The Japanese government launched the Go To Travel and Go To Eat campaigns this past summer in an attempt to revitalize the domestic tourism industry, offering discounts up to 50% off. However, despite implementing precautions and restricting travel to high-risk areas, statistics revealed 176 infected travelers (not including people who weren’t tested or asymptomatic), and numbers continue to climb.
Covid Cases Rise Amidst Go To Travel Campaign
On Saturday, NHK reported 2,586 new cases amidst a growing surge that started in October. Medical experts attributed part of that surge to lower temperatures and people spending more time in closed spaces. However, according to Toshio Nakagawa, head of the Japan Medical Association, though not necessarily a direct cause, the Go To Campaigns have indeed “acted as a catalyst”.
The Government Responds… By Not Responding
At the time I began writing this piece, the government was still reluctant to make any moves. They refrained from closing down businesses after the initial state of emergency in the spring, and didn’t seem very eager to start now.
Instead, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga supported the Go To campaign, simply calling for individuals to “continue basic preventive measures”. Last week, Suga responded, “Experts don’t believe we’re at the stage where another state of emergency is necessary”. And Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike insisted that stricter measures were unnecessary since the number of cases was still “manageable”. In other words, we’ll wait until it gets worse before we do anything about it.
This provoked a new trending hashtag on Japanese Twitter: #小池百合子に殺される (Koike Yuriko is Killing Us). Instead of taking action, she insisted on following the “3 Cs” and her additional “5 Ss”, which the following tweet summarizes in English:
Another Twitter user criticizes, “Tokyo announced that ‘infections can occur at home, work, and dinner’, yet dinner infections account for 8%, about half of workplace infections. Why are they so obsessed with focusing solely on infection prevention at dinner? Is continuing GoTo really that important? It’s ridiculous.”
Many Twitter users have come up with their own versions of the campaign slogan to further illustrate the government’s irresponsibility. Go To Hospital, Go To Home, and Go To PCP Testing are my favorite.
Koike states, “Your cooperation determines our fate”. Apparently, she has a lot more faith in people’s cooperation than it has proven to be worthy of.
The Masked Diner
Suga shows no desire to completely halt the campaign. Instead, Suga calls for stricter dining measures, such as limiting groups to four, and practicing “マスク会食 (mask kaishoku)”, or “masked dining”.
Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Eating while wearing a mask. The idea is to partially remove your mask only when taking a sip or a bite, and immediately put it back on to chew and talk. There’s even an instructional video (in case you found it as unbelievable as I did! Skip to 1:08 to see masked dining in action!)
Health experts have mixed opinions. Professor Masahiro Nemoto of the Japanese Red Cross Hokkaido College of Nursing believes masked dining may indeed reduce the risk of infection. But Yumiko Tsukada, assistant professor at Nagano University of Health and Medical Sciences, specializing in public health, begs to differ. She says that repeatedly putting on and taking off a mask while eating increases the chance for the virus to get inside. There’s also the unlikelihood of people actually following the practice due to its impracticality.
The following clip looks at several Go To locations. Unsurprisingly, the clip (starting around 4:35) reveals that not everybody was eager to comply. One restaurant reported that only 3 of 25 people actually followed the guidelines.
Effective Measures? Or Wishful Thinking?
To step up customer cooperation, many establishments are implementing their own measures. Restaurant chain Saizeriya supplies paper napkin masks for customers. Other locations installed mask-enforcing robots. But none of these methods guarantee that an individual will continue to follow the rules after leaving. And none of these methods can do anything in regards to already-present infected or asymptomatic customers.
Neither the virus nor travelers show any signs of stopping. This past weekend started a three-day holiday in Japan, complete with pre-pandemic congestion levels. (I hope everyone participating in Go To Travel are also prepared to Go To Hospital after vacation…)
Go To Travel Goes On Hiatus… Somewhat
On Saturday, Suga finally announced a partial suspension of the campaign. After record-level spikes reached 2,500 new cases in a single day, he called for the suspension of new bookings to high-risk areas. But is this really enough? What about the other areas? He also asks prefectural governors to “consider discontinuing Go To Eat coupons”, meaning that ultimately, the decision lies with each individual prefecture.
Suga states that what’s really necessary is “people’s cooperation”. However, according to statistics (and the video clip above), people’s cooperation has not yet proven to be reliable.
The Japan Tourism Agency is currently hammering out the details, and the National Governors’ Association will hold a discussion on Monday.
Conclusion
Prevention measures are certainly necessary in situations where travel is necessary. But in my (and many others’) opinion, dates and dining out don’t seem to qualify as an emergency in the midst of a pandemic. Maybe instead of Go To Travel, people should just Go To Home and stay there until the virus is finally gone for good.
