An unwelcome attendee has joined the Paris Olympic Games: Covid-19
Five players on Australia’s women’s water polo team have tested positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday.
There are “protocols that are in place” for such cases, which recommend mask-wearing for people who test positive, a Paris 2024 spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.
“We regularly remind athletes and all other Games stakeholders of the good practices to adopt should they experience any respiratory symptoms: wearing a mask in the presence of others, limiting contacts and washing hands regularly with soap and water or using hand sanitiser,” the statement says.
“Hand sanitiser stations can be found at all the residential areas and also the restaurant of the Olympic Village,” according to the statement. “We continue to carefully monitor the public health situation in France, in conjunction with the relevant government ministry.”
Many of the national teams also may have their own safety protocols to protect their athletes, said Lucia Mullen, an associate scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a member of the World Health Organization’s mass gathering expert group, which regularly works on these issues.
“For the Covid-19 cases, as with other respiratory diseases and also other gastrointestinal diseases, they will really promote hand hygiene and other basic hygiene measures – so, keeping distance, reporting to the clinics to get tested if you are feeling unwell and certainly if you’re displaying symptoms,” Mullen said. “Then, of course, isolating if you do test positive.”
The Australian water polo team is treating Covid-19 no differently than any other respiratory illness, said Anna Meares, the chef de mission for the Australian Olympic team.
“This is a high-performance environment, so we are being diligent,” Meares said at a news conference Tuesday when the team’s first Covid-19 case was announced.
“We’re also having the fellow teammates wear masks and just adhere to social distancing measures as well – meeting outside, those sorts of things,” she said.
She added that, when respiratory illnesses occur, the person is isolated until their symptoms subside and testing comes back clear.
“But I need to emphasize that we are treating Covid no differently to other bugs like the flu. This is not Tokyo,” Meares said, referring to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, which were delayed by a year due to the pandemic and held without in-person spectators.
Although the world is no longer under a public health emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Olympic Games come as a wave of Covid-19 infections has hit the United States. Even President Joe Biden recently tested positive for the disease.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that, if you test positive for Covid-19, you stay home until you are fever-free without the help of fever-reducing medications for at least 24 hours and your symptoms have been improving for 24 hours. It then recommends wearing a mask around other people for the next five days.
“We’re in a time period where Covid is still circulating. We are seeing increases of cases again,” Mullen said.
“And we’re probably underreporting levels. A lot of countries are reducing their surveillance measures,” she added. “We are expecting that there will be some people traveling to the Games – whether it’s spectators or just to go visit Paris – that may not know they have Covid and be sick, and of course, spread it on to others.”
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The French capital is expected to welcome about 15 million tourists while it hosts the Olympic Games.
Separate public health guidance for travelers attending the 2024 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games was released last week by WHO, the French Ministry of Health and Prevention, Santé publique France and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The guidance recommends checking your vaccination status against common infectious diseases including measles, whooping cough, polio and Covid-19.
“Cases of measles are on the rise worldwide, including in Europe and in France,” the guidance notes. “Attending a mass gathering event increases your chances of being exposed to respiratory diseases, including whooping cough and COVID-19. If you have symptoms, such as a cough, fever or sore throat, stay at home or in your hotel if possible and consider wearing a mask when you leave your hotel or home.”
The Australian water polo team is focusing on promoting hand hygiene and other basic hygiene measures to prevent the spread of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, including Covid-19, as mentioned by Lucia Mullen, an associate scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Despite the world not being under a public health emergency due to Covid-19, the Olympic Games in France are expected to witness a wave of infections, as noted by Mullen, given that many countries are reducing their surveillance measures.
