Covid will kill 100,000 more worldwide by end of Olympics -but games should go ahead, says WHO chief

[BeckyDem]

( Yea, that makes sense. )

The World Health Organisation’s chief has warned the “world is failing” to handle the pandemic and that anyone who thinks it is over is living in a “fool’s paradise”

At least 100,000 more people will die from coronavirus globally before the end of the Olympic Games, the head of the World Health Organisation has warned.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a meeting of the International Olympic Committee that the “world is failing” to handle the pandemic, and that anyone who thinks it is over is living in a “fool’s paradise”.

“More than four million people have died and more continue to die. Already this year, the number of deaths is more than double last year’s total,” he said. “In the time it takes me to make these remarks, more than 100 people will lose their lives to Covid-19.”

“And by the time the Olympic flame is extinguished on 8 August, more than 100,000 more people will perish,” he said.

Despite this, Dr Tedros expressed his support for the Olympic Games to go ahead in Tokyo as “a celebration of hope”.

“The Olympics have the power to bring the world together, to inspire, to show what’s possible,” he said. “May the rays of hope from this land illuminate a new dawn for a healthy, safer and fairer world.”

https://inews.co.uk/news/covid-deaths-olympic-games-tokyo-world-health-organisation-1113571

[dalton99a]

1. It's fucking idiotic to try and infect a place that has a low vaccination rate during a pandemic

Hope the Japanese stay 100 ft away from anyone involved in the Olympics

[BeckyDem]

2. It is sad, and their medical professionals have been sounding the alarm for awhile.

KING: And yet Olympic organizers insist the games will be safe. If athletes don't have to be vaccinated, if so few people in Japan are vaccinated, how are they going to ensure that?

KUHN: Well, they say that the bubble the athletes are in will be strictly separated from the general public. There will be no overseas spectators. There will be no - possibly there'll be no domestic ones, either, although it hasn't yet been decided. Athletes will be tested daily. They also point to many international sporting events which have been safely held, and they say they can do that, too. They also say they'll have 7,000 doctors and medical staff on hand for the games, but because they're short-handed, they had to lower that target from 10,000.

KING: Japanese doctors are criticizing - many Japanese doctors are criticizing plans to move ahead with the games. What are they criticizing, exactly?

KUHN: Well, Japan's top government medical adviser, Shigeru Omi, today warned lawmakers that holding the games in the middle of this outbreak is just not normal, and that's a strong signal. Others, including the authors of a recent New England Medical Journal article, say that this can be done, but the Olympics have to follow best practices for sporting events. And that's not happening. For example, Olympic athletes will be staying more than one to a room in the village, and, instead of being issued their own face masks, will have to supply their own. Last week, Dr. Naoto Ueyama, who is chairman of the Japan Doctors Union, described a sort of nightmare scenario in which people coming from around the world bring mutant strains of the virus to Tokyo. Let's hear him speak through an interpreter.

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002368768/as-most-of-japan-is-under-emergency-orders-calls-grow-to-cancel-olympics

[dalton99a]

3. +1. The IOC doesn't care

"Risk for the other residents of Olympic village and risk for the Japanese people is zero." - International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/olympics-ioc-chief-tokyo-governor-meet-covid-cases-rise-2021-07-15/

[BeckyDem]

4. Yes. The arrogance is off the charts.