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© 2021 AFPOlympic Village safe place to stay, Games organizers insist
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© 2021 AFP
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oldman_13
Not so sure, with athlete after athlete testing positive recently.
sakurasuki
Virus will not care whether organizer insist or not.
divinda
Nope.
Now THREE athletes have tested positive. The newest is a volleyballer from Latvia.
The story about it is on JT, but its off the headline mix since it was posted at 4:55am
Read it here:
3rd athlete at Olympic village tests positive
https://japantoday.com/category/tokyo-2020-olympics/olympic-athlete-tests-positive-in-tokyo-days-before-1st-game
Tora
So, on other words everything they have said until now was a lie. Rules should be rules. What kind of message is this sending to the other athletes?
I will tell you: if you happen to be playing a popular sport or event like soccer, and especially scheduled to be playing against Japan, then the rules can be bent, "if you cooperate". What does that even mean, and who decides?
It seems like there is a humbug behind the curtain controlling the show and making arbitrary decisions with no oversight.
I can see where this is heading. Too bad if you test positive and you're scheduled for a less popular event or not a "star" player.
divinda
Oh, and a US gymnast has tested positive, but that is at their training camp outside Tokyo.
See here:
https://japantoday.com/category/tokyo-2020-olympics/american-gymnastics-alternate-tests-positive-at-olympics
Phil
Maybe they should put there money where there mouth is. Move into the village.
snowymountainhell
Another example of Local media & the IOCLDPJOC continuing their ‘positive spin’ on events that are more accurately being referred to by the foreign media as “surreal”:
“Japan prepares for a surreal Olympics, and plenty of questions”- AP Jul 20, ‘21They also point out that many media here have coverage rights in exchange for paid sponsorship of the Games
gogogo
"Safe" really? why isn't Bach staying there? If you really believed that you would there as well.
Aly Rustom
Olympic Village safe place to stay, Games organizers insist
ok, put your money where your mouth is and bunk there for the duration of the games
Chizuko
When there are mass camps, summer schools and events happening all over Japan, how can people really protest the olympics?
if Japan and its people had been putting in sustained efforts to eradicate the virus then I could understand the protests etc. but they are still packing trains, company and government officials still having big parties, hostess and snack bars still full till late night etc.
how many people are going to theme parks each day? Beaches are about to be packed too!
divinda
No, the IOC officials, staff, and media want to stay in the uncontrolled hotels, where the "rules" during their 14 day quarantine are given to these people and state in English (and I am not making this up):
"Rules for going outside your hotel -Tokyo 2020
During your 14 day quarantine please write down your room number and the time of going out on the Access Control Form before going outside your hotel and fill in the time of returning when you are back. Please make sure to be back within 15 minutes."
I haven't seen any English story about this (too scandalous?), but its all over Japanese media
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP7M6R8RP7MUTFK00K.html
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210719/k10013148051000.html?utm_int=news-new_contents_list-items_090
kyushubill
Safe as a used mask.
Yubaru
Outside of reading some of the articles here, and in the Japanese media, I for one, will not be watching the Olympics this time around.
I choose to NOT support them!
GW
Village I hereby dub thee THE PRINCESS II.
This is just like how the virus kicked here on the water at Yokohama! And I doubt the coastguard ship will be able to assist!
Tom Doley
If it's such a safe place to stay, why couldn't the jgov adopt the same model to make all of Japan safe?
drlucifer
Well welcome to the most controversial olympics in history.
I am sure the controversy is already making the rounds in SA.
garypen
The developers of the Olympic Village will finally be able to sell those condos.
The J gov pushing the Olympics now, instead of waiting another year, aren't just thinking of the IOC and those TV rights.
BlackFlagCitizen
Well, it's not like the game organizers have any other plans to house the athletes anywhere else should the virus spread in the village, so whatever they say doesn't carry any weight.
smithinjapan
Oh, well if the GAME organizers insist, it must be so. After all, they have no vested interests.
MiuraAnjin
Churmans got their towels on the balconies first I see.
drlucifer
When the pandemic just started, didn't the IOC say they will consult with the WHO before making a decision whether to go ahead with the Olympics or not ? I wonder whether the WHO gave the green light for this sham olympics to take place. Anyway, Tedros will be here on thursday, hope (though not holding my breath) he will be asked whether the WHO approves a mass gathering event like the olympics taking place during a pandemic. They are all corrupt to the core and don't really give a damn about the struggling masses. and everything they do might seem like a noble cause but is just camouflage and nothing but self-aggrandisement.
Tokyoite
Everyone in the village is vaccinated and tested daily. I'd say the Olympic village is a lot safer than the Yamanote Line train at 08:15 this morning.
What do you think the test results would be if we tested everyone in Tokyo this morning?
Vinke
Tokyoite
THIS. Exactly this. I'm so tired of this lynch mob mentality of everyone, just bashing down on everything that just has the word 'Olympics' attached to it, and people not really rationally thinking things through, and, looking themselves at the mirror. Of course some cases are appearing from the village, since they're testing so vigorously. Just imagine the cases that would emerge if they tested the regular offices of the regular Taro & Keiko ever so often!
