Epidemiologist Hiroshi Nishiura (center) has given many interviews in which he urged the Japanese to reduce their social contacts by 80%.
By Dennis NormileScience's COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.He has become known in Japan as the "80% uncle." Over the past several weeks, Hokkaido University epidemiologist Hiroshi Nishiura has given innumerable TV and newspaper interviews urging the public to reduce social contacts by 80% in order to reverse the suddenly explosive growth of Japan’s COVID-19 epidemic. "Cooperate to reduce contacts immediately in a drastic manner," Nishiura keeps saying.
He often points to a graph showing results from his modeling indicating that Japan's outbreak can only be contained if people