Tag Archives: health experts

Health experts comment on infection risks for Tokyo Olympics spectators

(Reuters) – Japan is set to lower its state of emergency measures against the COVID-19 pandemic in the capital, Tokyo, and much of the country, with just over a month remaining until the start of the Summer Olympics on July 23.

The government’s top health advisor Shigeru Omi on Friday released a report urging Olympic organizers to limit spectators at the Games, saying the event could lead to a resurgence in cases.

Following are quotes from experts on health risks at the Games:

HIROSHI NISHIURA, KYOTO UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AND CONTRIBUTOR TO THE REPORT

“Scientifically, I still believe that cancelling the Games would be optimal to save lives and for the health of the nation. But, the decision is the government’s and organizers’.”

“We have seen that the risk of death in Osaka during the fourth wave, caused by variant alpha, was considerably elevated due to a shortage of respirators. If the epidemic situation worsens, no spectators and cancelling the Games in the middle (of the event) should be debated.”

KEN ISHII, PROFESSOR OF VACCINE SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

“We can easily imagine the vaccination program of like 100 million people is a big event. In addition to this big event, Japan is now (hosting) one of the biggest sports events, almost at the same time.”

“Ironically, this is actually pushing government to vaccinate people faster.”

KAZUAKI JINDAI, PHYSICIAN AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCHER RECENTLY ATTACHED TO KYOTO UNIVERSITY

“When you look at (infection) simulations, minimal movement and minimal spectators is better.”

“If you have a lot of infection clusters, then doctors will busy taking care of patients, and public health centers will need to follow those patients and take cluster measures. So I think nobody will be happy about the Games.”

“I understand that the athletes want an audience so that they can get motivation. But I think this year is probably a special case. To on the safe side, most public health officials would probably say to minimize the risk as much as possible.”

“This shouldn’t be a negative legacy for Japan.”

“Prime Minister Suga has said the safety of the people was the priority. If we believe what he said, then he should listen to what the experts have recommended.”

PAUL GRIFFIN, PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

“Even if the optimum mitigation strategy is employed, including, for example, vaccination of every attendee, I think there is still a very significant risk of transmission at the event. And I think that’s concerning, because this is perhaps the first event that I’m aware of where people will be attending in such large numbers from all corners of the world.”

“In terms of potentially mixing variants, and even variances of concern, I think it’s very significant. So I think everything that can be done to reduce the prospects for transmission is very important. And one of those things should be reducing the number of non essential attendees at all events.”

“I know that the plan is to keep all of the teams very separate. But I think adherence with that post-athletes’ events will be challenging to uphold. So I think we do need to be really cautious and have very careful monitoring of the situation at the event as well as after.”

JASON TETRO, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT IN CANADA, AUTHOR OF “THE GERM CODE”

“With proper masking, social distancing, and hygiene measures in place, you may be able to have a 30% capacity event outside without any outbreaks. This was seen last July in the United States with the NASCAR All-Star Race which housed 30,000 people and not a single outbreak.”

“Indoors, however, is trickier as ventilation is the key to prevention. In this case, only those who have been vaccinated, even partially if there is no sign of the Delta variant, should be allowed into the venue and again, at a lesser capacity of no more than 30%.

“If the Delta variant is circulating, then only those who have received two doses and 15 days post second dose should be allowed inside.”

TAKAHIRO KINOSHITA, COVID-19 VACCINE NGO COV-NAVI

“It should be noted that if the Olympics are held with spectators, the risk of infection will not be confined only to the stadium. We need to remember that the increased flow of people is itself a major risk for the spread of infection. The government must show what kind of measures will be taken to control this risk.”

(Reporting by Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

Georgia cafes, theaters open as U.S. states ease more restrictions

By Rich McKay and Susan Heavey

ATLANTA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Georgia on Monday will start allowing residents to dine inside restaurants or watch a movie at a theater, as more U.S. states from Minnesota to Mississippi took steps to ease coronavirus restrictions despite the warnings of health experts.

Colorado, Montana and Tennessee were also set to reopen some businesses to start reviving their battered economies. Oklahoma, Alaska and South Carolina, along with Georgia, previously took such steps following weeks of mandatory lockdowns that threw millions of Americans out of work.

President Donald Trump and some local officials have criticized Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for orders that enabled restaurants and theaters to join a list of businesses, such as hair and nail salons, barber shops and tattoo parlors, he allowed to reopen last week with social-distancing restrictions.

One restaurant chain, Waffle House, was imposing seating arrangements in Georgia that will keep patrons at least six feet apart, stricter sanitization measures and a requirement that employees wear masks, CEO Walt Ehmer told WSB-TV.

