LETTER FROM HAPPY ENGLISH SCHOOL Mar. 13th,2020

Hello, how are you?　I hope everyone is fine, free from flu or coronavirus infection. In addition to these infections, hay fever troubles us at this time of the year. I hear there are many people who have developed an allergy to pollen, and, to tell you the truth, I am one of them. If your nose is running and you can’t stop sneezing because of hay fever, you may be taken for having coronavirus, so be careful. You might be segregated in that case.

At the turn of the season, many things usually happen. This year due to the outbreak of coronavirus, almost all of the March events Osaka prefecture organized have been canceled. People are advised not go to places where gatherings are held, which will definitely hit hard Osaka’s economy. The government is afraid that the virus is even more spreading, resulting in more people’s deaths.

As no specific cure has been found against the disease, people’s anxiety has been deepened. Masks and disinfectants are in short supply, and there are even such officials that steal masks. Chinese tourists who have helped boost Osaka’s economy are discriminated against because Wuhan in China is the epicenter of the infection: the city was closed down and the citizens have been quarantined. It seems that deaths from coronavirus are increasing and the epidemic is still far from being contained , what is worse, it's rapidly spreading around the world.

Japanese tourists are banned from entering Indonesia and Brazil and Taiwanese citizens are warned not to go to Japan. Since the passengers who were aboard Diamond Princess disembarked on February 19th, Japan has been regarded as virus-infested.

We are strongly advised to wash our hands thoroughly and frequently with soap to get rid of the virus before we eat and soon after we come home, to use disinfectants, and to wear masks when we have a cough or a sneeze so as not to get others infected.

Everybody desperately hopes that the virus is contained as soon as possible.

コロナの影響は甚大で収束の見通しもつかず、経済へのダメージがどの位になるか見当もつきません。そんな中、噂や誤情報に惑わされず、自分のするべきことをし、できれば困っている人を助け、私たち一般人はできるだけ事態が早く収まるように祈るしかないようですね。しかし、英語の勉強はできます。この混乱で時間ができたなら、ぜひ、英語の本を読んだり英語の番組を見たりしてください。