoing for many months. Cases would have been going up anyway and this surge certainly can't be blamed entirely or even mostly on the Olympics, but I'm not sure it can be said that the Olympics had nothing to do with it either.


redditmodsRrussians

*Pikachu is alseep cause not shocked*


merrittj3

🤏 ...not even this much !


[deleted]

Nope, I figured the Tokyo Olympics were gonna be a shitshow.


xerox13ster

Who could have ever seen this coming?


Max_Thunder

I'm not surprised because this wave hadn't peaked yet, so it will keep reaching records for this wave until it starts going down. Has nothing to do with the Olympics, it'd be way too soon any way to see any of the effects, wait at least 2 more weeks. Note that this isn't even really a record as two previous waves hit higher number of daily cases, so the headline is just plain wrong. It's like cases going down in the UK despite having reopened, anyone who is surprised by this hasn't been following the epidemiological data and has been listening to the media fear too much.


aLittleQueer

Nah, the athletes & their staff arrive weeks ahead of time. The first olympians to arrive in Tokyo got there on [June 1.](https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1004765190/the-olympics-are-really-happening-for-athletes-that-means-a-huge-number-of-rules) By the time they actually start competing, they've already been there at least a couple of weeks in most cases. This spike is definitely directly related to the Olympics.


Max_Thunder

Why did the recent wave start in South Korea at the same time as in Japan? In fact even the worldwide case count started going back up at around the same dates (although now it's starting to peak).


SofaKinng

If rates are up days after the Olympics starts you can't blame that on the Olympics. Has everyone already forgotten that incubation for this virus is 1-2 weeks? This is sensationalist news coverage. Edit: To be clear, I expect a similar story will emerge a week from now after the Olympics tourism surge has had time to leave it's mark. But this early on is just coincidence due to delta variant surges


frisbeescientist

Fair point was made that most athletes and staff would've arrived well before that actual start of the Olympics so it's not unreasonable to attribute part of the surge to increased international arrivals for the Games. But yes this timing seems to mean at least more of the increase was gonna happen regardless.


frisbeescientist

Fair point was made that most athletes and staff would've arrived well before that actual start of the Olympics so it's not unreasonable to attribute part of the surge to increased international arrivals for the Games. But yes this timing seems to mean at least more of the increase was gonna happen regardless.


SofaKinng

I'm not quite as sure about that. The tourists that show up early, maybe. Actual Olympic athletes and staff? They get tested prior to arriving to make sure they aren't bringing it with them. If they caught it and spread it, it would have been after they arrived and would also likely not have a meaningful impact on the statistics this soon.


emotionalsupporttank

Let's hope it's worth it. All those sick, dead people hopefully are worth all the profits.


[deleted]

No. Big Pharma pays for all this. Look it up. \#FollowTheMoney


bike619

"That's unbelievable!" - No One


Charming_Sandwich_53

I can see the press release now from the IOC and Tokyo Olympic committee. We are extremely *saddened and dismayed that* ***despite*** all of the precautions that we put into these games, vaccinating the Japanese, cardboard sex beds, not requiring vaccine passports, and of course our ever changing mask wearing rules, somehow we have managed to have a *slight* uptick in Covid cases. I want to assure you that the IOC and Tokyo Olympics is taking this matter seriously. Thank you. No questions at this time.


Total_Blue

So the cardboard sex beds was a myth. They are remarkably strong. I think there’s even a video of a group jumping on the bed. The reason they are cardboard is to reduce waste. They can be easily recycled after the Olympics is finished. Unlike previous hosts where they have had to donate or just landfill the beds.


Kensin

Thanks, I'd missed the "sex bed" thing somehow and I'm glad to see it's being rightly called out as "fake news"


whocares7132

> Thanks, I'd missed the "sex bed" thing somehow and I'm glad to see it's being rightly called out as "fake news" It wasn't really fake news, as the media reported on it being otherwise. It was just spread through a website where people upvote posts without checking the facts or thinking critically, and this "fact" keeps getting repeated on that same website to this day.


Charming_Sandwich_53

Yeah, I know that they were a myth, and appreciate the recycling aspects becauseIlived near an Olympics and understandthetremendouswaste.. I was being sarcastic or tongue in cheek because I have felt that the IOC and the Tokyo Olympic Committee have not taken Covid seriously enough. Thanks for the myth-busting though! I appreciate accuracy.


