Hello, everyone! In this blog, I’m going to talk about how life is in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are 91,402 people who have been infected by Covid-19 in Japan. However, this number will keep increasing, and will probably surpass 100,000 by the end of the year.
COVID-19 infections started appearing from July 16th in Japan.
Infections quickly started to rise, and a state of emergency that lasted until May 6th was declared on April 7th 2020. This was due to an expected first-wave of infections.
Tokyo had the most infections, and because there was concern about people infected people spreading the virus to other parts of the country, a lockdown was instituted. People from Tokyo weren’t barred from leaving the prefecture, but they were told to avoid non-essential travel.
Depending on the region, schools were closed, and kids were unable to attend class for 1-2 months. Unlike various other countries, there wasn’t a system for remote learning, and the majority of children were unable to attend class remotely.
During winter, where colds are spreading, many people in Japan use masks as a preventative measure against infections. After cherry blossom season, the number of people who don’t wear masks usually increases, but people were still wearing masks even after spring this year. At one point masks ran out of stock, and it became difficult to buy one. People had to keep washing disposable masks in order to not run out.
After the number of infections came under control, the second wave arrived. At one point, the number of daily infections crossed 1600 a day, and it was very scary.
If you go into town, most people are wearing masks. I think the reason the number of infections in Japan was fewer than that in other countries was due to the existing mask culture.
Lots of different kinds of masks are being sold in retail stores across Japan.
Fabric and rubber are also available for people who want to make masks.
Right now the number of daily infections has stabilized to between 300 and 600 a day. In order to support restaurants and tourist destinations, the Japanese government has made the GoTo Travel and GoTo Eat campaigns so people travel and go to restaurants again.
It’s going to start getting cold from now on, and the flu and common cold will start spreading. I want to avoid getting infected by COVID-19, so I’ll wear a mask, wash my hands, and gargle properly. Staying safe from COVID will not only help me, but it will also help other people.
I saw there were some people who say “I don’t want to wear a mask,” and “I don’t believe in COVID” in a news article. I wonder what such selfish people would do if they got infected, and then spread the virus to someone else. Certainly, it may be a little difficult to breath inside a mask. But is it worth spreading the disease over such as reason? What would you think if someone dies?
It’s best to follow the rules during difficult times like this.
Let’s work together to get past these hard times!
