Meanwhile I received my Olympic volunteer schedule.
July 24-28 6:30 am – 3:15 pm
and
August 3-4 7:45 am – 1:45 pm
At the Oi Hockey Stadium.
I’m part of the Event Services Team.
As to what we’ll be doing, I have no idea. I’m not even sure what non-ice hockey is.
Assuming this actually happens I need to make arrangements for Pao’s afternoon walks.
“Coronavirus: Japan declares virus emergency in Tokyo as Olympics near”
In retrospect, I’m not so sure this was a great idea
My neighbor, who has a sister of Pao, was getting into her car as I was coming back from a walk with Pao. She said, “Let’s go to the Arakawa Sports Field.” It’s on the river bank.
I asked how far away it was and she said 2 km, and very spacious and empty.
It seemed safe enough, so Pao and I got into the car and went over.
It seemed to be the very essence of social distancing. I don’t think any two small groups of people were within 100 yards of anybody else. But there were families playing ball, some runners, and other people around by the river.
Pao enjoyed the car ride, but he wasn’t used to all the stimuli. When we got back and got out of the car he threw up what appeared to be his lunch and snacks. He’s quietly resting now. I think it was a bit too much for him. And it didn’t exactly follow the Tokyo Governor’s advice to stay home this weekend.
There was no contact with other people though. And the river looked nice. But Pao is subdued at the moment. He loved having the open space to run around in at the length of his 5 m leash though.
I’ll post some more pictures later.
I don’t remember a worldwide epidemic (or global epidemic panic) like this in my lifetime. I heard of MERS and SARS but don’t remember there being a worldwide shut-down of things like is going on with COVID-19.
I tried to find some comparison info, and this article is informative.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-diseases-comparing-covid-19-sars-mers-numbers-n1150321
In simple numbers, SARS began in 2002 and there have been no more cases since 2004. There were 8,098 reported cases and 774 deaths.
MERS began in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Since then there have been 2,494 reported cases and 858 deaths.
While COVID-19 appears to have a much lower mortality rate than SARS or MERS, it’s hard to know for sure because it’s still spreading. So far the mortality rate is 3.4%.
It’s also more widespread. So far it’s in 60 countries, has infected more than 99,000 people and there have been more than 3,300 fatalities.
So I guess this might be the largest worldwide epidemic in my lifetime.