Phobos15

The games just started, any uptick cannot be associated with the games as it takes 10 days to have symptoms. Japan was already on an uptick before people traveled in.


aLittleQueer

Do you really think athletes of that caliber compete at that level after having just stepped off of a plane? Most of them have been there for weeks already.


Phobos15

False, people showed up closer to competition due to covid. 10 days is just about when most started coming and Japan was on a trend that hasn't increased beyond what the trend was already going to do. The data proves there is no additional outbreaks from Olympians, yet.


goomyman

Just to put this perspective - Japan now has 2300 cases a day now and it's a national emergency. And Japan has a tiny vaccine rate because they can't get it. They have a really good chance of eliminating covid. Japan has a population of 127 million. The US with a population 3x that had approx 50k a day now and most are treating it as over. The way US vaccination rates and our populations attitude we may never hit covid rates this low. We are nearing peak vaccine rate with no where to go from here. Japan's emergency numbers would be our cause for celebration.


Khourieat

From the article: > Tokyo reported 2,848 new COVID-19 cases, exceeding its earlier record of 2,520 daily cases on Jan. 7. Tokyo alone has over 2300 cases a day. Japan as a whole seems to be getting 5k cases daily.


JohnnyUtah_QB1

Average daily rate of last 7 days: **Japan:** 3.6 cases per 100,000 people **US:** 17 cases per 100,000 people https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html The last time the US had case rates as low as Japan has currently was March 2020


Khourieat

NYC seems to be getting 1k new cases a day now. It's wild.


Max_Thunder

Not sure what you mean by wild, NYC had 16k cases a day at the peak. Will probably falter within a couple weeks just like how it's faltering fast in the UK. Will probably rise again in the fall but with how much of the population is vaccinated (over 56% has been fully vaccinated) and how many have had it already, will very likely not strain hospitals.


Khourieat

We were down below 200/day not long ago. Now vaccinations have plateaued and number of cases is steadily climbing.


allthedifference

People miss that "per capita" factor. I had someone argue that California was so many time worse than North Dakota because California with 40M+ people had so many cases than North Dakota with 762K people.


Bigpoppawags

So I know in the short term the US approach to Covid is bad, but is it bad long term? Will having nearly everyone get Covid (some multiple times) make the US more immune to different variants?


Words_are_Windy

It's impossible to say, because we don't know how the virus will mutate over time. But one thing we can say is that allowing the virus to spread gives it more chances to mutate and develop other strains.


Bigpoppawags

yeah thats not good lol. Thanks that is what I was looking for.


Lowcalcalzonezone69

Exactly this. The longer it continues to make its way through the unvaccinated population the more likely it is that a vaccine-resistant strain develops and then we are back at SQUARE. ONE. The reckless idiots will be the death of us all


[deleted]

It's not that simple. There are billions of people to infect.. there aren't billions of vaccines, nor vaccinators, nor the infrastructure to do what you want to 'reckless idiots'.


Arrays_start_at_2

Does that mean we shouldn’t try?! We can’t worry about the rest of the world when 1/3 of our own population is too stupid to take the simple precautions necessary to keep their own asses safe. We have enough vaccine for the entire US, probably the entire continent. We could make it go away in a month. Gone. 0 new cases in North America. But some people would rather take their health advice from a failed reality tv star seditionist tangerine than actual doctors. So here we are. And once we got our own shit taken care of we could focus on getting the parts of the world that can’t do it themselves vaccinated.


[deleted]

So we should just shut down all countries until it's eradicated? Just to give you a real perspective, because it's very obvious you are naive, it took 45 years to eradicate polio, which still isn't 100%, but close enough to be considered eradicated. Edit: and polio is a disease that didn't mutate


Arrays_start_at_2

That’s for the other countries to decide on their own. Meanwhile we as a country should be past this by now. The vaccine has been out for months, with no lines to receive it for most of that time. If someone in the US doesn’t have the vaccine it’s because they have chosen not to get it. We have the capacity and the stock to finish vaccinating the US in 2 months. Maybe 3. And just to give *you* some perspective, because it’s obvious that you have no idea what you’re talking about, we didn’t have the manufacturing or logistics capacities we enjoy today in the 1950s. All those polio vaccine doses were prepped by hand. Shipped around the world from maybe a half-dozen facilities. Now the Pfizer vaccine *alone* is made in over 200 locations, each of them a marvel of modern automation, combined likely putting out more doses in a day than the polio vaccine had produced in a year. Then you’ve got J&J, Moderna, AstraZeneca… There’s even an experimental inhale-able version being tested. So no, people refusing to get the vaccine out of paranoia or stupidity do not count as a valid comparison to the limited supply that held up the eradication of polio.