“I know the unemployment system has been enhanced to help take care of the most vulnerable people, but people want to have jobs, and they want to have something to do and take care of their families,” Ehmer said. “I think it’s going to give them some hope.”

Public health authorities warn that increasing human interactions and economic activity may spark a fresh surge of infections just as social-distancing measures appear to be bringing coronavirus outbreaks under control.

Meanwhile, the number of known infections in the United States kept climbing on Monday, topping 970,000 as the number of lives lost to COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the virus, surpassed 54,800.

ROADMAPS

Officials in some of the hardest-hit states such as New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have been emphasizing for weeks that more testing and contact tracing for the virus needed to be in place before they could implement roadmaps for restarting their economies.

Contact tracing involves tracking down and testing people who may have been around anyone already infected.

“Testing is the way forward, and it’s been a long fight just to get the testing,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a briefing on Monday.

He said a new “self-swab” test, which allows patients to administer it to themselves under the supervision of medical personnel, will be available this week at sites run by New York public hospitals.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said in a Twitter message that he would announce a roadmap for “responsibly reopening” the state at a news conference on Monday.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Sunday that businesses including manufacturing and construction in parts of the state with fewer cases of the virus might reopen after his shutdown order expires on May 15.

In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis has given the green light for retail curbside pickup to begin on Monday. Hair salons, barber shops and tattoo parlors may open on Friday, with retail stores, restaurants and movie theaters to follow.

“I would stay home if the government encouraged that, but they’re not. They’re saying, ‘Hey, the best thing to do is go back to work, even though it might be risky,’” Royal Rose, 39, owner of a tattoo studio in Greeley, Colorado, told Reuters.

In a further step to ramp up supplies to fight the pandemic, Trump planned to meet with American textile industry representatives on Monday as clothiers seek to shift their production lines to face masks and other critical items, the White House said.

Companies are aiming “to repurpose their factories from making things like T-shirts into gowns and masks and things like cotton swabs” used for coronavirus testing, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News.

Business shutdowns have led to a record 26.5 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits since mid-March with predictions from the Trump administration that the jobless rate would likely hit 16% or more in April.

“The next couple of months are going to look terrible,” Trump’s economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters on Sunday.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem on Monday said she hoped Smithfield’s Sioux Falls pork processing plant can reopen soon, a day after U.S. labor regulators urged the meat industry to adopt certain measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus among workers. The country’s meat plants have emerged as hot spots for the spread of the virus.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Susan Heavey in Washington; additional reporting by Maria Caspani and Jessica Resnick-Ault; writing by Grant McCool; Editing by Frank McGurty and Howard Goller)

U.N. holds emergency meeting in Asia as China battles African swine fever

FILE PHOTO: Piglets are seen by a sow at a pig farm in Zhoukou, Henan province, China June 3, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

BEIJING (Reuters) – The United Nations is holding an emergency meeting this week with animal health experts in Asia to discuss the threat of African swine fever after the first outbreak of the disease in the region was discovered in China last month.

China has detected eight cases of the highly contagious virus since discovering the first outbreak on Aug. 3, raising concerns about its spread in the world’s largest pork producer and beyond its borders into Southeast Asia.

Its arrival in China marked a new front in the battle to control the disease, which has traveled from Europe over the past decade through Russia.

(Outbreaks of African swine fever in China by location: https://reut.rs/2PCNswR)

First detected in Africa almost a century ago, the virus is often deadly for pigs but does not harm humans.

Specialists from China and nine countries close by and considered to be at risk from a spread of the disease are attending the meeting running from Wednesday to Friday in Bangkok, along with experts from outside the region and participants from the private commercial swine sector.

The nine countries are Cambodia, Japan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The FAO has repeatedly warned that the arrival of the disease poses a significant threat to Asia.

“It’s critical that this region be ready for the very real possibility that (swine fever) could jump the border into other countries,” said Wantanee Kalpravidh, regional manager of the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) in Asia.

“That’s why this emergency meeting has been convened – to assess where we are now – and to determine how we can work together in a coordinated, regional response to this serious situation.”

Chinese authorities are rushing to contain the virus, shutting live markets in infected provinces and banning transportation of live pigs and pork products in and out of those regions.

Highlighting the challenge though, South Korea had to ramp up quarantine measures at airports after finding a traveler carrying Chinese food infected with the disease.

The seminar will review recent research studies and technologies and consider lessons from recent and ongoing episodes in Europe, it said.

The disease is transmitted by ticks and direct contact between animals, and can also travel via contaminated food, animal feed, and people traveling from one place to another. There is no vaccine.

(Reporting by Josephine Mason; Editing by Joseph Radford)