When Kissing Is Forbidden And The World Of Night Is The Scapegoat, The Pandemic Will Worsen

JAKARTA - Night workers in Japan demand practical protocols in interacting with customers. There are a number of things that experts suggest. One of them is the prohibition of kissing in bars.

Shinya Iwamuro, a urologist and public health advocate, is designing infection control measures in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward and other nightlife spots. He told Reuters that this rule of thumb was urgently needed by lovers of the Japanese nightlife, including workers.

Kinds of appeal for healthy sex, Iwamuro appealed to everyone to only kiss their partners. "As much as possible kiss only with your partner. Avoid deep kisses," Iwamuro told a news conference, describing what he described as "kissing etiquette".

In addition to the rules for kissing, Iwamuro also encourages the management of entertainment venues to implement a ban on sharing dining places and regulate how visitors speak. Verbal interactions should only be carried out from a certain point of view to avoid droplets.

Strategic testing in the nightlife district of Tokyo has revealed a rise in daily cases of the coronavirus, especially among people in their 20s and 30s. Multiple clusters of contagion prompted the governor to raise the city's alert to its highest "red" level on July 15.

In Tokyo, coronavirus cases were close to three hundred a day, recorded at the end of last week. The government excludes people traveling to and from the capital. It is part of a multibillion-dollar government campaign aimed at reviving domestic tourism.

The government is also considering strengthening specific measures to enable it to declare a state of emergency. Media reported Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that there could be more spot checks of the nightlife business.

But there are fears that nightlife has become a scapegoat for the government's failure to track and control the disease. Masayuki Saijo, Director of Virology at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said it was inappropriate to discriminate against people based on where or when they worked.

"There is no difference, working at night or working during the day," said Saijo. "The strategies for reducing human-to-human infection are the same."

More than one million people are estimated to work in the industry, said Kaori Kohga, representative of the Nightlife Business Association. His group has drawn up its own safety rules for its members, including disinfecting karaoke microphones. They considered government recommendations, such as wearing a mask and two meters of social distancing, to be impractical.

"Nothing will change if you only criticize us as bad people," Kohga said, adding the government did not recognize their rule or offer sufficient financial assistance to businesses or workers.