The Covid-19 Info thread (keep politics out please)

[Prediction? Pain.]

Thus the "kicking the crap out of us" part. Still, why are cases rising at an alarming rate in a country that wears masks religiously?

I haven't been following Japan but you got me interested, so I did a quick round of googlin'. As of a couple of weeks ago, most of the new cases were coming out of Tokyo and the majority of those apparently resulted from lax behavior in the city's, um, "entertainment" establishments:

"Most of these cases are related to Tokyo's nightlife districts and the authorities are focusing their testing efforts on people who work in these areas and trying to trace their customers," said Kazuhito Tateda, president of the Japan Association of Infectious Diseases and a member of the government committee set up to combat the spread of the virus.

"Places like Kabukicho, Shinjuku and Roppongi are quite dangerous and we are telling people that they have to be careful," he said.

The government has issued operators of host and hostess bars with guidelines on how to protect their staff and customers, but an industry that relies on intimacy for its appeal is inevitably resistant to adopting face masks, social distancing and rubber gloves.

There are indications that similar nightlife districts in other cities are also serving as ground zero for localised clusters, with eight female staff in a hostess bar in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, also testing positive. That outbreak has been traced back to a customer who had visited the club earlier in the month.

Just a wild guess here, but I bet that mask culture takes a back seat to something else when you saunter into a hostess bar.

In other semi-related news, the world champ so far appears to still be chugging along nicely. Taiwan, with their roughly 25 million people shoved into an island half the size of West Virginia, has to date 455 confirmed cases and 7 deaths. Unemployment is 4%. And they're playing baseball with undistanced, maskless fans:

Here's an article about how they coordinated the start of their baseball season, if you're interested.

Even with their proximity to China and huge number of commuters between the two countries, I'm sure the geographical advantages of the island is a massive help. Still, other places with similar advantages haven't done as well. And regardless, it's just damn impressive.

Indoors is a different story. To enter a restaurant, gym or office building, you still need to wear a mask and have your temperature taken, according to CNBC. Citizens disregarding mask regulations in certain areas, such as the subway, must pay hefty fines.

It's considered acceptable to name and shame mask slackers and quarantine breakers on social media.

What accounts for Taiwan's success in keeping COVID-19 at bay? These measures played a large role:

- Nearly universal mask wear.

- Strict quarantining of incoming visitors. (The quarantine, implemented in January, was relaxed on June 22 for business travelers of countries deemed low-risk. The United States was not among them.)

- Free, rapid testing; isolation; and contact tracing.

- Real-time electric monitoring of citizens' health records, patient visits and travel history.

(If you're interested in a quick(ish) read on some of the technological advances of their healthcare system that helped make their success possible, here you go.)

And, hell, why not, here's this cheery update on we're all doing in SEC and ACC country:

Ok, back to that job thingy that I'm supposed to be doing . . . .