A Message on Reaching the Halfway Point of the Spring Semester
~ The COVID-19 Situation at Yokohama National University and Many Thanks to Everyone ~
Dear YNU Students,
As we reach this day, June 7, we are now exactly halfway through the spring semester, and as the President of YNU, I would like to take this opportunity to touch upon the university’s COVID-19 situation for the first half of the spring semester (April to May) and to express my gratitude to all of you.
During the first half of the spring semester, YNU saw a total of eight new cases of COVID-19. The public health center notified us that six people associated with YNU had become infected in April and two more in May. None of them had been infected on campus.
In May, Kanagawa Prefecture reported around 20 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people each week. With YNU having approximately 10,000 students, this means there would have been a total of 16 new cases in the last eight weeks if there had been as many new cases at YNU as in the prefecture.
YNU’s results over the past two months would not have been possible without your support in preventing the spread of infection, and we deeply appreciate your patience and cooperation during this difficult time.
As of now, semi-emergency coronavirus measures (*) remain in place for Kanagawa Prefecture, while neighboring Tokyo is under a state of emergency. But since YNU has managed to keep its number of cases low, we will carry on providing in-person classes along with online classes. We will also continue to allow extracurricular activities, based on our Guidelines for Resuming Extracurricular Activities (revised in March 2021).
Meanwhile, with more infectious variants predicted to spread in the future, we believe it will be necessary to keep an even sharper eye on situations inside and outside the campus during the second half of the spring semester. As we hope to maintain in-person interactions on campus, we urge all students to continue taking prevention measures and to monitor your health condition as you go about your daily lives.
News from the United Kingdom and the United States tells us that the COVID-19 situation in these countries, which had been much worse than in Japan, is now changing for the better because more and more citizens are getting vaccinated. Research institutes around the world are also making progress with studies to clarify the COVID-19 mechanism, as well as conducting clinical trials for new therapeutic drugs. While it is true that the lingering threat of variants will keep us ever vigilant, I believe that compared to where we were a year ago, we are gradually beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But until that light is reached, I ask that you continue to take preventive actions to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each and every YNU student for your cooperation.
*With the extension of semi-emergency coronavirus measures based on the Special Measures Law, Kanagawa Prefecture released its “Implementation Policy regarding semi-emergency coronavirus measures and other priority measures based on the Special Measures Law (as of May 28, 2021).” This policy calls on universities and other organizations to continue taking such actions as implementing basic prevention measures, asking people to refrain from dining in groups, and making sure prevention measures are implemented during club and other group activities, as before. We thank you for your continued cooperation.
As we reach this day, June 7, we are now exactly halfway through the spring semester, and as the President of YNU, I would like to take this opportunity to touch upon the university’s COVID-19 situation for the first half of the spring semester (April to May) and to express my gratitude to all of you.
During the first half of the spring semester, YNU saw a total of eight new cases of COVID-19. The public health center notified us that six people associated with YNU had become infected in April and two more in May. None of them had been infected on campus.
In May, Kanagawa Prefecture reported around 20 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people each week. With YNU having approximately 10,000 students, this means there would have been a total of 16 new cases in the last eight weeks if there had been as many new cases at YNU as in the prefecture.
YNU’s results over the past two months would not have been possible without your support in preventing the spread of infection, and we deeply appreciate your patience and cooperation during this difficult time.
As of now, semi-emergency coronavirus measures (*) remain in place for Kanagawa Prefecture, while neighboring Tokyo is under a state of emergency. But since YNU has managed to keep its number of cases low, we will carry on providing in-person classes along with online classes. We will also continue to allow extracurricular activities, based on our Guidelines for Resuming Extracurricular Activities (revised in March 2021).
Meanwhile, with more infectious variants predicted to spread in the future, we believe it will be necessary to keep an even sharper eye on situations inside and outside the campus during the second half of the spring semester. As we hope to maintain in-person interactions on campus, we urge all students to continue taking prevention measures and to monitor your health condition as you go about your daily lives.
News from the United Kingdom and the United States tells us that the COVID-19 situation in these countries, which had been much worse than in Japan, is now changing for the better because more and more citizens are getting vaccinated. Research institutes around the world are also making progress with studies to clarify the COVID-19 mechanism, as well as conducting clinical trials for new therapeutic drugs. While it is true that the lingering threat of variants will keep us ever vigilant, I believe that compared to where we were a year ago, we are gradually beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But until that light is reached, I ask that you continue to take preventive actions to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to each and every YNU student for your cooperation.
UMEHARA Izuru
President, Yokohama National University
*With the extension of semi-emergency coronavirus measures based on the Special Measures Law, Kanagawa Prefecture released its “Implementation Policy regarding semi-emergency coronavirus measures and other priority measures based on the Special Measures Law (as of May 28, 2021).” This policy calls on universities and other organizations to continue taking such actions as implementing basic prevention measures, asking people to refrain from dining in groups, and making sure prevention measures are implemented during club and other group activities, as before. We thank you for your continued cooperation.