Japan leans toward COVID downgrading to ease restrictions, cut medical expense support

9 comments

1. We just had the highest 7 day average of deaths ever.

   Sure let’s downgrade this and make people pay for the vaccine.

2. It’ll be a long haul. Individual establishments will still decree mandatory mask-wearing. I think the vast majority of Japanese will look at who’s wearing a mask around them, look at the latest covid infection statistics, and still keep wearing masks.

3. Old news. This has been going around for months and they just keep saying “spring. Maybe. “

4. Lmao, You can definitely tell most people are over it.

   Hell even as small and less city like as Nagoya is. Plenty of people walking around without masks.

   Was hard being in Tokyo this month. Trying to be the cool guy with out a mask but as waves of tourists pour in. I just seem like the ignorant gaijin I am.

   And I just decided to wear the damn thing.

   Remember when Japanese wore masks when THEY were SICK?

5. They have more corona infections and deaths than 2020 and yet they do this obviously make zero sense.

6. Mask is a gift from Satan. Can’t understand why people don’t realise hiding your face to kids, birds, strangers etc is unnatural and surely not that helpful.

   Life has been so sad outside for the past three years

7. I still wear a mask in certain situations only because the drama of not wearing it just isn’t worth it. Few weeks back I took my mask off at work cuz the office was empty and I wasn’t speaking to anyone. Got an anonymous letter from a coworker the next day saying I need to wear one “because they were worried”. Wife and several coworkers have said the masks are here to stay regardless of how covid is classified.

8. People are focusing too much on masks. Masks were never mandated on public property so demoting COVID to Class 5 isn’t going to change much. That’s for the people, as a collective, to decide.

   What is significant is that hospitals and small businesses will not get the funding they have under the current scheme, meaning that we will no longer have free access to COVID vaccines, hospitals will become even more understaffed and we’ll lose more mom-and-pop shops

9. Yeah right I’ll believe it when I see it and even if it happens restaurants and shops will probably still require it. With influenza and stuff going around might as well keep it in effect till summer or something.