Hong Kong Sevens Postponed over Coronavirus

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=12308143

The Hong Kong Sevens tournament is set to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak and there could be further implications for Super Rugby games.

The South China Morning Post reported the prestigious Hong Kong Sevens tournament, which hosts 40,000 people each day and was scheduled for April 3-6, has been shelved for six months due to on-going health fears in the city.

That seems logical. I know anecdotally a lot of people are worried about going to any major events over here and it's definitely effected various aspects of day to day life.

We're pretty lucky in NZ to not have any cases (that we know of), but there's still a lot of worry about going abroad now or going to conferences with other nationalities etc

Just on the Coronavirus itself, since it was brought up; - you see so many people in or close to the places/Nations infected wearing face masks.  
Now I know in Asian parts of the world the wearing of face masks by many people in public has become a bit of a norm.  Many wear them to perhaps cut down on everyday city style pollution going into their lungs.  And I'd guess that a percentage probably wear them as some sort of futurist fashion statement - we all know how movies influence.
But in recent times I'd assume many of the masks are now worn to protect against Coronavirus infection.  And I smirk to myself at the reasoning because in most cases of face mask wearers, I see no gloves.........  

So - rather a pointless exercise in the grand scheme of things, as without question, transference of infection is as possible through touch as it is through the nose or mouth.  So touching products in shops, touching furniture, touchng hand rails, touching traffic light buttons etc etc.....
Hands - always the biggest culprits in the ready spread of infection.

Japanese wear masks a good deal, and for a variety of reasons. The main one is actually when you have a cold, and you don't want to spread it. People tend to go to work when they are sick, which isn't a great idea at the best of times, and not when you have a virus like this one.

There was a bad flu doing the rounds at the start of the year, so masks were even more common than usual. I'd say we are at about that level but it varies. I didn't especially notice them at the Sunwolves game yesterday except for staff serving drinks and food at the stands. The first close-up shot of the crowd is around the 37 second mark, and that matches the people near me. A family of five in front (3 primary school age kids) and the guys next to me wore no masks.

I suspect a rush hour crowd would have more masks.



Of course, they are are hard to come by now. Chinese, Taiwanese and HKers in Japan bought a lot to send home, while local demand has also been brisk. Most health advisories have emphasized hand washing, so anti-bacterial gels, wipes and sprays are also flying off the shelves.

Are you in Japan, Rugby Fan?

yappysnap wrote:Are you in Japan, Rugby Fan?

Yes, we are in Tokyo. Lots of public events are being cancelled over the next month. Depending on how things play out, that could extend further.

Yea I bet, must be a fair bit of worry over there now about any big gatherings.

Hand sanitizer was almost impossible to come by over here a couple of weeks back because of panic buying, people seem to have slowed down buying it now but i'd wager it's still selling well.