Petrovai Andreea

Group 9

Olimpic Games During The Pandemic

The Olympics (dubbed Tokyo 2020) were long scheduled to begin in July 2020. The
IOC and the Japanese Government conducted a risk assessment, considering the
global pandemic, and decided to postpone the Games until 2021 due to the inability
to hold them safely (with an acceptable risk level) without contributing to continued
community spread. In November 2020, Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC
expressed optimism for the upcoming summer Olympic games, noting that the event
may serve as a symbol of the end of the pandemic, yet at the time of that statement,
Japan had yet to open its borders and the IOC was still deciding how to house
athletes, friends, and families during the games to prevent an outbreak.In May 2021,
Bach confirmed that at least 75% of Olympic Village residents had already been
vaccinated or had a plan to be vaccinated before the games. This percentage of
vaccinated participants increased following the IOC’s partnership with Pfizer to
donate vaccines to all national Olympic teams participating in the games this year.
President of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and former Olympic minister of Japan Seiko
Hashimoto publicly announced additional measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection
including limiting the number of attendees entering the country, enforcing a code of
conduct and regular health monitoring, and conducting a review of the medical
system during the games in surrounding areas to understand current capacities. The
IOC has outlined the code of conduct for athletes and officials in a guide called The
Playbook. The guide has gone under multiple revisions leading up to the Games and
may include further changes in policy to account for the evolving pandemic,
particularly with the spreading of the Delta variant. The guide asks athletes and
officials to wear a mask at all times, minimize physical interaction, have regular (daily
for athletes) screening tests, practice good hygiene, review local countermeasures,
and to take additional actions to prevent infection. International athletes and support
staff will also undergo mandatory testing for COVID-19 before departure and upon
arrival in Tokyo. The Playbook also outlines the responsibilities of the advisory group
for mandatory testing including the different types of testing that will be conducted
to best understand the degree of risk among participants. The guide also specifies
how athletes and support staff will be housed and transported to and from events
and training facilities. Those who are vaccinated will share rooms and those who are
not will stay in other sections of hotels or arranged housing facilities. Private
transportation for vaccinated team members will also be used to go between venues
and training locations.

In addition to the above preventative measures, the IOC has been working with
Japanese officials committee to secure additional medical personnel from abroad to
support safe conduct of the summer games. These international medical personnel
will staff quarantine and isolation facilities. The Olympic Village will also have an
abundance of national medical personnel. Japan recently held four test events (four
international competitions) to run through the countermeasures and ensure safe
operations.