There Is No ‘Back to Normal’ After Covid

14 comments

1. So basically, he’s saying try not to go back to normal, just live in fear for the “what ifs”.

   What a bleak world we live in today.

2. Gearoid reidy used to seem almost more optimistic than average but now he just platforms yet another doomer. Btw this article is ridiculous anyways. The guy is basically saying things will never be truly the same. I mean yeah I guess that’s true but the headline is just bait for people to argue more and more about things like tourism that Japan should have reinstated in 2021

3. But there still is the option to allow tourism, even if it isn’t 100% the way it used to be.

   No more living in fear, no more attempting to justify what simply isn’t anymore. Covid is here to stay, and so we must adapt. But we do nothing but hurt by blocking everyone else from returning, and even more so when the argument has somehow morphed into the idea that it won’t spread as much in a Japanese-only society.

   It doesn’t work that way. We’re well past the point of that being a viable or even possible scenario.

   So bitch about xenophobia all ya’ll want, but it’s time to open up.

4. I’m not going to the whole covid thing, but just a small rant, as this comment somehow stood out:

   >You don’t have to live in these inhuman cities like Tokyo

   The comment is really at odds with the “smart man tells you how it is” narrative of the piece. If you want to be seen as a rationalist with all the facts behind you, maybe don’t pull stuff out your arse or try to project your own subjective opinions as facts. I’m sure there are literally millions of people that live in Tokyo exactly beacause they want to (myself included).

5. So if I wanted to visit Japan in the near future, that’s not going to happen?

6. I am giddy at this news.
   I have no way to care about both the heat and the covid.

7. Does this specific virologist have much practical influence in the governments policy making?

8. Japan did pretty much nothing to stop the spread of covid beside closing the border, it got in anyway and is rife in the country.

   Time to move on.

9. The scientist acknowledges that Japan’s border controls don’t make any sense, and that tourism and travel must resume. He seems to just be cautioning that viruses spreading and pandemics are more likely in a globalised world, which is obviously true. However, he doesn’t suggest any solution.

   I don’t think the interview is as stark or black and white as the title suggests, it’s just a cautious scientist warning that the future world presents more danger of a pandemic than the past less globalised world. At the end he asks, “is globalisation really the right way to go?”. Well, yes, it probably is, all things considered. Coming together as larger groups and societies has always been the overall direction of the human race.

10. That just makes me sad. I’m finally at a financial stage where I can afford traveling to japan again and now this.

11. Bro the world just keeps getting shittier. No wonder no one has kids when this is the future that is promised to those living. L person and interview.

12. You have billions of people inhabiting a planet and technology that allows said people to travel the world in less than a week.

    Yes there should be extra precautions but globalisation will continue.

    It’s laughable that a Japanese person, of all countries is suggesting using the internet instead of in person meetings. Japanese companies stubbornly refuse to use emails over paper letters and demand people marry their job instead of another person.

13. I had to leave Japan two years ago. My girlfriend and I have been doing the long distance thing which has been pretty good. I was hoping to visit a year ago but Japan will not relax their tourist visas. It’s been pretty hard, seeing stories like this kills any hope I had in them reopening anytime soon.

14. >man propelled into media and societal recognition by crisis argues crisis isn’t over at all
    Wonder what could motivate him to make those claims?