The metropolitan government of Tokyo, Japan reported a record of 472 new cases of coronavirus infection on Saturday, which marks 3 consecutive days of new high counts for the cases.
In total, this brings Tokyo’s case count to 13,163 among a population of almost 14 million in the world’s biggest metropolis. While those numbers still pale in comparison to some other large cities, notably New York City which has seen 230,000 confirmed cases in a population of less than 9 million, the auspicious timing of the rise comes as the IOC approaches meetings to decide the future of the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.
Meetings with the Japanese Government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government are scheduled to begin in September as part of an effort to rebuild domestic support for hosting the games. Those efforts will fight the results of recent surveys that saw less than 24% of citizens were in favor of holding the Olympics and Paralympics, with a third of those surveyed saying that they thought the Games should be canceled altogether.
The IOC continues to say they’re doing everything they can to ensure that the Games happen with spectators.
The country as a whole has seen its cases climb this week. Through the middle of June, Japan was recording less than 60 new case per day. On Saturday, the country, like the city of Tokyo, recorded a new record high of 1,464 daily positive tests.
According to Worldmeters.com, Japan still ranks just 155th globally in positive tests/capita, better than most large and densely-populated nations. Japan also has a very low testing rate compared to most developed nations.
Tokyo is scheduled to host an athletics (track & field) event at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium beginning August 23. That field will include only Japanese athletes and a few foreign athletes who compete for Japanese professional clubs.
The last week marked the original dates that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were scheduled to begin. The Games are now set to begin on July 23, 2021 and run through August 8, 2021. The swimming competition is scheduled to begin on July 24.
Nothing divides the Swimswam readership quite like COVID. It’s the same arguments article after article.
Yeah I think at this point I would rather get to know who to expect to be on the Japanese Olympic team. Maybe get a refresh on who is who outside out American swimming.
It would be nice to know everyone in the Semi Final for a change.
Yet, here you are at the bottom of the comments popping off 🙂
I do agree though, at this point we pretty much know the various stances on Covid in the forum and what level of risk some are willing to accept vs. others.
I think it would be good for the world if they cancell Tokyo 2021 now. It would ‘be a confirmation that things are not going to magically spring back.
With 12bn spent, and billions lost from the IOC coffers oif this is cancelled, they’re going to do everything within their power to host the Games.
Brand image of the Olympics matter. Having a lack of spectators, absent athletes from some countries, and even sub par performance due to training interruptions will be a factor.
Having an Olympics that no one wants to watch will have effects for the winter games 6 months later and also Paris.
Money talks, and they stand to lose a lot of money if they pull the plug. I can’t see them folding until as late as possible, and only after turning every stone.
You loose money either way.
Having low viewership may discourage advertising for upcoming games.
The Olympics in 2021 will be cancel. The world don’t have vacine or security to realise an event like this. Sorry, but the next Olympics will be only in 2024.
I’m not sure why those of you who are deadset against opening up competition continue to visit the site. Do you want to see swimming continue or do you want the sport to wither up and die due to covid?
I think they just want everyone to be safe and prevent unnecessary cases, if that means no Olympics then fine. People dying because we want to be entertained is not worth it and the blame will be entirely on Tokyo for hosting the games if COVID spikes again afterwards
I wonder if they have a hard deadline if the games are being called off.
If international travel is restricted weather it is into Japan or people may not be able to simply return home they may not host them. And this means everyone involved not just athletes.
Also, you have a chance where some countries have Covid contained Covid (or God willing there is a vaccine that he fairly effective they have immunized their population), and some where they haven’t who’s population can’t attend the games (once again spectators not just athletes).
Well let’s hope for the best, otherwise we are in a very fast National meet (maybe we can include Canada in it to spice… Read more »
This is actually something that has been spoken about in media in Europe a little recently. The US is seen as the biggest danger to the Games happening, because the Olympics will not happen without the them, and if they don’t get a grip soon, the Japanese simply won’t allow American visitors or athletes in to the country, effectively cancelling the Olympics.
