First positive COVID tests reported for 2 athletes in Olympic Village

It's funny in the pic is Czechia flag and in fact one person-officer did tested positive. Coincidence?

Once again I will remind you these are not the first Covid19 cases at the Olympic Village. There were two cases (most probably Japanese workers) reported last week.

https://thebridge.in/tokyo-2020/12-staff-2-village-workers-test-positive-covid-22762

Well, the hits start coming and they don't stop coming

COVID lockdown rules and I hit the ground running

Didn't make sense not to live long and saviour

Your brain gets smart but your head signed a waiver

It will be interesting to see how they keep the spread under control in these, judging by the photo, overcrowded settlements.

@Mirchy, I think the simple answer is, they can't, despite Bach's assurances that the Olympic Village is "absolutely safe". But let's see how this will all unfold in the coming days...

Geez, more infections in that "village" thing? No surprise at all. Imagine how bad it will be once it is full.

Like all trainwrecks, this is not going to end well.

Of all countries, it got to be SK somehow. There's going to be another SK-JP drama all over again.

I hope they can keep other athletes and staffs in Olympic Village safe. Japan and IOC, please prioritize people's health over some sporting event.

The saliva test they do every day are not always accurate. I wonder if the results are confirmed by PCR before any public release.

Today, an IOC official from Korea tested positive after arriving here. This guy said he has been vaccinated and tested twice negative before departing from Korea

The Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay will house 11,000 Olympic athletes and thousands of other support staff.

Hope it is not Diamond Princess 2 in the making because that will be the final straw to break the camel's back "IOC", tragedy should not be what leads to the demise of the IOC but the masses the world over showing them the middle finger and telling them to take their elite greedy games to mars or some other planet,

Has anyone tried running wearing a mask on? I did today in Tokyo.The humidity is a problem.

The International Olympic Committee confirmed the test and identified him as Ryu Seung-min of South Korea. He won an Olympic gold medal in table tennis in the 2004 Olympics.

I thought they said for purpose of privacy that won't release names then how come they have released this guy's name and other details ?

why is the nationality/sport a secret? some practical reason?

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/olympics/tokyo-olympics-first-covid19-case-confirmed-in-athletes-village/news-story/24b0e4104dd5b2a715b8ef8abcad139d

According to Mr.Bach, ZERO cases...lol...

This will bring nothing good.

A country which by history and culture is wary toward foreigners will only increase such perception.

Be prepared for the witch hunt of the non-Japanese.

And this will mainly affect the few expats left in this island.

What a poor decision of the Olympic Committee and the government of Japan to hold these Olympics.

And this is just the beginning....

Don't we know that PCR test is not 100% accurate. That may be the reason they are tested everyday.

Has anyone tried running wearing a mask on? I did today in Tokyo.The humidity is a problem.

I’ve seen a lot of joggers wearing masks. I’m impressed by the self-discipline it takes (and the civic-mindedness) but it must be pretty uncomfortable.

So are these athletes out of the Olympics now? Wasn't that the promise?

The organizers themselves have not been following the playbook that they themselves made, they been lowering the conditions with every passing day, Since they don't say the discipline that the infected athletes are taking part in, they might secretly allow them to take part. It has not even started and it is beginning to shape up as the most controversial olympics in history.

it is a field day for the "I told you so" crowd

it is a field day for the "I told you so" crowd

The “I told you so” crowd doesn’t have to do very much right now, just sit back and watch things implode.

IOC President Thomas Bach said last week there was "zero" risk of athletes in the village passing on the virus to Japanese or other resident of the village.

Zero risk? Anyone making this claim with a straight face is obviously willing to say ANYTHING that suits them. Rotten to the core.

@TrafficCone

I don't think the "safe and secure" crowd is going to have many field days, going forward.

Not to worry, they have changed the rules that even if athletes are found to be positive, they are still allowed to compete.

Originally they were to be isolated and then sent home. Now they will isolated for a few days and then allowed to carry on competing, if they meet the game schedule.

I don't think the "safe and secure" crowd is going to have many field days, going forward.

Like that will stop them. They’ll just keep repeating the same lines ad infinitum (“severe cases going down! The IOC and government promised that these games will e the safest ever!”), and on the “stopped clock is right twice a day“ premise, they will be statistically correct now and then.

We should be magnanimous and let them have their little wins.

And looking at those apartments, I know they are in a prime area of Tokyo and pre-sold, and that this is one of the reasons rhe games are going ahead, but man these things are ugly as. What have we become?

An insider question for @3:37pm: Are Olympic Villages like cruise ships, will they have their own set of ‘numbers’?

More meaningless news. Firstly, these "PCR" tests are completely unreliable for population testing (as even the manufacturer points out), and secondly having been test positive for virus particles does not mean that they are sick or that will infect others, especially not if they take some common sense proportions.

There will be egg on the faces of the Olympics complainers once the event is over and the predicted wave of Covid deaths failed to materialize.

Where is the Olympic Park green space?