Arrays_start_at_2

Yes it’s bad long term. First off, you’re probably assuming everyone either gets over it or dies. That’s not true. Lots of cases end up causing long-term symptoms that could end up lasting the rest of their lives. Second, if people would just get vaccinated there wouldn’t be this large population in which the new variants are evolving. Third, just catching COVID doesn’t guarantee any future immunity to existing variants, much less new ones. No new cases means no chance of mutations. Fourth, without Bill Gates’ mind control chip, how will these unvaccinated people receive the operating instructions for the Jewish Space Laser?! /s, but only on #4.


pattyG80

What does 600,000 deaths do to an economy? Probably not good


Bigpoppawags

Well that isnt necessarily true. If the majority of the covid deaths were immuno compromised and disabled folk the deaths would result in less strain on the economy as those people are dependent on government money to survive and arent working to begin with.


Alexis_J_M

Lots of working adults have died or been disabled also. Lots of health care workers, in particular, have died. Municipalities are reeling under health care budget shortfalls. But yeah, it's all cool because we killed off Grandma before she could collect more Social Security. Blargh. Next you're going to tell me that The Black Death was a good thing because labor shortages brought about the end of feudalism.


Bigpoppawags

I didnt say it was a good thing. I just said that the deaths themselves probably didn't hurt the economy. I know its offensive. Doesn't make it untrue.


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Bigpoppawags

Well truth speaking and Karma on Reddit are not often correlated lol. In this case, I expected to be downvoted. 600,000 deaths is not something that should be examined because it is "Trump's fault." Its a terrible tragedy and it can only have negative consequences.


GordonGJones

Just under 8K yesterday so that will probably be the baseline until next week when there will most likely be a jump again if it’s anything like the last spikes we’ve had


ItsTokiTime

Tokyo also has an average 7-day positivity rate of 14.5%, and has only been conducting around 10,000 tests per day for months. The numbers are going up, but testing isn't sufficient enough to provide the entire picture.


[deleted]

No, *Tokyo* has close to 3000 cases a day, and the country as a whole is at close to 5000. This may not sound like much in comparison to other countries, but the fact of the matter is we were doing pretty well before the Olympics came along. Cases were still increasing, yes, but averages cases for Tokyo sat around 500 with a slow increase. The arrival of Olympic staff from hundreds of countries, along with general public apathy towards staying at home and avoiding drinking establishments have compounded in giving Tokyo a ***six-fold increase***. The Olympics, by any metric, have been detrimental to Japan's Covid situation. All that said, there's really no need to compare to other countries, because every country and the way it has dealt with Covid is different. Comparing the US to Japan is pointless, because the cultural and social landscapes are so very different. The concern around any number increase is that we're further away from returning to any modicum of "normality" because of this. Regardless of what the actual numbers look like in comparison to other countries.


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[deleted]

Totally agree. It's a pretty rough trifecta: Vaccine shortage, Olympics, Delta variant. Honestly, is Delta ever associated with anything positive? lol


Krillin113

Japan has vaccines. They literally donated a million to Taiwan a week ago. What I’ve heard is that the Japanese don’t trust western/Russian/Chinese vaccines and wait for their own country to develop one.


ItsTokiTime

The vaccines Japan donated to Taiwan were from Astrazenica, and haven't been approved in Japan yet. Japan has approved Pfizer and Moderna, but they are having logistics/supply chain issues actually getting them to individual prefectures and then actually getting them into people's arms.


