Photo/Illutration An online meeting of prefectural governors to discuss a response to skyrocketing COVID-19 cases on Aug. 1 (Etsuko Akuzawa)

Stay home during the summer break: That's the message prefectural governors are trying to get across to prevent a further spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

The National Governors’ Association held an online meeting Aug. 1 to draw up a list of crisis recommendations to present to the central government to call on people to cancel or postpone travel, especially across prefectural borders, ahead of the expanded COVID-19 state of emergency.

Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Osaka prefectures came under the state of emergency, which already covers Tokyo and Okinawa Prefecture, on Aug. 2 following skyrocketing cases there.

“It is no exaggeration to say infections are spreading ‘explosively’ in many areas of the country,” the association stated in the recommendations.

Sounding the alarm, it called on people to travel less during the summer break, and in particular refrain from returning to their hometowns during the Bon holiday season, to prevent the Delta variant from spreading.

The association urged people to stagger their visits and undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests beforehand if they really feel the need to travel during the period.

It also called on the government to “send a strong message to members of the public to share a sense of crisis and urge them to change their behavior.”

Many of the 44 governors who attended the meeting expressed alarm at a recent spike in new infections.

“The flow of people has not been reduced even under the state of emergency,” said Tokushima Governor Kamon Iizumi, who is also the president of the association. “The government has failed to get its message through to the public.”

Nagano Governor Shuichi Abe said the government must deliver a stronger message.

“I want the government to seriously consider (revising) the law to enable authorities to impose stricter travel restrictions, like lockdowns,” Abe said.

In the recommendations, the association asked the government to improve anti-virus steps now in place by revising the special measures law to deal with the pandemic and consider adopting lockdown-type restrictions.

The governors of Fukui, Miyazaki and Ibaraki prefectures called for an expansion of the state of emergency to cover the entire nation, saying it is practically impossible to curb infections at the prefectural level during the summer break, when hordes of people traditionally go traveling.

The association also urged the government to take responsibility for conducting PCR and antigen tests on members of junior and senior high school sports clubs and their staff participating in the National Sports Festival, the Inter-High School Championships, the National High School Baseball Championship and other national athletic meets.

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