Denny in the News: 26 August 2021

 

With infections at 809 people, the governor pleads for thorough contagion prevention

At a press conference on 25 August, Okinawa Prefecture’s Governor Denny Tamaki announced that 809 people were newly infected with Covid-19. It was the highest toll ever in the daily announcements and crossed the 800 threshold for the first time. The governor indicated his sense of alarm, “We haven’t yet seen the contagion peak and the stress on the medical supply system is already in an extremely serious situation.”  

As  for the Prefecture’s plan for dealing with the continuation of the State of Emergency from September first to the twelfth, the governor indicated his thinking that after summer vacation, the students would not return to school all at once but in separate groups. Moreover, in response to the contagious situation, closing grade levels or the school year, or temporarily closing schools are also considered possible. Each municipal board of education will decide on its plan for elementary and junior high schools. But the governor requests they make their judgement in line with the prefectural response.

In case of widespread infection, temporary school closings should be viewed not from the perspective of the individual school, but from the district level. In general, extra-curricular activities will cease.


The governor requested that large scale commercial establishments with a floor space of more than one thousand square meters continue to close business on weekends until 12 September. As for food retail businesses, he requested that they come up with some sort of system to manage customer crowding even on weekdays to avoid swarms. He requested that businesses like cinemas and theaters also continue weekend closings.

On another front, the governor also indicated a strengthened system of checks. He has a plan to set up a new free PCR center aimed at those with close contact to the central district where the contagion continues to be widespread. It is being arranged with Okinawa City. Moreover, he is expanding the scope of the school PCR check, where if one person is found infected the whole class gets checked, to preschool and kindergarten. He will begin distributing antigen test kits as well to preschools and kindergartens. The governor elaborated on limiting children’s learning, “I feel that it’s a particularly distressing thought. I want to work together to alleviate, if only a little, family unease, while responding with flexibility to the reality of school.” 

Moreover, on things like going outside without hurry or need, movement between municipalities and prefectures, and travel to other Okinawan islands, he shouted  out, “Stop it, please!” He pleaded for thorough measures to combat the contagion, stronger than the current “prudence.”


Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published Thursday 26 August at 07:21

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/79a540446f2fc2ebd5edd24935db9b3c9aeab372


Translator’s Notes

  1. Denny in the News: news about Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 


  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.


  1. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be of great help.

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