US bases in Japan to come under tighter COVID-19 controls

KYODO (The Japan Times/ANN) -- The United States has agreed to impose stricter COVID-19 measures at US military bases in Japan, a US-Japan joint statement said Sunday, amid concerns that outbreaks at bases have fueled infection in local communities.
For two weeks starting Monday, the movement of US forces personnel outside base facilities will be restricted to essential activities, said the joint statement by the Japanese government and US forces in Japan.
Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture — host to a bulk of US bases in Japan — said this month he was “furious” about what he called inadequate infection controls at US bases that allowed the Omicron variant to spread to the public.

US Marine Corps’ Camp Hansen in Okinawa, where a cluster of COVID-19 infections has been confirmed.

“The United States and Japan are committed to working together to protect the health of the Japanese people and US service members,” the joint statement said.
US forces in Japan have already implemented a mandatory masking policy for all personnel, the statement also said.
The agreement comes after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a TV appearance earlier that the United States had agreed to impose tougher COVID-19 measures and details were being worked out.
His comments came as areas near US bases saw some of the biggest increases in infections on a per capita basis, prompting the government to introduce restrictions for the first time in months in some localities. Prefectural governors have blamed the problem at least in part on US forces.
“We are extremely concerned,” Kishida said, adding that the issue had been raised at talks between the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries last week.
Japan had managed until recently to avoid the kind of surge in COVID-19 cases seen in many Western nations. Infections in Japan topped 8,400 on Saturday, the highest figure since September. While low compared with some other nations, case counts have climbed more than tenfold since the start of the year, increasing concerns that a bigger wave is underway.
A quasi-emergency began Sunday in the prefectures of Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Hiroshima, and is set to continue until the end of the month. It will allow local governments to place restrictions on businesses.
Under the quasi-state of emergency, the three prefectures will request dining establishments in areas subject to the restrictions to shorten business hours and limit group dining to up to four people.
Yamaguchi and Hiroshima prefectures are also asking establishments to stop serving alcohol, while Okinawa will allow restaurants and bars certified as taking sufficient anti-virus measures to serve alcohol until 8 p.m.
Yamaguchi Gov. Tsugumasa Muraoka told reporters Saturday his government may have to consider tougher measures if the situation continues to worsen in the prefecture.
Okinawa, which is home to the bulk of US troops in Japan, saw a record 1,759 cases on Saturday. Yamaguchi saw 154 cases, about half of them in the city of Iwakuni, which hosts a US Marine base.
Hampered by the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement, the government’s border controls against the coronavirus have not applied to US military personnel, officials say.
The government has not publicly traced the spread of infections to the US forces in Japan. However, given that the three prefectures dominate the top three spots in terms of the number of infections per 100,000 people in Japan, U.S. bases are believed to have been a source of transmission.
In mid-December, a spate of COVID-19 cases occurred at the US Marine Corps’ Camp Hansen in Okinawa, mainly among troops who had recently arrived from the United States. A Japanese worker at the base also caught the virus.
A cluster of infections was also confirmed at the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi. The base is about 50 minutes by train from the city of Hiroshima.
Many people have also been infected at the Yokota base in Tokyo and at the Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture.
The Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement, which governs the US military in Japan, stipulates that US service members, civilian military workers and their dependents entering or leaving Japan are exempted from Japanese immigration laws and regulations.
This has allowed US military personnel to bypas quarantine measures. Instead, the United States is responsible for quarantine checks for troops and their families who arrive at US bases in Japan aboard military planes and ships.
The US military had explained that it would take border controls consistent with those of Japan, but it later came to light that since September last year, troops had not received coronavirus tests before departure from the United States.
Such holes in Japan’s strict border controls appear to have quickened the inflows of the highly transmissible omicron variant to Japan.
Due in part to uncertainty about how much the US forces in Japan will implement curbs on outings by service members, there are calls for a revision to the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement.

(Latest Update January 11, 2022)