The government is just trying to have the attention of the public focused on the Olympic Village where there will be, of course, a few cases but the situation is still somewhat manageable.

I am much more worried of the Olympic-related staff that is 8 times bigger than athletes. I was in Akihabara this afternoon and it was packed with foreigners which has not been the case for over a year. Many of those people were obliviously not living in Japan and were on a trip. The government will never report any case related to those people because their numbers makes it impossible to track them.

We’ve already seen traces of this with the 3 guys being arrested in Roppongi for using cocaine.

We are seeing infections in The Village. Assuredly over the Olympics and Paralympics month and a half we will see more.

In my office building when a positive is reported elevators, common rooms, etc. get disinfected.

Once the Olympics are done, apparently the Village will become luxury condos. I wonder if they will disinfect every single space?

There will be egg on the faces of the Olympics complainers once the event is over and the predicted wave of Covid deaths failed to materialize

In the unlikely event that there is no surge in cases during and/or following the Olympics, and no emergence of an Olympic variant, I will have great joy in giving myself an egg facepack.

And what about the contact tracing of the numerous people they must have come in contact with. Of course this is Japan and we don't do contact tracing in Japan. But people they may have spread the disease to should test positive in the next week or so and so the virus goes on and as we know it will in the cruise ship like condition of the Olympic village as it spreads it asymptotic way.

What is disconcerting is the daily reports we are receiving about Thailand, Vietnam, etc. and the rapid case increases.

If the virus is such an issue as Suga said it was when he declared the State of Emergency (in the same speach he was saying we have to all gaman for the Olympics) then it would seem that further action may be warranted.

If the rapid increase is due to the latest mutation then the situation may be come worse.

Yes; this mutation is here in Japan alread and transmissoin may occur from Japanese or residents to Olympic athletes and personnel.

Likewise transmission may occur from Olympics personnel to Japanese or residents.

With people from so many different places it would seem that the opportunity for further mutation may be greater than if everyone hunkered down for a bit longer.

Again...why not a delay? Have the games? not now......

no compromise... and the Japanese people and residents are the ones in the middle of all this.

All the countries who have sent their athletes here should feel ashamed for not banning together and protecting Japan, Japanese people and all others who reside her permanently by refusing to participate in the games.

They did last year, immediately following a tone deaf speech by Bach himself, the athletes said no thanks. Which is why is was cancelled in 2020. Nothing to do with the IOC or any politican, anywhere. It was the athletes not the nations/corporations not their leaders. Then the nations/corporations put the screws on the athletes for a year, and here they are. Name a politician in power in another country who said no?

Why are we not surprised by this? And guess what? We as taxpayers, will end up paying the bill.

IOC President Thomas Bach said last week there was "zero" risk of athletes in the village passing on the virus to Japanese or other resident of the village

Earring those words yet? Only cares about his payday for broadcast rights. This is criminal.

More meaningless news. Firstly, these "PCR" tests are completely unreliable for population testing (as even the manufacturer points out), and secondly having been test positive for virus particles does not mean that they are sick or that will infect others, especially not if they take some common sense proportions.

In that case, why are we being told by Bach and Suga that these very same tests are what will ensure that infections will be detected and isolated?

and the Japanese people and residents are the ones in the middle of all this.

and do nothing about it so hardly blameless. Only a smallest of protests. Nor could their leaders muster the smallest of actions like denying Bach's trip to Hiroshima due to the SoE. Or last year not calling out the agreement with the IOC to cancel the games. Didn't do this didn't to that. Really good for nothing.

Does the IOC own Japan? Doesn't matter who thinks they're responsible, nobody took charge of the situation.

Failure to plan is planning to fail

Protest and survive. See the photo in the article. Maybe this is a form of protest people in Japan will be ready to take up:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/filled-with-doubt-division-and-covid-tokyo-braces-for-olympics

Well the chicken has come home to roost with the low testing during the entire pandemic

we can blame Bach all we want for not cancelling or postponing and holding this olympic in a pandemic

but lets for a while reflect and think rationally. Tokyo a city of 14M and one of the richest and densely populated cities in the world consistently reports positive covid-19 cases below four hundred cases and serious cases below 80, it is just natural for anyone to think that with some measures in place, the Olympics can take place, his basis for thinking so is through comparing Tokyo's numbers with other major cities of comparable size to Tokyo. If Testing had widely been encouraged and performed and almost all positive cases figured in the stats, I don't think Bach would have had the guts to push on with the olympics and this isn't limited to Bach alone some countries would have as well pulled out like NK did, citing the risk of sending athletes a country with a high unvaccinated population and high positive rate like Canada did last year. Imagine, Tokyo was doing about a hundred thousand tests a day which is a number befitting of a city with the population, cogestion and size of Tokyo and reported about 3K-5K positive cases a day, I think Bach and other Olympic federations would have had a hard time convincing their populace it is safe to send athletes to the olympics. You can't blame Bach, If embassies or most of the citizens or even posters here don't correlate results with the tests numbers that have always been downplayed by the Government, experts, media and almost everybody has been happy

with the reported small numbers, how do you expect Bach who doesn't reside here to know that the numbers are are far from the reality. Even Abe was boasting of Japan overcoming the virus without a hard lockdow. Initially we were told that testing was deliberately limited so as not to impact the medical system but even when the medical sytem stood no irisk of being impacted testing never picked up and as a result the country has never been on top of the vrus since the pandemic started. In short almost everybody was just too contented with the low numbers and half-arsed measures that were known not to work. It is my take, feel free to thumb down

*“And then, the chaos. But they just didn’t care...”*

*“ And then, the chaos. But they just didn’t care... ”*

How can these people sleep at night ...

