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Fussa, Tokyo – Face mask maintenance technicians bring heavy appliances while painting on an airplane in the scorching heat. In a gym, infantrymen run on socially remote treadmills. Children in the study rooms with plexiglass shields around their desks.
These are just a few examples of how Yokota Air Force Base in western Tokyo, the headquarters of U. S. forces in Japan, faces new criteria for the new coronavirus pandemic. who arrived here under scrutiny after virus outbreaks at Okinawa bases in July.
While Okinawan groups fueled fears that the presence of the U. S. military would be in the middle of the Us military. But it’s not the first time It could undermine the Japanese government’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, few symptoms of oversight gaps or social estating were observed. during a recent stopover at Yokota Air Force Base.
In particular, the practice of dressing up in a face mask now turns out to have permeated almost every facet of life within the fundamental American base, in an obvious nod to a host country known for its established cultural practice of putting them on smoothly.
“I think you might have heard of all the controversy about dressing up in the mask in the United States. Well, I didn’t realize because I’ve lived in Japan for so long,” said Colonel Andrew Campbell, commander of the 374th. Air bridge wing parked at the base.
“The use of mask in Japan is very general and I tell my aviators what it’s like for us to paint with our host counter and do everything our host counter does,” he said. “This is not a controversy for us. “
Located in the city of Fussa on the outskirts of Tokyo, Yokota Air Base is home to a population of approximately 12,000 and is a city-state that spans everything from schools to hospitals and from chapels to supermarkets.
The base prides itself on keeping the number of COVID-19 cases exceptionally low, less than 20 in total, since the pandemic began invading the country.
This is in stark contrast to some of its other services across the country where groups have emerged, such as the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station and Camp Hansen in Okinawa Prefecture, of which it has noticed a total number of cases of 100.
The Okinawa outbreaks in July rekindled the dispute over the U. S. -Japan Rules of Forces (SOFA), according to which members of the U. S. military had a special exemption from Japanese “passport and visa law and regulation. “
The agreement allowed many of them to fly to bases in Japan without undergoing testing protocols at Japanese airports such as Narita and Haneda, which makes quarantine measures appear to be skipping elsewhere. country’s rigorous.
The USFJ, however, questions this account, describing the measures it imposes upon arrival, about 14 days known as movement restriction (ROM), as more draconian in nature than those of the Japanese government.
The ROM necessarily reaches the staff who arrive under SOFA procedures being limited to their homes for 14 days and subjected to polymerase chain reaction tests (PCRs) upon departure, from day 10 to 12. Si their effects are negative, they are allowed to finish the self-risk.
While Japanese airports control Americans upon arrival, the U. S. military is not going to be able to do so. But it’s not the first time He has chosen to adopt the exit verification policy to increase the option of a false negative, according to Captain Robert Lipsitz, USFJ’s leading medical officer.
“We thought it would be better to check other people when they leave their ROM. Because if you check other people on arrival, if, for example, they are next to someone (with the virus) on the plane, this check will never be punctual,” Lipz said.
“The time to review them is before they’re handed over to the public, so if they’re at a demonstration while traveling, you can get them back. “
Although ROM is a high-level policy mandated through the USFJ, the details of how to fight and coexist with the pandemic differ from facility to facility.
In Yokota, the point of so-called fitness coverage situations remains moderate at the moment, in a number of higher restrictions on off-base and base activities.
Service members, for example, are prohibited from participating in off-base activities, such as visiting nightclubs, karaoke, pachinko lounges, concerts, amusement parks or any position where social distance is maintained, said Lt. Col. Andrew Herman, commander of 374 Medical Support Squadron.
Some spaces are also closed to them regardless of the nature of their activities, such as downtown Tokyo, Yokohama and Hokkaido. The use of public transport is also prohibited in principle, Herman said.
On the basis, face masks, hand sanitizers and diagrams illustrating the distance of six feet are now ubiquitous, with indoor installations seeking to adapt to the COVID-19 era.
On a recent Monday, two sweat-soaked maintenance professionals defied the sweltering heat on the flight line as they made their way through the frame of a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, dressed in masks all the time.
Whenever flight crews practice other techniques around or within six feet, they should now put on the mask “even under any conditions, so if it’s hot outside, if it rains outside” just to minimize exposure, Lt. Col. Steve Massie said.
“Not the heat, ” he added.
The Samurai Fitness Center, the main gym at the base, is also not immune to the new normal.
After being reduced to what Technical Sergeant Nathaniel Nelson, head of the fitness and sports segment, described as the “bare minimum” of his role, the gym is now slowly rebuilding, with as many gadgets as possible, spaced and wearing strict masks. use policy instead.
For the U. S. military, maintaining physical readiness is not only a matter of staying healthy, but a requirement that is an integral component of their professionalism, Nelson said.
Service members even have to take what’s called a physical evaluation checkup every and every year, or every two years, based on their scores, to make them “ready to carry out our emergency project tonight. “Nelson said.
“As soldiers, we have to be in a position in the blink of an eye and go, and physical preparation is a key element,” he said.
In fact, fitness is taken so seriously that the fate of the Samurai fitness middle has been a number one fear for many. For a time, Nelson recalled, service members couldn’t get anywhere, depending on the gym as “the only way to get back in shape. “
“There are no walks, no motorcycles outside the base, none of that, ” he said. “So if you were looking for more than just walking on a flat floor or going down the stairs of your house, we were the only option. and supporting this project has been an integral component of it. »
Meanwhile, the reopening of schools has provoked a debate as hot in Yokota as in the United States, Herman said.
“The debate in the US has been a great place to stay. But it’s not the first time Depends on where and how many instances are in the region. And only local dominance here and at the base poses a much smaller threat than some spaces in the US. America,” Herman said. ” So I think we felt the threat was pretty low. “
Base schools started a new semester late last month, from coffee shops to classrooms, plastic barriers now surround each of the offices, the mask locker room is mandatory all day and each one point has a separate front. to stay separated from each other the day.
Naoki Kannari, general secretary of a Japanese workers’ union operating at Yokota Air Base, said control of the union is not aware of any particular court cases among its members about how the U. S. military had implemented anti-infective measures. a slight unease over the influx of army workers from abroad.
“Since the United States is the world’s largest coronavirus access point, it is true that some Japanese employees are concerned that those transferred from the United States are not virus-free,” he said.
But overall, the Japanese workforce is satisfied with the “rigor” with which couches have respectable social distancing, wear masks and disinfect their hands, he said.
In the less-seen moments, they are rarely noticed lowering the mask while speaking deeply with their close friends, yet even then, “they put the mask on when their Japanese colleagues approach them, which some members of our union they see it as a sign that they are still contemplating being considerate of us, “he says.
Kannari considers himself fortunate, he and his colleagues, consolidating themselves with the exemplary habit of the Yokota team that says union members in other regions necessarily take it for granted.
Last month, Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture excluded a circle of relatives out of four who arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo via an advertising flight from the United States, but used public transportation before spending about 40 for 14 days. action that violated the orders of the USFJ and MCAS Iwakuni.
The family circle conducted the COVID-19 test upon arriving in Haneda, in accordance with the Japanese government’s requirement, and were then told that 3 of them had tested positive.
The incident was “deeply regrettable” but had not caused more cases of COVID-19 in Japan, MCAS Iwakuni wrote in a statement.
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