It would be as simple as testing all athletes on arrival, quarantining all for a week, and testing again. Problem solved
Ha ha ha. You’re following major league sports right now, eh?
I vote for HISWIMCOACH as SwimSwam’s “Commenter of the Year.” You may not agree with his interpretation of things, but he brings examples and statistics to support his assertions, and he is almost always cordial to those who disagree with him. He comes across as an “upbeat dude!“
Satan wakes up to see HISWIMCOACH still posting….Satan goes back to bed….
People don’t even read the articles anymore. They just scroll down to see what HISWIMCOACH has to say. Commenter of the year for sure.
by statistics you mean crazy extremists’, Trump supporters’ twitter rambling?
I think the Trump supporters are censored on twitter to protect the ignorant
He’s the Yozhik of COVID-19 commentary.
What happened to that sweetheart
I am from Italy and the lesson we have learnt is this: you have to put the hammer down for 2 months and stick to it. Then cautiously re-open, imposing masks to everyone. Else, you will deal with rises in cases forever.
This is from the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/world/europe/italy-coronavirus-reopening.html
Interesting Luigi. The Dutch have just said they will not mandate masks. Perhaps much of Italy has already reached herd immunity (such as Bergamo). Also, as we know Italian hospitals are regulars at 98% capacity during flu seasons. The Italian hospital system was not ready to begin with. Thanks for sharing and best of luck to you in Italy
the dutch have very very low numbers compared to the US. their lock down was done the right way and now they can live a more normal life.. you can’t compare apples to oranges
No herd immunity. And I don’t know where you take that 98% from, really. No hospital system in the world is “ready”, past a certain point.
Very true. And no hospital in the world had been overwhelmed yet. Thankfully so. Here’s some evidence from hospital strain during 2017-2018 flu season:
https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/?amp=true
My only Point is we shouldn’t panic, just evaluate objectively (New York Times loves panic for the record).
You keep spreading lies about masks, and advocate for not wearing it, I wish you didn’t
Sam, how am I spreading lies? I’m okay with disagreeing but to call them lies is an odd take. Every study up until 2020 said masks were ineffective during pandemics. Even Fauci himself said they didn’t work in late March of 2020.
Was he lying then?
I don’t believe he or the Covid team were saying that masks did not work rather that they were not necessary for general population as they did not want a widespread run on The PPE that was already in short supply for frontline workers.
If you don’t think hospitals have been overwhelmed yet, you are incredibly — and I mean incredibly and willfully — ignorant. When you’re hooking multiple people up to the same ventilator, you have no available CRRT or ECMO machines —- and that’s with closing down all elective surgeries — you’re f’in underwhelmed. And that’s been the case at MANY hospitals. Saw 60 ICU patients today. Almost all with COVID-19, and a good percentage of them had no comorbidities and were under 50. No available dialysis machines, CRRT machines, ICU beds, ECMO machines. We were overwhelmed and we weren’t even in the same stratosphere as what they were doing in NYC a few months ago.
Which hospital are you at? I do remember reading in one early study published by JAMA that 97% of those aged 65 and older placed on ventilators passed away. Maybe the odds got better after that initial rush.
Thanks for your service during these tough times.
Perhaps overwhelmed was poor word choice. I’m sure as workers you have all felt overwhelmed. But have you had to turn people away? That’s what I meant by overwhelmed.
Hate to say it, but see you in Paris 2024. I really hope I am wrong, but based upon how pandemics run their course over time, I don’t think this is happening.
I agree.
