The first individual has tested positive for COVID-19 inside the Olympic Village, the head of the organizing committee confirmed on Saturday. The news comes just 6 days ahead of the opening ceremonies on July 23 that will kick off the delayed Olympic Games.
The information was confirmed by Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto at a news conference on Saturday. She says that the person is not an athlete, but is being referred to as a “games-concerned personnel.” The individual is a non-resident of Japan, and has been placed in a 14-day quarantine.
The village, located on Tokyo Bay, will house about 11,000 athletes and thousands of other staff for the duration of the Olympics, albeit with new restrictions in place designed to protect athletes, and the Japanese population, amid the pandemic.
In total, Tokyo 2020 organizers have said that 44 people under their “jurisdiction” have tested positive since July 1. Most were contractors for the games and other “games-concerned personnel,” but the list includes one athlete – who has not been identified. Three members of the media are also included in that group.
In June, an athlete arriving as part of the Ugandan delegation tested positive, along with a coach, in spite of testing negative before departing for Japan. Both were placed in quarantine in Japan.
On Friday, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said there was “zero risk” of athletes infecting anybody outside of the section of Tokyo. This is part of the IOC’s messaging that is attempting to assuage concerns among the local population of the Olympics bringing a new rush of coronavirus to the county with more easily-spread variants of the coronavirus becoming dominant. Spectators, foreign or domestic, are not being allowed at Olympic events in Tokyo, in spite of domestic professional sporting leagues allowing some spectators.
Tokyo has been in lockdown for months amid rising cases in the country. The lockdown comes as the latest 7-day average nationally is 2,461 cases per day, which is about 1.1 new cases per day per 100,000 population. While that’s about a 40% increase from where Japan was at this point last month, it’s still much lower than other nations that will come to the country for the Games. The United States, for example, is seeing almost 31,000 cases per day over the last week, which is more than 8-times the per-capita infection rate of Japan.
While no athletes have tested positive in the Olympic Village yet, several high profile participants have been placed in COVID-19 protocols after pre-travel positive tests or exposures. That includes
- 2 members of the U.S. men’s basketball team, Bradley Beal and Jerami Grant;
- Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur, ranked 15th in the world, who tested positive before departure
- British tennis player Dan Evans, who tested positive
One member of the Nigerian delegation, a non-athlete in their 60s, also tested positive on Thursday evening at the airport with mild symptoms, and was hospitalized because of age and pre-existing conditions. That individual is the first connected to the Tokyo Games to be hospitalized after a positive test for COVID-19.
The opening ceremonies of the Olympics are scheduled for July 23, with the swimming competition planned to begin a day later on July 24.
Hey Swimswam, where are the posts & details on the US swimmers at their training camp in southwest Tokyo?
Bubble-ish ain’t the same thing as a bubble.
What is the protocol when an athlete is tested positive for COVID? Go home?
If the positive is confirmed, fourteen days of isolation in a hotel before travel home. Their team can bring their belongings to them and they’ll be fed, provided medical care, and WiFi, etc. There are additional provisions for Paralympians who need assistance with activities of daily living.
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From the other article, 5 of 6 testing positive were Japanese staff. Get these athletes away from Japanese! Japan is untested and they are compromising athlete safety.
Sheesh .I had close relatives in Changi ; on the Burmese Railway & one shot down over New Guinea who barely survived the trek thru the ju gle with dysentery. . They died after deeply war affected lives without ever expressing the hate you hold for Japan & Japanese .
False positives are a thing, hope the athletes who don’t have symptoms and get positive results can compete….
Athletes aren’t withdrawn until the positive rapid test is confirmed with additional tests including a PCR.
And just because you have no symptoms doesn’t mean that you may not have it. If they have it but no symptoms, it can still spread.
I tested positive and was completely asymptotic (only got a test because my husband tested positive). I spent 2 weeks feeling like I was grounded for something I didn’t do. However that being said I was completely contagious despite my feeling completely normal. I could have given it to someone wouldn’t have had such an insignificant reaction. Symptoms can’t be the threshold here.
yeah and I wish typhoid mary was still able to cook for people…
oh boy.
Thinking of European Juniors, where we saw a hot favourite sidelined due to a false positive test result. I fear a similar scenario playing out in Tokyo.
Athletes need to have a confirmed positive before they’re withdrawn from the Olympics. The only way a false positive rapid test will keep someone out is if their competition is in the four-five hours they’ll be out in isolation while waiting for the confirmation PCR.
Yes, but that’s pretty much happened at Euro juniors. A young swimmer raced her first events, then returned a positive (which turned out to be false) and missed the heats of her best event. She later returned to compete on her teams relay. Obviously, you’d expect the Olympics to have better organisation & protocols in place, but nice to have the reassurance.