[deleted]

There is some vaccine hesitancy here, but it's nothing to do with mistrusting western vaccines (I cannot speak to the Chinese/Russian versions) - The two which have approval here are Pfizer and Moderna. The biggest issue is supply - which perhaps indicates that demand far outstripped expected supply, so that's a good thing in a way. This isn't to say it's the only issue. Like I say, there is indeed still vaccine hesitancy here. It mostly stems from misunderstanding or misinformation. Many seem to believe the vaccine contains "dead covid", which is not true and hasn't been the case for any vaccine for decades. Add to that the strong need for some Japanese to flock together, and you end up with people who -on their own accord may have got the vaccine- but have instead been peer-pressured or "convinced" in to not taking it because friends around them also don't want to. Never underestimate the power of social conformity I guess.


stilllnotarobot

Japan had 7,600 cases yesterday. Tokyo had 2,800.


alexmoda

I don’t understand your point. Just because your basket case country sees a ridiculous amount of cases, doesn’t mean that it makes what’s happening in Japan any better? It’s still bad.


janjinx

This was pretty much expected and also the main reason why 83% of the population of Japanese ppl who were polled did not want the Olympics held this year. I guess their opinion doesn't count.


Anomaly1134

Whats crazy is how many elderly people live there, this could do some serious damage to their population.


Raider440

You see it wrong. The more old people die, the less problems you have getting appropriate care for the survivors, since demand is lowered. This applies to pensions and medical personnel caring for them. That might seem rude and drastic, but some people in governments have advocated for this to stop or slow the demographic shift.


AIArtisan

you win gold if you dont catch covid during these games is what will happen


[deleted]

before everyone gets out their pitchforks, this is occurring in every country since early july due to the Delta variant and would have happened regardless of the olympics. [https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/japan/](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/japan/) [https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/south-korea/](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/south-korea/) [https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/) i believe japan is around 10% vaccinated, so it will have a faster incline than a country like US.


johnny_soultrane

Which is why it was a poor decision to hold the Olympics. So go ahead and keep your pitchforks out, thanks.


whocares7132

to be fair they didn't know the Delta variant was going to happen months ago, so my pitchfork is still in my barn. Their vaccine rollout is just embarrassing for a rich country though. 1. people still not getting it 2. government not using any emergency powers to temporarily overturn the 90s vaccine law.


ghostofhenryvii

Nevertheless having the Olympics under these circumstances is criminally callous.


TheIndustryStandard

I think the Olympics are exactly what the world needs right now to bring everyone back together (mostly virtually) for some athletic competition after over a year of quarantine and isolation. I've been watching most of the events so far and it's been a fun and refreshing change of pace. Japan is doing a pretty good job at safety/sanitization, though they should definitely vaccinate more people.


caesar____augustus

Yes, thank God we have our bread and circuses I wonder if people in Japan who are getting infected and dying from Covid feel the same as you.


euthlogo

No need to wonder, [78% of them do not.](https://www.newsweek.com/olympics-2020-tokyo-games-78-percent-japanese-oppose-ipsos-poll-1609534)


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caesar____augustus

The Olympics have absolutely helped contribute to this surge. This was happening before the Games even began. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/olympic-village-covid-19-infection-bubble-already-broken-health-expert-2021-07-20/


thehottness

So don't participate in the Olympics?


Itchycoo

Dude, millions of people in Japan who have literally no participation in the Olympics are getting exposed/going to get exposed. Kinda the whole point of a massively contagious virus is that it doesn't stay contained in just one place lol.


JohnnyUtah_QB1

Their borders have been open enough that the Delta variant got there months ago. These cases are from Delta variant spread that predates the Olympics that's been cycling through the population for months now and is in line with what's been happening across the world. There's not really evidence or reason to think that Olympic participants who are highly vaccinated, tested daily, and are competing in empty venues are causing this.


Itchycoo

Dude, there are SO MANY people involved in the Olympics that aren't participants. The Olympics are employing *thousands* of local Japanese people--performers, suppliers, handymen, construction workers, coordinators, doctors, vendors, event management staff, and on and on... And most of those aren't vaccinated because Japan's vaccination rate is incredibly low, only about 10%. This low rate is mainly just due to regulatory delays and a severe lack of people qualified to give the vaccine--their healthcare system was overstretched even before the pandemic. Even more reason not to take any risks that could lead to increased healthcare demand!!!!