I’m not so sure. Yuriko Koike (Governor of Tokyo) seems to be a strident supporter of the Games going ahead, as does Shinzo Abe. I think opposition to the Games in Tokyo is widespread, but superficial (Koike recently won relection in a landslide supporting the Games going ahead while opponents promised to cancel them). The key is a vaccine; Experts in Japan have been pretty consistent in their line that a vaccine will be the gamechanger. If one comes, the suggestion is pretty string that the Games will go ahead, albeit not as we know them. If a vaccine doesnt arrive; I suspect it’s hello Paris 2024 as you say. I have already been online looking at the best place… Read more »
It will be the Luca Games.
lol no. by that time it’ll have been 5+ years since his 1:53 at sectionals. the stars we know of today will be fading, and new stars that are probably 12-14 years old now will be emerging by then
Paris 2024 is not guaranteed-we have to actually have the virus in check (in whatever capacity) to have the Games.
Remember when NCAA’s was cancelled and the proposal was “redshirt corona year”? Here we are a few months later and the outlook seems to be that there might have to be more than 1 of those.
Do any of the commenters realize that the content of the article pertains to Tokyo which is outside the borders of the United States, that the Olympics are an international event, and Covid-19 is a global pandemic?
Yes. I made my comment to illustrate what is happening in the US based on the original commenters post. The Olympics is a global games so would be affected by each countries health. By the way, Olympians are about the last person who have to worry about Covid.
4% of the COVID death count in the UK listed COVID as the lone cause, 5% in Italy, 6% in the US. Median COVID death in OECD countries is in the mid-80s. I Don’t think this has as much to do with obesity/asthma/etc as it has to do with the numerous morbidities that accompanies someone at the end of life.
“Olympians are about the last person who have to worry about Covid”
you are delusional…
A fit young professional rugby player in Sydney had to end is career yesterday- after COVID scarred his heart and he couldnt train any longer…..This disease can severely affect anyone.
HISWIMCOACH, If by Olympians you mean rowers who have competed in the Olympics, I think these rowers would disagree… https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/sports/olympics/coronavirus-us-rowing-olympics.html
And if you think Covid is “burned out” in the NE, it’s because we opened extremely slowly, haven’t opened indoor dining beyond 50% (or at all in some places), and most people wear masks. And in spite of that, our numbers are now going up, though not to the degree they are in the S, SW, and W.
That’s….not the burnout theory at all. Eventually we’re going to look back and recognize that we humans cannot control the virus. We can somewhat control WHO gets it (hence protecting the at-risk populations), but we’re not going to control its proliferation. Look at Japan, Peru, Sweden, NYC, etc etc…so many widely varying mitigation strategies…so many similar total % infected numbers.
I have to disagree here. NZ, Vietnam & Australia have 236 deaths combined throughout this entire pandemic. Hong Kong & Singapore fewer than 50 deaths. What do they all have in common? Robust action taken early.
I read about Kiwis returning to NZ being held for 28 days if they refuse a test, and fined thousands if they break isolation rules. Vietnam has just began testing the entire population of its third largest city, and imposed restrictions like quarantining entires flights if a passenger has covid symptoms when tested upon arriving in Vietnam.
What we need to to is limit the virus’ ability to spread until we have a vaccine, and multiple nations have shown us that is… Read more »
You do realize the fastest a vaccine has ever been brought to market was 4 years? That’s a long time to stay locked down.
I do, but we do not need a lockdown, we need stringent and well enforced restrictions that the public buy in to. Take Seoul in South Korea; It has a larger population than NYC, it was never “locked down”, and it has had only 9 deaths. How? They launched a similar epidemic control programme as Vietnam (6 deaths), their population was quickly screened en-masse and anybody who tested positive was isolated in quarantine along with all those they had been in contact with recently. Entire cities were not quarantined, life went on fairly normally (people went to work, and shops were open etc). Lockdown was not the only option.
On the vaccine, you’re right, but my understanding from reading lancet… Read more »
You know what they also have in common? An increase in infections now as they start re-opening. The virus will find a way. The USA cannot have a full-scale lockdown. That’s just not practical for a billion different reasons.
ahh yes, American exceptionalism