Corona-zona

Last night on the news I heard/saw rather breathless coverage of how bad the coronavirus outbreak is becoming in Japan. A "frightening spike" in cases according to the BBC . "Record breaking cases" leading to and expanded "state of emergency" according to NPR . One conjures images of Godzilla wreaking havoc on Tokyo. Everybody has been expecting things to go south over there, given the country's low vaccination rate . A reliable source told me the low rate is partly because the Japanese got started very late with vaccinations. That's because they believe they are "genetically distinct" and wouldn't approve vaccines for use until they had been clinically tested on Japanese people.  M'kay. Now infections are cranking up just in time for the "2020" Olympics. But how bad are things over there, really?   Well, no doubt cases are spiking.  Here is a chart from Our World in Data  showing the seven-day trailing average over the ...

  Today's post is by Corona-zona Senior Northeast Asia Correspondent  Kaigai If I were at home in California right now, I would be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The state is awash in vaccines. Increasingly this is the case across the United States, where in the near future anyone who wants to be vaccinated will be. But I’m in Japan, where a significant new COVID-19 wave appears to be accelerating, and I have no idea when my turn will come. All I know for sure is it won’t be anytime soon—even though my age (over 65) is said to qualify me for a fairly early dose. Japan’s vaunted public health system is for real, and people have exceedingly healthy lifestyles here. Lifespans are longer than in all but two other countries.  Unlike the U.S., UK, and much of Western Europe, Japan has done a better job controlling the coronavirus than its industrial peers. Cases and deaths have been way lower. All that is coming undone, or threatens to unravel, as a new surge in cases leav...