US military tells officials two affected bases have been put into lockdown and those who tested positive are in isolation
The governor of Okinawa island in Japan has demanded that a United States military commander take tougher prevention measures and have more transparency after officials were told more than 60 marines at two bases have been infected with the coronavirus over the past few days.
On Sunday Okinawan officials reported 61 cases, 38 of them at marine corps air station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen since 7 July.
US military officials have told them the two bases have been put into lockdown.
The disclosure of the exact figures came only after repeated requests.
Late on Saturday governor Denny Tamaki spoke on the phone to Lt Gen H Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, and insisted the US increases its disease prevention measures to maximum levels, stops sending personnel to Okinawa and seals the bases.
Okinawa referendum rejects new US military base but Abe likely to press on Read more
“It is extremely regrettable that the infections are rapidly spreading among US personnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections,” Tamaki said.
“We now have strong doubts that the US military has taken adequate disease prevention measures.”
Adding to Okinawans’ concern is quarantining an unidentified number of American service members arriving from mainland US for staff rotations at an off-base hotel due to shortage of space on base, officials said.
The marines said on Friday that the troops were taking additional protective measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus and were restricting off-base activities.
The statement said measures were to “protect our forces, our families, and the local community”, without providing details on the infections.
The marine corps installations Pacific said on its Facebook page on Saturday that this week it had had two localized clusters of individuals who tested positive for the virus. It said those who tested positive were in isolation.
Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops in Japan under a bilateral security pact, and the residents are sensitive to US base-related problems. Many Okinawans have long complained about pollution, noise and crime.
Okinawans also oppose a planned relocation of Futenma air base from the current site in a densely populated area in the south to a less populated area on the east coast.
Okinawa has had about 150 cases of the coronavirus. In all, Japan has had about 21,000 cases and 1,000 deaths. Tokyo reported more than 200 new cases for a third straight day on Saturday.
Ekelley90 on July 12nd, 2020 at 10:29 UTC »
To provide some context on this (copied over from the another post):
• There have been 0 new COVID cases in Okinawa since April, US military numbers have never been included in this figure because the US military refuses to disclose COVID information.
• New reports show 60+ US military infections this week. This information was leaked to the press and not disclosed voluntarily. It is suspected that this sudden spike is related to several large July 4th parties last week and military related personnel breaking their mandatory two-week quarantine.
• It is currently impossible to perform tracing, quarantining, and monitoring for Japanese citizens who have come into contact with infected US personnel. This is because the US refuses to disclose the necessary information to local health officials.
• Japan currently bans Americans and other individuals from high risk countries from flying into Japan to avoid COVID spread, but this restriction does not apply to US military and affiliated personnel.
• US military officials have repeatedly assured the public that all new arrivals to Okinawa are subject to their own thorough quarantine procedures. However, it was leaked recently that many of these quarantines were held at rented apartments or hotels in local communities that were never informed that buildings in their neighborhoods were being used as COVID quarantine centers.
TLDR: After a small initial outbreak in march, Okinawa prefecture has been extremely successful in containing COVID and brought down daily new cases to 0 for a period of several months. However, the US military is now responsible for a huge spike in infections that threatens to put all of this progress at risk, which is made worse by the US side's refusal to cooperate with local health officials.
noodlyarms on July 12nd, 2020 at 07:52 UTC »
Sorry Okinawa, them being Marines, it's likely they were spitting into each others mouths as some sort of game.
RiseInternational on July 12nd, 2020 at 07:08 UTC »
The locals in this place are especially pissed at the base here, what with the rapes and murders.