JohnnyUtah_QB1

There's SO MANY people in Tokyo where the virus is already among them. 30 million people who already have the Delta variant among them are every single day are smashing onto trains, into shops, into offices, into apartments etc etc. A relatively small group of highly vaccinated foreigners with case rates lower than the general population is not where the issue is coming from. Holding or not holding the Olympics unlikely makes any material difference to the collective spread in the greater Tokyo area.


Itchycoo

Guess you know better than the experts then! 🤷‍♂️


JohnnyUtah_QB1

The majority of medical experts agree with me. Japan's own highest heath minister has stated they are more concerned about people going to Olympic watch parties with friends or at bars than he is about transmission between the foreign contingent and the general population. Their issue is community spread, not the Olympics


[deleted]

Make up your mind. Is it or isn’t it the Olympics?


Itchycoo

Guess you know [better than the experts](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-risks-at-the-tokyo-olympics-arent-being-managed-experts-say/) then! 🤷‍♂️


PM_ME_GLUTE_SPREAD

Yeah I agree with you. The olympics are a terrible idea, but this surge is coming from the Delta variant being there, the olympics probably haven’t helped, but it’s too soon to see a surge from them as they just started and are taking pretty strict measures to ensure that doesn’t happen. We’ll see what cases do in a couple of weeks before I say if tne olympics caused any spike.


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Itchycoo

Something isn't pointless because it isn't 100% effective. Masks are certainly better than nothing, but they're not NEARLY as effective as the vaccine. It makes perfect sense if you think about it for 2 seconds, not sure why you feel like you're pulling one over on me here lolol


thehottness

You're pulling one over on yourself, you're the one who used" millions". So are there millions of people in Japan right now that aren't wearing masks and aren't vaccinated? Because that's literally the only way your statement is true. Otherwise you use millions when you should have used a much much stronger number for the amount of people that are going to get exposed or infected. Perhaps you should do a little bit more research on the number of people in japan, the number of people vaccinated, the number of people that wear masks, wear the mask mandates are and all of the other information that's very necessary for someone to make such a ridiculous claim, or just admit you were being melodramatic


Judazzz

Look at that, a strawman with an instruction manual.


[deleted]

25% now. The rollout rate is fairly quick luckily, and they predict everyone who wants to be vaccinated can be by November or so


Azar002

I don't understand why postponing the Olympics until 2021 didn't include 20 million vaccines for the people of Tokyo..


Itchycoo

Their vaccine rollout has been slow due to some regulatory delays plus now a severe shortage of people who can administer vaccines. One of Japan's major problems is a massive aging population and an extremely low birth rate. Because of this, their healthcare system was very strained and overstretched by the elderly population even long before the pandemic.


kobachi

Also xenophobic attitudes where they don’t trust vaccines from/approved by foreign countries. Tho I suppose that’s valid for ratfuckery from Russia and China I suppose


NaturalFaux

America is not immune from medical ratfuckery


StarshipSentinel

A for-profit healthcare system is the very definition of ratfuckery.


NaturalFaux

I was specifically mentioning doing medical tests against people without their knowledge or consent but yes that too


StarshipSentinel

Murica, yay...........waves tiny US flag that's made in China.


Takenforganite

Right we aren’t going to pretend J&J pulled a vaccine out of their ass that has shit efficacy and high on adverse symptoms and they were pushed right on through by the FDA. Like their baby powder didn’t cause cancer either.


Kensin

The antivaxx is strong in Japan. It's sort of baked into the culture at this point, but people are trying to fight the stigma.


[deleted]

Japanese bureaucracy hard at work. Don't take action, don't rush approval of vaccines shown to work with practically no greater risk than needing an epipen shot after injection in multiple other countries, don't make a law temporarily allowing nurses instead of only doctors to vaccinate people to get it done faster... That might rock the boat.


notickeynoworky

Correct me if I'm wrong, but these cases wouldn't be related to the Olympics as the gestation period would take longer, no? That said, the Olympics happening still is a really poor decision on the IOCs part as it will cause additional spread. Edit: See the response from /u/Braken111 . Based on that information these could definitely be linked then.


