Japan's Third State of Emergency PT2

Idiocy in Osaka

About three weeks before the third SoE, which is detailed in the previous post, the Governor of Osaka decided that his recommendation to wear masks while dining out wasn’t working, so he upgraded it to a rule.

This mask dining rule was so effective, it started to lower the effective reproduction number two weeks before it even came in! It even made the SoE business closures and event restrictions redundant.

[Figures by Hiroshi Nishiura for the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10900000/000812898.pdf]

And Osaka’s actions transcended prefecture boarders just like Tokyo’s did. The below graph shows reported cases per 100,000 in the Kansai prefectures that declared SoEs and those that didn’t put any formal restrictions on business operations. [Data from https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/special/coronavirus/data/]

And in case you need reminding about what the third SoE involved, the details are below. Kyoto and Hyogo were nice enough to let retail and recreational facilities open until 20:00 and let spectators in to events from May 11th.

Thanks, Governor Yoshimura! With “right-wing populists” like you, who needs commies?