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Japan's reported numbers are unbelievably low because they're sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "LA LA LA LA!!" at the top of their lungs rather than try to ascertain the true scope of the issue. They are a nation of 125 million people but so far they have only conducted 140,000 tests and is only testing 10,000 people per day. Illinois alone tests that many people per day and has less than 1/10th of Japan's population. The USA on the other hand has performed 5.6 million tests and tests 150,000 per day. So yeah, it's not a big surprise we have a lot more reported cases.
Japan's reported numbers are unbelievably low because they're sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "LA LA LA LA!!" at the top of their lungs rather than try to ascertain the true scope of the issue. They are a nation of 125 million people but so far they have only conducted 140,000 tests and is only testing 10,000 people per day. Illinois alone tests that many people per day and has less than 1/10th of Japan's population. The USA on the other hand has performed 5.6 million tests and tests 150,000 per day. So yeah, it's not a big surprise we have a lot more reported cases.
There doesn't seem to be much correlation between testing rates and death rates from COVID-19. There are quite a few countries with high testing rates and high death rates, some with high testing rates and low deaths rates, and many with low test rates and low death rates. Japan does stand out as pretty much the only wealthy country with lots of international travel in that last category.
Japan's reported numbers are unbelievably low because they're sticking their fingers in their ears and shouting "LA LA LA LA!!" at the top of their lungs rather than try to ascertain the true scope of the issue. They are a nation of 125 million people but so far they have only conducted 140,000 tests and is only testing 10,000 people per day. Illinois alone tests that many people per day and has less than 1/10th of Japan's population. The USA on the other hand has performed 5.6 million tests and tests 150,000 per day. So yeah, it's not a big surprise we have a lot more reported cases.
Then why hasn’t there been massive deaths the way NYC has experienced? Tested or not, if Covid19 is as deadly to everyone as we’ve been scared to believe, there will be massive amount of people dying everyday from it in Tokyo but there hasn’t been report on it. After all, you can’t hide the body bags coming and going.
I’m curious to know why Hongkong hasn’t seen a lot of deaths either, considering how jam packed HK is, way more packed than NYC.
I also think Japanese’s high standard of cleanliness plays a big role in this. Tokyo is a city with no public trash bins (the city decided to do without after it was used as a place to hide poisonous gas bombs by a domestic terrorist decades ago), yet it is the cleanest city I’ve ever visited- bar none.
Then why hasn’t there been massive deaths the way NYC has experienced? Tested or not, if Covid19 is as deadly to everyone as we’ve been scared to believe, there will be massive amount of people dying everyday from it in Tokyo but there hasn’t been report on it. After all, you can’t hide the body bags coming and going.
I’m curious to know why Hongkong hasn’t seen a lot of deaths either, considering how jam packed HK is, way more packed than NYC.
I'm not aware of any city outside of China that's been hit like NYC, not even on a per-capita basis. NYC is an obvious outlier, not a baseline. For most other places, the increased number of deaths is maybe a tick or two above statistical background noise. This idea bodies are piling up everywhere is, shall we say, slightly overblown.
Whatever is happening in NYC doesn't change the fact Japan absolutely refuses to implement a testing regime that would give them a clearer picture of the magnitude of the situation.
New York did nothing until they had lots of dead people, about 100. COVID death (CDC average) is about 18 days - so if 100 people were dead - back up 18 days - if it's a 0.5% death rate (guess) - that's 20,000 infected people. Each one of them infecting someone else. For 18 days. Before New York locked down / stayed at home. The horse was out of the barn then, no going back. Infections doubled every 3 days everywhere it could be tracked - it meant that 18 days later, something between 1 and 2 million people were infected. SOME of those people were already getting better. But only in New York (and Manilla, and Mumbai...) are there are enough people standing next to one another to allow that to happen. No other place has enough "fuel" for the virus.
Japan - on the other hand - didn't do "nothing." They cancelled school, sports, large gatherings, concerts, etc. They started doing these things with just ONE death. They're an island - so they could immediately stop visitors from China. And - easiest of all - they were all already wearing masks. It works. I see lots of Asian "theories" up above, from attitude, to genetics, to culture - but the most obvious and simplest thing they have in common is the masks.
Just counting Tokyo's special 23 wards (old city proper), the population is approximately Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site 9,555,919. That's a population density of roughly 40,000 ppsm. So the city not only still has a higher population than in NYC, but even more people compacted in a smaller area. The much lower figure is likely a testament to their germaphobic habits(voluntarily wearing masks year round, not just under an ordinance) and even having a populace that's more willing to comply with regulations of the day. Even if you are one to believe the infected are underestimated, the deaths are likely to be close to accurate.
The population is compliant with recommendations to reduce social interactions by 80%, especially indoors. . Non essential businesses have been encouraged to reduce hours or close and they have.
Disney and Universal and schools were closed early on.
They have shunned testing. It has been estimated the number of positives. Is likely 10x higher than shown.
The population habitually wears masks which seems to be key. In contrast, the US issued mixed messages because of acute shortages of masks for critical healthcare workers. That many front line workers in the US had no choice but to wear the same mask and other PPE for a week is meaningful.
Unlike the west coast, Europe, not China, was the primary source of Covid 19 in the NYC metro area.
During the 2 months prior to Federal action to stop flights from some European hot spots, 2.2 million people arrived in NY. Likely, many were asymptomatic and it spread. Once the restriction was announced, the Fed began taking temps of arriving passengers at designated US airports.
Some may recall the images of thousands of arrived passengers packed like sardines in those airports while they waited to be cleared for 4-7 hours. No one will ever know how many were asymptomatic at the time of arrival and it spread.
In the meantime, flights from the U.K. and non- EU countries. continued putting incremental thousands of asymptomatic people into the general population.
No other city in the US had this kind of international activity.
Unlike Japan, wearing masks is not common in the US. I attribute the mixed messaging to the shortage of masks and all PPE for front line workers. That Trump made light of masks and made it clear he would not wear one added to the mixed messaging.
I'm an American and proud of it, and there are many reasons why I love my land. But sometimes, not to put too fine a point on it, but we Americans can be our own worst enemies. We are too wrapped up in our "freedoms." We won't wear masks because they're uncomfortable, and "You can't make me wear one" and "It won't help me so why bother." We won't stay apart because "They can't lock me up like a prisoner." Face it: lots of us are just plain-out selfish.
Meanwhile, Japanese (and South Koreans as well) calmly, instinctively, habitually subsume their own desires for the benefit of the greater good. Wearing masks helps others, so everyone wears a mask. Social distancing helps others, so they'll lock themselves in their homes, voluntarily. Theirs are very definitely communitarian, collectivist societies. As an American, I think I'd have a hard time living like that. But there are unquestionably some advantages to it, and COVID-19 is laying out in stark terms.
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