Sterlin34 said: First, I wanted to say thank you for providing some kind of local coverage on this. My husband is a contractor here in Okinawa and we get absolutely zero information from the military or his company. Click to expand...

Sterlin34 said: I am very grateful that I stumbled upon your site as we had no idea what was happening locally. Click to expand...

Sterlin34 said: It alarms me, the amount of people that are completely oblivious to what is happening with the spread of this virus and the lack of real news to be found covering it. Click to expand...

Sterlin34 said: I understand not wanting to create a panic in the populace but wouldn't an informed public be better equipped to deal with this? Click to expand...

Sterlin34 said: If anyone is interested in the global news about this, a YouTube channel called Peak Prosperity has been reporting the illness, science behind it, numbers and potential economic impact of this outbreak. Click to expand...

Sterlin34 said: Please keep up the news about local developments, it is very much appreciated. Click to expand...

Sterlin34 said: As we saw over the weekend, Italy went from 3 cases to over 130 cases in 3 days. Click to expand...

Thank you for visiting our site, albeit for information regarding COVID-19; it's good to know that we are having an impact locally, be it in the Expat community or those brought here through the terms of SOFA. I hope you end up sticking around long after this outbreak is over.As far as the military and contractor not knowing, I don't believe that is the case. I am quite certain that, at least at the top echelons of the military, they know. That said, there's so much bureaucracy involved in determining whether it's accurate, going up levels above or level to them rank/department wise before they can announce anything.Not knocking the process, as there is a language barrier, but a great example of my theory can be seen in this post (screenshot attached):As you can see, they reported on February 19, 2020, at 1525 that there was no other case. However, at 1826 it was confirmed that there was a third case with no further reporting from Kadena AB until 24 hours later, or, 21 hours after confirmation. That tells me, if you get news, you will always have a delay—why that is, is unknown to me as you should be informed around the clock to ensure preventative measures are taken within that window.Our site provides great news in regards to COVID-19. However, not to scare you, there are plenty of places outdoors in our forum Okinawa Pin Drops that are isolated, but can still give you a sense of Okinawa. I, myself, would not be afraid to travel to most of them on any day.Learning some history about Okinawa through these sites should keep your mind occupied enough to not worry about an epidemic happening in Okinawa, giving you enough time to not be completely bored until things blow over. Just prepare for the journey with some alcohol hand sanitizer and wash your hands in the "public" restrooms if you can (outdoor ones) prior to using it too as well as washing your face if you can, as advised by multiple sources.If you feel safer indoors, you can expand your Japanese vocabulary by playing Shiritori , a fun game of learning a word a day. Put it to use after you feel like it's safe to travel around and experience the culture more.This is alarming to me as well: locally and abroad. The coverage of it seems minimal while the numbers seem to be increasing at a rate where it can't be ignored.To some degree, yes. But if you have everyone rushing for food, etc., that should be on hand prior to something like this, in my opinion, I believe you have the opportunity for it to jump hosts as someone could be asymptomatic and spread it in the public frenzy of a mob trying to stock up.Thank you, I will have to look into it.However, if you have any specific videos that you'd like to share, you can always click the "..." (Insert) button, media, and paste the YouTube video link there (from 'share' in the YT app 'share' and copy to clipboard or copy/paste from a browser).We will keep up as local news reports. I've decided against reporting each individual case if someone gets better from the illness, as we know there's only a 2% mortality rate, and all 3 could make it out unscathed. However, the first confirmed case was in fact twice tested negative for COVID-19 and might have (or was already) been discharged as of yesterday.This one rocked me as I check WHO.int sitreps after reading this and between yesterday and today, there were 67 new cases in Italy.I would presume the cases in Japan are much higher than what is being reported. This is because, in my opinion, Japan is trying to save face by reporting only those infected that seek medical attention. That said, the criteria for seeking attention is a fever for 4-days.But in that 4-day window:are those people doing? Are they well enough to go about normal life, going to work, school events, etc.? Are they self-quarantining themselves? Are they with family members who can be asymptomatic hosts themselves?Those questions can only be answered when and if there is a flood of people at each clinic needing dire attention because of pneumonia. Then, Japan can no longer deny that the numbers of infected are much lower than they appear.