BA.5 – COVID 7th wave in Japan and holiday season

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Our local shrine’s festival resumed for the first time in three years.

Streets were once again jolly with illuminated lanterns. Kids were playing wood flute and drums to add festive feeling. They were performing the music in front of train station. People enjoyed the music in the evening.

 

I assume that the shrine must have planned the festival when the number of corona patients were decreasing daily – at least until June 2022. People must have put much effort into the preparation, looking forward once again to practice the music, drew out the portable shrine (Omikoshi) ready to be carried around the town, and float to carry the music bands.




 

Before COVID-19, the festival was like these;

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWNuFH-CIg


https://youtu.be/97cu-n3QXrc



I watched the children playing music with somewhat mixed feeling. By the time the festival started, the number of COVID-19 patients were increasing at tremendous speed. I was tracking only the daily figure in Tokyo where I work – By the time the shrine festival started, the COVID positive cases hit more than 30K.

 

More in detail by the Indian Express here


People’s movement in Japan to and from oversea are now open. People come to Japan, or go to abroad mainly on business and study. Which, obviously means that new variant will coming into Japan. I believe now we caught up with rest of the world in terms of new variants spreading across our border.

 

The new variant we are seeing right now is BA.5. According media reports, this variant is quite transmissible.

 

My hope was that the kids and young people participated to the shrine festival did not catch corona. At the same time, it was slightly sad that the new variant is spreading Japan now, when people want to travel abroad once the holiday season starts at the end of July.

 

I was optimistically hoping that the oversea travel will resume normally, possibly within this year – I think I was wrong.

 

All we are waiting for is medicine for COVID-19, not just vaccine. People’s movement will be much easier once medicine is developed, which, unfortunately the world has yet to see.

 

Until then, I guess we would have to stick to so called “new normal”- wear masks, wash hands, keep distance, and do testing before taking flights to anywhere in the world.

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