Japan Air Lines Suspends Flights to Curb COVID-19 Cases
Japan Airlines (JAL) suspended flights to the U.S. to curb Coronavirus damage but affected many people and students.
Japan Airlines (JAL) has recently decided to reduce the number of flights and services of its domestic airlines with the intent of slowing down the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Depending on the results of this decision, there may be more reductions and changes in flights in the future. These changes were reflected on the JAL website soon after the announcement, and will continue to be updated with future flight plans.
These traveling updates are causing significant concerns for many people, including students. According to student statistics for Green River College in 2015, 8,471 students attend GRC. Around 840 (approximately 10%) of those students identify as Asian.
One student, a 27-year-old Slovak woman who studies environmental engineering, is struggling with the fear of not completing an article by her deadline because of the possibility of not returning to Japan in time.
She had left Japan on March 3rd, 2020 to visit family during spring break. During this time, Slovakia had not had any reports of COVID-19 and Japan had not reported its soon to-be large-scale outbreak yet.
These flight restrictions put into effect a ban on entry from 111 countries and is applied to all foreign residents with student visas and tourists alike. This is also causing many international students to be stuck, causing strong criticism from international communities about their current financial difficulty and the instability of their future. If the Department of State does not issue a visa according to the resident alien customs execution rule issued on July 6, American customs border Security Bureau states that a school does not admit entry of the foreign student in autumn unless completely online.
In the case of one student who was already in the United States, he had to change schools in the educational institution where they offered online meeting classes, or else it would have been necessary for him to leave the country. These meeting classes have softened the uneasiness and the frustration of many foreign students for the moment.
Most higher education systems chose to do online courses in order to continue teaching in a class format prior to the presidential election in November. However, the government is now considering whether or not they intend for new and old students to continue with this type of limited experience.
SOURCES
1. https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/book-plan/airinfo/routeinfo/international/ (Links to an
external site.)
2. https://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/notice/notice_011.html (Links to an external site.)
3. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/06/19/national/social-issues/japan-ban-
foreign-students/ (Links to an external site.)
4. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/07/15/national/japanese-students-us-visa-
restrictions/ (Links to an external site.)
5. https://www.usnews.com/education/community-colleges/green-river-