All the countries who have sent their athletes here should feel ashamed for not banning together and protecting Japan,

Please, don't make it look like Japan was held and gun point and had no choice but to host the Olympics

Name me one gov't official who called vehemently for the Olympics to be cancelled or postponed.

Of course we can blame Bach. It's been an entire year and he still shows no sign of understanding and is just as tone deaf as ever.

Frankly the Japanese government could have prevented him from flying to Japan and any IOC official. Disbanded the JOC/TOC. Called the contract in abayance due to an act of God or what ever legal terms and gone for the insurance. Declared the Olympic legacy as the venues instead that will await Japanese once the virus is over. Made all the stadiums vaccination centres. Focused on human lives not yen and dollars.

drluciferToday  06:19 pm JST

Well the chicken has come home to roost with the low testing during the entire pandemic

we can blame Bach all we want for not cancelling or postponing and holding this olympic in a pandemic

You raise a lot of interesting points, and I think most people agree testing is way too low. It's one of the reasons I keep saying people should stop trying to compare any cases from within the Olympic village (tested daily) with the rest of Japan (testing very rare).

I believe you're definitely more likely to catch it on the Yamanote line (untested and unvaccinated people) than in the Ollympic village (vaccinated and tested daily).

One thing you do miss though (as do most of the anti Olympic crowd) is the death rates. How do you account for them being so much lower when compared to other countries?

> rcchToday  06:25 pm JST

“ And then, the chaos. But they just didn’t care... ”

How can these people sleep at night ...

What "chaos" do you see?

And by chaos, I assume you don't mean a dozen covid cases and one athlete doing a runner.

Are figures available for how much more would be lost and by whom were the Olympics to be cancelled altogether at this point?

I still feel the best compromise would be to go ahead and stage the Olympics, but without athletes.

This athlete was also identified as "non-Japanese."

did anyone even ask?

there’s always a “not us” stigma with these kinds of reports.

and as if that information even narrows it down.

What’s the difference where they are from, the point is, it’s around.

I still feel the best compromise would be to go ahead and stage the Olympics, but without athletes.

I bet they’d try as well. Cardboard cutouts of athletes and piped-in crowd noises.

IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi claimed transmission between the various groups at the Village was “almost impossible”.

He goes on to say: "We know there is no such thing as zero-risk, but at the same time the mingling and crossing of populations is very limited.

This is interesting, as the AWNST Australia has been in Shin-Omiya, since July 12th. The American USWNST has been in Shikoku since July 12th. The IOC’s sports director Christophe Dubi said the village was designed to accommodate 17,000 people but would be less than half full at every stage of the Games because of requirements that athletes were told not to arrive more than five days before their events then leave within 48 hours of finishing up.

Tokyoite ... if you haven’t watched the whole movie yet, take it easy fella.

Anyone that is hoping to score political points from a spread of this pandemic through the Olympic village needs to take a serious look at their moral compass, to put it mildly.

Prevention, is what is needed here.

For the sake of the J population and healthcare system.

I want these 2020 Games canceled, no ifs or buts. I want them canceled because the risks are to high a price to pay for what is after all a sports festival. No more no less.

If these variants were to spread into the population at large, the risk exists, with less that 20% fully vaccinated, the human cost will a preventable catastrophe.

What use would it be, after the event harping I told you so?

2 athletes in Olympic Village

2 is the lucky number that will turn into 200 which will turn into 2021. After a large number of infections hit the athletes in the "bubble" village, Koike, Bach and Suga will win the Gold.

Probably caught it from workers in the village. Clean tests pre-flight and on arrival and for the first few days in Japan. Put the two positive tested people into the same room at the end of a hallway, lock the door.

Where they vaccinated?

Which vaccine didn't work?

Have they been outside the village? Where?

More detailed story with names : https://www.npr.org/2021/07/18/1017606827/two-athletes-have-tested-positive-for-covid-19-inside-the-olympic-village

Their are 3 people positive now. All from the same South African team (2 players, 1 "video analyst"). They had PCR tests prior to flying to Japan. All 3 are in isolation.

Another ZA member tested positive, a rugby coach, isn't in the village.

45 people with Olympic ties, mostly contractors, have tested positive for COVID.

Those coming in for the games, including journalists, are being separated from everyone else upon arrival to Tokyo. They must have received two negative tests prior to flying in and are given another test upon arrival. While in mandated quarantine, they are tested once a day to make sure they are not positive.