[Voltron]

In all of this, Japan seems to be the odd man out. Despite being one of the first hit and geographically close to the origin of the outbreak, the impact on the islands has been astonishingly low.

There's a lot of talk about why this is. Some have accused the Japanese government of downplaying the crisis, and that the situation is much more severe than is being reported. However, this would mean that the hospitals aren't reporting the massive casualties, which is all but impossible. Also, the families of those affected would have been more vocal about a cover-up. Combine this with the sheer size of Tokyo, the largest urban area in the world, and it's odd that the virus hasn't wreaked more havoc.

Shockingly, Japan never went under self quarantine. Other countries are barred from entering without mandatory screenings and quarantine periods, but the Japanese public have been living life largely unaffected. Schools shut done for a month or so, initially of their own volition. Everything else remained (and continues to remain) open and functioning at full capacity. Schools are set to reopen in April.

There's a lot of speculation as to why Japan avoided the same fate as other countries. One school of thought says that school closings were the best way to stop the spread of coronavirus, and that everything else benefited from that sole action. Others are worried that this is just the calm before the storm, and that a sense of complacency falling over the public may lead to the same kind of infection rates seen in other countries.

At the moment, no one's really sure about anything. There are no concrete answers. Last weekend was a holiday and a lot of people went out and there was a spike in infections, so it's definitely still a possibility that the worst is ahead.

Weird.