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:
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.
(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 . . . .