Photo/Illutration Okinawa International University, foreground, is located adjacent to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

NAHA--Outbreaks of the coronavirus at U.S. bases have caused universities in Okinawa Prefecture to restrict students from entering campuses if they had participated in events attended by U.S. military personnel.

The surge in case numbers has also pushed students back into taking classes online.

Infections at U.S. military facilities in the prefecture totaled 96 between July 7 and July 14, according to the Okinawa prefectural government.

That level blows past the criteria that prefectural officials set out for declaring a state of emergency for islanders. Under the prefectural government’s guidance released earlier this month, a state of emergency should be issued if the number of new cases among islanders over a week reaches as high as 37.

Of the 96 cases, most--71 cases--were reported at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan.

Officials at Okinawa International University, which is located next to the Futenma airfield, notified students and faculty staff on July 13 they would restrict entry to the campus.

The people subject to the restriction participated in gatherings of U.S. military personnel around the July 4 Independence Day celebrations or entered a U.S. base on June 30 or afterward following a spike in cases at U.S. military facilities.

Okinawa University, in the prefectural capital of Naha, began giving classes online on July 14 and canceled most classes on campus.

When cases rapidly grew in the southernmost prefecture in April, the university made the campus off limits.

But it fully returned to normal operations on June 15 after it began easing entry restrictions on June 1, as no new infections had been confirmed since April 30 in the prefecture.

In a message for students posted on the school’s website on July 13, Mitsuru Moriguchi, president of the university, said: “We are sorry about having to take this measure after all of us have readjusted to regular classes.” 

In Nishihara, a town near Naha, Okinawa Christian University and Okinawa Christian Junior College switched back to online education on July 14 after the schools had returned to normal operation on June 1.

“We want to protect the health and safety of students as U.S. bases are located in their living and commuting sphere,” a university official said. “We fear more cases may be reported (at U.S. bases).”

By April 30, the prefecture had recorded 143 cases. But no new infections were confirmed throughout May and June, or until six people, including tourists from Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, tested positive for COVID-19 this month.

Prefectural officials said it is unclear exactly how many infections there have been at U.S. bases. They also acknowledged the difficulty of creating guidelines for issuing an emergency declaration by taking into account the number of COVID-19 patients at U.S. bases.

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