Toshiaki Endo, vice president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee and former Olympics Minister, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday. Photo: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
tokyo 2020 olympics

Most medical staff needed for Olympics secured: Endo

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By Antoni Slodkowski and Kaori Kaneko

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Talk about access to the vaccination if you have connections.

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The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics have secured about 80% of the medical staff needed to stage the Games, a top Olympic official told Reuters on Monday, amid worries over infections and the slow rollout of vaccinations in the Japanese capital.

I cannot believe how selfish the IOC and JOC is being. They honestly believe that "securing 80% of the medical staff needed" is a good thing?!? The medical staff, if not mistaken, is primarily for any injuries that could occur in which case that is a lot of medical people for an event that doesn't seem to have that many participants competing.

Or am I mistaken and this is to help control (and I use this term loosely) the spread of the virus? If it is then it's very selfish and very irresponsible for all involved when you have your own home country that needs more attention and support than a sporting event - you're priorities are really in the wrong place if that is the case.

Asked what the organizers would do if there was an explosive spread of infections, Endo was non-committal.

That's because he nor anyone can stand behind their claim of being able to hold it safely.

"Hypothetically, can we hold the Games if there is a sudden 10- or 100-fold increase? We'll need to make a decision at the time," he said.

WOW! They'll need to make a decision at that time?!? That suggests to me that they didn't even think of that possibility which to me more of a reality than a hypothetical.

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But we won't be able to follow one person after another so we'll have trust them.

Famous last words

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I imagine the total number of medical staff has been assessed for all possible medical reasons.

What type of specific natural event pops in mind for a country like Japan ?

I hope it is not a joke.

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"Of course media members will be subjected to thorough movement controls, and we would feel safe if they observed these rules,"

So, no bubble here. First time this is officially stated if I'm not mistaken.

By the way, I guess this also applies to other people such as officials, sponsors, sports' federations, ...

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Most medical staff needed for Olympics secure.

Most Japanese taxpayers can't get tested or vaccinated.

Pretty clear to see what the priorities are.

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Endo said countries with much higher infection rates had successfully hosted sports events without outbreaks and that was why there was "no reason to think about cancellation" in Tokyo.

This is where Anton Chighur says "You don't know what you're talking about, do you?".

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More propaganda and stupidity shown by the government.

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Asked what the organizers would do if there was an explosive spread of infections, Endo was non-committal.

"Hypothetically, can we hold the Games if there is a sudden 10- or 100-fold increase? We'll need to make a decision at the time," he said.

Old Tosh is speaking it here. He clearly has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. None. Zero. It's almost embarrassing.

Meanwhile in the real world, Olympic-connected staff from abroad are being exempted from observing the 2 week quarantine period after arriving in Japan. Over 1400 of them, since April, including some from India.

What do you think about that, Tosh? Hypothetically, of course.

http://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/14361163

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Asked what the organizers would do if there was an explosive spread of infections, Endo was non-committal

This is why the Olympics need to be delayed again. We cannot afford to risk flooding our health care system with yet another increase in infections. It is not coping well now.

If we had been able to vaccinate a high percentage of the population this would not be such a big issue.

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one of the most nonsense press conferences imaginable. Sounds like he made it up on the spot and what an amateur!!

so, your first evaluation for staff needed was 30% off the mark. Great job. And from those roughly 7000 you can only find 5600. Part of those not active in the profession.

you think fans are possible but “ personally” you don’t prefer any ? “ Personally i would prefer a professional, an expert, in your job. As an experienced organiser of major sports events i would not even think or consider to go ahead if i did not have my full contingent of top medical staff as jt would be irresponsible towards athletes and fans and as an organisor i would expose myself to legal charges and refusal of paying damages by insurance companies.

you sir, are a disgrace to our business

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Welcome to todays version of crazy Olympic news update folks -

secure medical staff for Olympics when 75% of prefectures say they cannot meet end July deadline for vaccinations 65yrs & older population - for lack of resources - but its ok to divert these resources for Olympics (there are plenty of vaccines in freezers in Japan for lack of people to administer them)

for sake of athletes these crazy folks want to allow spectators so that athletes feel good from cheering crowd - never worry about what 80% of their own population has been demanding

finally agreeing in public that they cannot ensure media folks movement strictly - note that out of 80,000 odd visitors bulk would be media (athletes are only 15,000) - cannot follow each person 24x7 - so what is your claim of keeping everyone in strict bubble? Your bubble already popped?

lastly this gem of a comment from this buffoon -

Endo said countries with much higher infection rates had successfully hosted sports events without outbreaks and that was why there was "no reason to think about cancellation" in Tokyo.

Yes true but all these sports events did not entail athletes from over 200 countries converge into one city, enter the city without any quarantine, all were given strict bubble to follow, given RTPCR tests versus saliva test (which is known not to be accurate)

Dont understand how can these folks sleep in the night by making these type of public statements….

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What about the medical staff for when the Olympics end and all the Covid patients infected during the games come in? I just hope the Jgov has secured that too...

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Most medical staff needed for Olympics secured

Most of medical staffs is taken from public, that really in need emergency.

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When you can't meet the original goal, move the goal post, meet the new goal, and claim success. lol

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had been lowered by about a third from the original target of 10,000 and 80% of that new number had been secured. So they lowered the number needed but are still 30% short?

"Hypothetically, can we hold the Games if there is a sudden 10- or 100-fold increase? We'll need to make a decision at the time," he said.

Hypothetically? Hypothetically anything could happen, like an international event in the middle of a pandemic.

‘A 10- 100- fold increase? Can’t cope now? Hypothetically can’t make a decision now ? Can’t make a decision in a timely manner anyway. Let alone act on that decision.

‘This has to be the most senseless announcement that contains nothing I seen in along time..Hypothetically that is.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

And yet, we can only start vaccinating regular folks sometime after July.

Does the gov not know the difference between wants and needs?

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