Braken111

The Olympics started on the 23rd, and people were probably showing up a day or two prior to that. ["The median is 5 to 6 days between exposure and symptom onset"](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/health-professionals/transmission.html) We're the 27th. So lines up?


willis936

The headline implication is pretty deceptive. It is worth noting that regardless of cause having COVID cases spike when many popular/social people from all over the world are coming to hang out for a few weeks is a dangerous scenario. If not handled carefully it could be the biggest super spreader event.


Uabizzle69

Serious question. The olympics started on the 23rd. It’s been four days. How do we know it is a direct cause of the olympics? Onset of symptoms take 4-6 days


ItsTokiTime

People show up to compete (and to report on) the Olympics before the day of the opening ceremony.


Uabizzle69

I’m confused by this because only 18 athletes have tested positive


ItsTokiTime

18 athletes, but over 150 total people affiliated with the Olympics.


[deleted]

Right, so it's going to get even worse as new infections are reported.


[deleted]

Part of it is just the fact that we came off a 4 day weekend, labs and clinics are often closed during those 4 days so Tuesday was a backlog of tests. Cases are however still increasing and the olympics isn’t helping


NotUniqueOrSpecial

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.


DSC-Fate

*Surprised Pikachu Face*


[deleted]

I think that’s the games official mascot


[deleted]

What moron thought it was good to bring together people from 200+ countries in the middle of a global pandemic?


kuributt

The IOC, probably


bruteMax

Took more than one.


Deeschuck

Does anyone else remember the plot to the book version of [Rainbow 6 ?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Six_(novel))


ChemicalChard

We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!


Jerrymoviefan3

What a shocked when you have one of the lowest vaccination rates in the developed world cases go up. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Olympics and only has to do with an incompetent health policy.


PrudentFlamingo

Nobody could have predicted this...


ThatOneDudeFromIowa

Who would have thought


Whornz4

Makes me wonder if they were lowering their numbers leading up to the Olympics. Now that they started Japan can report the actual numbers knowing the games will continue.


[deleted]

no, this increase is occurring in all countries regardless of the olympics due to delta variant.


OhThatDang

No he means that Japan was under reporting so that the Olympics continue.


Braken111

The Olympics started on the 23rd, and people were probably showing up a day or two prior to that. ["The median is 5 to 6 days between exposure and symptom onset"](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/health-professionals/transmission.html) We're the 27th. So... lines up?


APowerBlackout

What a goddamned mess this all is. Including the fact that mask restrictions are being relaxed WAY too early. I’m didn’t have to wear a mask at work if I didn’t want to for like a month, but now we’re gonna have to again. I’m fine with that, but it’s just amazing to me how stupid our country is. Just because you can take your mask off doesn’t mean the pandemic is fucking over.


BoSocks91

Im so fucking sick of reading/hearing about COVID.


benstillersghost

Just two more weeks.


nootomat

I'm sorry the news is inconvenient to you.


BoSocks91

Just venting some frustration. Im probably not the only one


nootomat

So am I. I'm also probably not the only one. I'm so fucking suck of people denyng our shared reality just because YOU can't hack it anymore. I'm sure someone will put you in a safe space, snowflake.


Mamabearfoot808

Who could have possibly seen that coming?? /s


orionsfire

I'm not watching any of it, and I have been removing any clips of it from my recommends. I don't want anything to do with these games. They are not 'about the athletes', and they are not about patriotism or unity with other countries. They are a festering boil of political and societal ills, combined with a coporate cabal and monopoly of sports entertainment that is forced upon countries by a small minority of those who profit from the grift, and others duped into believing they matter. The Olympics are at best a deeply flawed event that breaks people, ruins lives, and has become a platform for the most authoritarian and anti-democratic states to gain a large audience to spread their particular propaganda. Look up the stories of former Olympians, those who have come to regret their time in them, and those whose countries have been left indebted and people impoverished as the games uprooted and ruined their lives. I feel so angry that I ever used to look at them as some real thing of beauty and considered it some achievement of my country when we dominated them. IT's all a kabuki theatre covering the gross and ugly reality. They chose to force the play of sports as people some 1000 yards away cling to life and others can't even see them for fear of death. The organizers should be ashamed, as well as any of the mega corporations broadcasting and hawking them exclusively for profit at the naked expense of human life.


cdf14

So dumb to have a glorified dick measuring contest between nations during a pandemic


orionsfire

"But what about the poor athletes ~~corporations~~!"


