
Japan to close schools nationwide to control spread of virus - jonbaer
https://apnews.com/c92ca9ae1c59079557e98275ff814c06
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TehCorwiz
It's worth pointing out that the Japanese school system's schedule is rotated
more towards the beginning of the year from where the US schedule is. They're
about to go on their long break, which we usually have in summer they have in
spring. So for many students they would be on break starting next week and
wouldn't be back in school until April. This just moves that schedule up a
bit. The big question that's being asked is, "Will this clear up by April, and
if it doesn't?"

Source: My wife works for a non-profit high-school & university level Japanese
study abroad program.

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numpad0
Japanese fiscal and school year ends/starts 31st March/starts April 1st rather
than 31 Aug/1 Sep. In a three semester school year, 1st semester is from Apr-
Aug, 2nd from Sep-Dec, 3rd from Jan-Mar. This will cut short 1/3 of the third.

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macintux
Active discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22432233](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22432233)

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numpad0
Obvious response to this rn in the country is "but parents has jobs,
especially healthcare workers, the fuck are you thinking"

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TheOnly92
Pretty spot on, a hospital in Hokkaido has to stop taking in new patients due
to nurses having to take leave to care for their children.

Source (jap): [https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sapporo-
news/20200227/7000018387.html](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/sapporo-
news/20200227/7000018387.html)

~~~
kazinator
It says they even closed a whole section of the building, and there are cases
of patients being asked to accept postponed hospitalization dates.

But there is a bit more to the story: that hospital is also the only one in
the region designated for handling infectious disease outbreaks, and so in the
face of the staff shortage, they are also planning to have the capacity to
respond to cases of the virus.

