Has the Peak of Infection Passed?

Published in The Sankei News
(Japan) on 30 April 2020
by Kyosuke Sumii (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Eric Stimson. Edited by Margaret McIntyre.
Almost a month has passed since I started working remotely from home. Light exercise and weekend shopping are just about the only chances to venture out. I worried at first about building up stress, but I haven’t felt it much.

The supermarket I visit limits the number of people who can enter, and a long line can form in front. Masks are compulsory for customers and staff.

Normally I receive my purchases in a tote bag, but now employees put them in paper bags to guard against infection, and customers wait two to three meters (approximately seven to 10 feet) away from the cash register. I also sense a tinge of loneliness from their silence, as Americans love to chat.

The first confirmed infection in America was in the western state of Washington on Jan. 21. The Trump administration banned the entry of foreigners from China, but infections kept spreading and America has now become the world leader in both infections and deaths.

San Francisco, in the West, will be extending its quarantine measures until the end of May. Those measures have been in place since mid-March. Maryland, where I live, also doesn’t feel like it will reopen yet. Yet although it is still early, some states have concluded that the peak of infection has passed, and have started to resume economic activity.

I would be happy to see the hubbub return to the streets, but will it lead to another expansion of infections? If that happens, this will all have been for naught.


自宅でのリモート勤務となってから、ほぼ1カ月がたった。軽い運動と週末の買い物がほぼ唯一の外出の機会だ。ストレスがたまるかと当初は危惧したが、それほど感じない。

 行きつけのスーパーでは入店できる人数を制限しており、店の前には長い列ができる。客も店員もマスクは必須だ。

 普段ならエコバッグに品物を入れてもらうのだが、感染拡大を警戒して店員が紙袋に詰めていき、客はレジ係から2~3メートル離れた位置で待たされる。おしゃべり好きな米国人が黙々としている姿には一抹の寂しさも感じる。

 西部ワシントン州で全米最初の感染者が確認されたのは1月21日。トランプ米政権は中国からの外国人の入国を禁止したが感染者は増え続け、とうとう感染者、死者ともに世界一となってしまった。

 西部サンフランシスコ市は3月中旬から続けている外出禁止措置を5月末まで延長するとしている。記者(住井)が住む東部メリーランド州でも、まだまだ再開の雰囲気はない。だが、一部の州は早くも「感染のピークは過ぎた」として経済活動を再開し始めた。

 街ににぎわいが戻るのはうれしいが、感染拡大に再びつながることにならないか。そうなれば元も子もない。(住井亨介)
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