25 May 2022, Wednesday — Coronavirus Digest from Japanese Morning TV News Part 1 (of 1):
Headlines and (yesterday’s) numbers
Day 758 of doing these daily posts continuously.
See photo captions for stories.
Photo 01
Japan covid-related topics in NHK’s 7am news bulletin today:
[Survey] Masks outside: On or off?
And the 9pm bulletin last night had the covid numbers.
Photo 2a
32382 new cases confirmed
[vs. 36903 for the same day last week. 42160 the same day two weeks ago.]
47 out of 47 prefectures reported cases yesterday.
No new daily case records.
Nowhere with five digits
Quadruple figures in 8 prefectures:
Okinawa, Fukuoka, Hyogo, Osaka, Aichi, Tokyo, Kanagawa, and Hokkaido
37 prefectures in triple figures
2 prefectures in double figures
Tokyo on 3271 [vs. 3663 same day last week]
Osaka on 3561 [vs. 3932 same day last week]
[Tokyo has been down vs. same day previous week for 11 straight days now]
The number of positives at immigration testing was 88
Photo 02b
The total of current active serious cases stands at 100, up 4 from the previous day.
42 deaths announced yesterday, for a total of 30395
Total recorded cases at 8680040
Recovered cases at 8279071 (around 36,000 recovered cases from the previous day)
Total active cases are at 370,574 (down around 3000 vs the previous day).
Percentage of active cases as a percentage of the grand total is 4.26%
Photo 03
So today was the weekly “30 person interview” [conducted exclusively on the streets of Tokyo].
Today’s topic: Masks outside: To wear or not to wear, that is the question.
Photo 04
The government last week indicated their thinking as follows:
“[Even if you cannot keep perfect social distance,] if you are mostly not talking, you don’t need to wear one.”
Photo 05
Here are the survey results:
14 said they would wear
12 said it would depend on the situation
4 said they would take their mask off.
Photo 06
Of the reasons for not taking your mask off:
15 people said infection prevention
9 said they were worried about dirty looks from other people
4 said it cut down on make up hassles
2 were other reasons
Photo 07
Wada’s take: Except in crowded situations, you can take your mask off.
Photo 08
For commuting, it is recommended that you wear them on a crowded trains, but they are not needed for walking to and from the station.
For shopping, they are not needed [if the shop is not crowded], but you should follow the shop’s own guidelines.
For running, take masks off.
Photo 09
Wada says from now on, we may have reached the stage where we have to think for ourselves about when and where to wear masks.
Photo 10
[I’ll just run through a few pics from the actual vox pop]
This woman will continue wearing masks because she’s pregnant and she’s heard that it is a major hassle if you get infected around the time you give birth.
Photo 11
This 90-year-old will continue to wear masks because he has pre-existing conditions, or at least his blood pressure is a little high.
Photo 12
This company guy in his 40s says he will take off his mask because Japan in hot and humid, and there is a risk of heatstroke.
Photo 13
This woman is a depends, but says she wears it as a form of public manners.
Photo 14
This “depends” guy says he is wearing his due to societal pressure/conformity.
Photo 15
This woman says it’s easy because she doesn’t have to wear lipstick. [Her make up routine] is easier when her nose and mouth are covered.
Photo 16
I can hide half my face, says this woman in her 60s.
[A woman in his early 20s said a good fitting mask makes her face look smaller too.]
Photo 17
A couple of people said the government’s instructions were unclear.
For example, the govt. says “when there aren’t many people around” [but how many is not many? She wonders while waiting at Shibuya crossing…]
Photo 18
This man in his 60s thinks that the government’s words can be taken in different ways by people giving different words different weight.