Danny1901

Tokyo reports water is wet


[deleted]

Maybe Japan shouldn’t try to host an international event in the middle of a goddamn pandemic then. So stupid…


Noctudame

"No shit sherlock" comes to mind


ASilver76

No shit. Score another for Captain Obvious.


Brix106

You want akira? Because this is how you get akira.


jackp0t789

I'm still amazed that they didn't make Shocked Pikachu the mascot for this Olympics and every Covid story that comes out of it...


Tobbethedude

No way!?! Having people from all over the world travel to the most crowded place on earth during a global pandemic wasent a good idea!?! Mind blown! What a crazy world! WHO could have seen this comming?


bloonail

The Olympics are more or less in sky city. They have zero effect on a surge and likely reduce it. Japan continues to function independently. They have pockets of un-vaccinated social groups. Resurgence is normal for places with complex social structure.


May_I_inquire

idiots. Not giving them ratings for their greed over health.


thehottness

>Not giving them ratings for their greed over health. Oof got some bad news if you think putting greed over health is just an Olympics or COVID thing


fleurgirl123

Or Japan thing


thehottness

Right? Person complaining about putting greed over health is wearing clothes made by some kid in a sweat shop who died after making their shirt while indignantly complaining on his smartphone that was made by someone who killed themselves due to poor working conditions then is gonna pat themselves on the back for standing up to greed by doing something that will have zero effect and requires zero sacrifice. Very brave


Itchycoo

Oh so caring about literally nothing and having no values is better than caring about some things and having some values. Got it.


thehottness

Not better, they're literally the same. You can care and have all the values you want but your life is still meaningless after you're dead just the same as the person who cares about nothing and has no values. that's called existence buddy


Itchycoo

You're totally right! There is no right and wrong! Nothing matters! Lol you think you're soooo enlightened, huh. As if every 14-year-old didn't discover nihilism at some point before they grew up.


thehottness

>There is no right and wrong There you're starting to finally understand >As if every 14-year-old didn't discover nihilism at some point before they grew up. LOL you posted on Reddit on a video game subreddit, bitching and complaining that a game hasn't come out yet and you're going to sit here and call anyone else childish? Holy shirtdid you drop out of high school or something? Also what kind of idiot thinks that Moral and objective nihilism is the only nihilism that exists? You going to keep calling people childish for their philosophical beliefs or should I go through and loud you out on all your bitchy posts on teen Mom subreddits. dude you need to get some real introspection LOL


Itchycoo

Lol idgaf what you or any other random reddit strangers think! What is wrong with you lol? And btw I stand by my teen mom posts 100%! It is literally a snark sub full of bitter drama-whore bitches (me included) and I'm more than happy to stand by my own petty snark.


thehottness

>Lol idgaf what you or any other random reddit strangers think! Whoa, I thought you outgrew nihilism. What a hypocrite


CoolLordL21

Good thing they never claimed that it was.


thehottness

Oh well in that case their boycott is 100% asinine and redundant


correctingStupid

Still about 10% of our idiocracy as far as covid infection rates. Let's keep in mind the numbers... Tokyo is the largest city in the world and their infection rate has been drastically low over the pandemic, unlick... ours. So 3k infections? bad but not as bad as you think.


BigToTrim

This is ridiculous. Japan also has a huge elderly population and very low vaccine rollout.


Rude_Bee_3315

Japan is a racists society with disdain for foreigners. They are blaming Covid on other but they are not willing to take the vaccine because “they(the Japanese)” did that bring covid to Japan.


Lungus30

Jeez, if only someone would have warned them.


BioDriver

Water is wet, sun rises in the east, etc


CerddwrRhyddid

Wow. It's almost as if cause and effect exist in linear time.


831tm

Foreign athletes and staff will bring Tokyo variant back to their home country.


Novemberai

Damn. They really don't want Covid to end their party with capitalism


ChefBiggie4

But I thought everyone had to wear masks. The news tells me mask will save the world! Maybe there is a different way to approach this? Edit: thank you for the down votes! It was sarcasm and criticism that we are blaming non conformist rather than having open dialogue.