A man wearing a face mask walks past a bar sign in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic in Tokyo.
TOKYO:
Nightlife worker activists in Japan say they need realistic guidelines on how to stay safe and stay in business amid the new coronavirus, which has seen government focus on hostess bars and hostess as centers of contagion.
Bar staff need practical rules on how to interact with patrons, said Shinya Iwamuro, urologist and public health advocate who taught infection control in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district and other night clubs.
This means no kissing, no sharing of plates and the conversation should be at right angles to avoid contamination of the droplets.
“As much as possible, kiss only with your partner and avoid deep kissing,” Iwamuro said at a press conference, describing what he described as “the label of the kiss”.
Strategic tests in the nightlife areas of Tokyo have revealed an increase in daily cases of coronavirus, mainly in people aged 20 to 30. The clusters incited the governor of Tokyo to raise the city’s alert to the highest “red” level on July 15.
With cases in Tokyo close to 300 a day last weekend, officials have excluded people traveling to and from the capital from a multi-billion dollar government campaign to boost domestic tourism.
The government is also considering tightening its special measures law which allows it to declare a state of emergency. The media reported that Cabinet Chief Secretary Yoshihide Suga said there may be more spot checks on nightlife businesses.
But concern is growing that nightlife has become a scapegoat for the authorities’ failure to track and contain the disease.
Masayuki Saijo, director of virology at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said it was not appropriate to discriminate against people based on where or when they work.
“There is no difference, working at night or working during the day,” said Saijo. “The strategy to reduce human-to-human infection is the same.”
The host and hostess scene provides a kind of safety net for many Japanese job seekers, especially single mothers, said Kaori Kohga, representative director of the Nightlife Business Association.
It is estimated that over one million people work in the industry.
His group developed their own safety rules for their members, including disinfecting karaoke microphones, as they found that government recommendations, such as wearing masks and the two-meter social distance, were not practical. , she told reporters.
“Nothing will change if you criticize us just like the bad guys,” said Kohga, adding that the government has not recognized their rules or offered enough financial assistance to businesses or workers.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