I'm extremely happy that some people I know (some with pre-existing conditions) are working exactly at the village, and don't have to take any crowded trains to crowded regular offices in Tokyo. The village really IS much safer than anywhere else in Tokyo. Regular tests, regular screenings, monitoring of movements, hand sanitizers at every corner, staggered mealtimes, etc. Security screening at the entrance. Their own clinic, their own testing station, and so on, and so on.
All of you bashing the games and the village - what, in real & actual practical terms, are you doing every day to try and stop the virus and to protect yourself and the others? Now think of that and compare it to what they're doing at the village. Seen any friends at any cafes or bars recently? Been to a mall to do some shopping? Been at a face to face meeting with anyone? Been in a rush-hour train? If so, then you have no right to complain about the village, as you are the one risking others and yourself.
Some dude
All of you bashing the games and the village - what, in real & actual practical terms, are you doing every day to try and stop the virus and to protect yourself and the others?
I intend to get vaccinated as soon as the government gets its act together, I wear a mask every time I go out, I avoid the busy train lines as much as humanly possible, I don’t go out drinking at night, and I’m teleworking every day.
You?
Vinke
Some dude
"All of you bashing the games and the village - what, in real & actual practical terms, are you doing every day to try and stop the virus and to protect yourself and the others?"
Great! Same here. Mask every time I step outside of the door - even if its to take out the trash, or go for a walk. I have received 1/2 of the vaccination, and will get the second dose a couple of weeks later. I don't go anywhere by train/subway, if possible, but walk or cycle. I order much of the things I need online, and when I need to go to the supermarket, I go there outside of the busy hours - avoiding weekends especially. I haven't really met anyone (=friends, acquaintances) F2F aside from my spouse for the past 2 years. I don't go to restaurants, izakayas (even though I absolutely love them), cafés, movie theatres etc. I also telework (though - this is not possible for everyone, and am really grateful I have this opportunity). I use a hand sanitizer every time I see one - just to also "inspire" others around me. There have been countless times when, after I've used one, e.g. at the entrance to a supermarket - others around me have stopped, "realised its existence" and also used it.
drlucifer
Vinke great post.
The sad part about all all this is that they are beating the wrong horse. Local media turned to stalking foreign media staff for the olympics and monitoring their every movement while the protagonist are given a free pass. It is just sickening.
Tokyoite
Yep. Nail on the head.
Stadium for football, baseball and sumo have crowds as I type, but the focus is on the "super spreader" Olympics.
Richard Gallagher
In case the IOC. JOC. Japanese government officials missed it: The U.S. State Department and CDC said to avoid travel to the U.K., lifting their advisories to a “Level 4.” The CDC advised travelers to be fully vaccinated if they must travel to the U.K.
Athletes form the UK, are in Japan? Fully vaccinated? Isolated for two weeks?
tamanegi
@Vinke @Tokyoite
Please do not spread disinformation. Not all athletes are vaccinated.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/07/19/did-olympic-athletes-need-to-be-vaccinated-no---and-now-more-are-testing-positive-for-covid-19/
Vinke
tamanegi
Err, where did I say anything about all athletes being vaccinated?
AramaTaihenNoYouDidnt
How naive and insipid to believe CV-19 won't knock at their O.V. doors as if they are being spared. (grunting)
Tokyoite
If we had tested everyone in Tokyo at 08:30 this morning, I suspect we'd have plenty of "Diamond Princesses" on the transport network.
Or maybe you really do believe that the Olympic village is more of a super spreader than the 7 million that cram into trains across the Tokyo metro each day.
Chris Ghaar
I don't know. It might depend on the CT value of the PCR test. When CT=40 or so, even papaya tests positive.
When CT=25 as used for testing vaccinated people, we get more reasonable values.
Certainly transport network could be the reason for covid transmission. I wonder if we have any statistics showing how many people got covid from transportation, how many from dining/partying with strangers, and how many from night-life activities.
I have not watched carefully news on Olympics, but I think that Olympic Village is going to be a sort of closed area. If so, we will have again virus spread in a closed or semi-closed system. We can compare the evolution of viral transmissions in Tokyo (not limited to the metro system) and Olympic Village (supposedly isolated). The answer is - we will see it soon.
Richard Gallagher
Last week when speaking to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, IOC President Thomas Bach reportedly petitioned for spectators to be allowed to events if the infection situation improves.
Bach's scarcely believable statements keep coming, including claims that the risk to the Japanese people is zero, and that the Japanese people will welcome the Olympics once it begins.
The organizing committee also held a welcome party for around 40 guests including IOC President Bach at Tokyo's Akasaka Palace State Guest House.
Conspicuously missing from these announcements about new infections are the usual explanations or reassurances. For months, that’s all we got – explanations and reassurances. The most famous (soon to be infamous) was IOC president Thomas Bach’s strange assertion that the Games hold “zero” COVID-19 risk for Japan.
The so-called bubble to control COVID-19 infections at the Olympic athletes' village in Tokyo is already "broken" and poses a risk of spreading infections to the general populace, a prominent public health expert said on Tuesday.
There have been 67 cases detected among those accredited for the Games since July 1, organizers said on Tuesday.
Kenji Shibuya, the former director of the Institute for Population Health at King's College London: "My biggest concern is, of course, there will be a cluster of infections in the village or some of the accommodation and interaction with local people." Insufficient testing at the border and the impossibility of controlling people's movements mean that the Games could exacerbate the spread of the infectious Delta variant of the virus, he added.