Japan Can’t Run Out the Clock on Coronavirus
Worries about the viability of the Olympic Games should take a backseat to containing a potential public health crisis.
You can’t outrun Covid-19.
Photographer: Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images
Next month the Olympic torch will arrive in Japan for a four-month relay to launch the opening ceremonies for the Tokyo summer games. But rather than anticipating the sight of Olympic torchbearers, much of Japan is fixated on a different relay: hundreds of masked passengers grimly walking off the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama. The ship has been home to more than 630 Covid-19 infections, the largest cluster in the world outside of Wuhan. Departing passengers all test negative for the virus before release, but public health experts fear the virus is hitching rides with individuals who only show symptoms later.
Moreover, on Sunday, Japan’s health minister acknowledged that the government is unable to track the route of infections in the country (which total 90). Meanwhile, the Japanese public, long supportive of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is losing faith in his ability to cope with the crisis. What might have been a manageable situation is now exposing gaps in Japan’s ability to respond to a public emergency.