Winter Olympics: Even The Air Has Been Disinfected
According to the organizing committee, 69,000 corona tests were carried out here on some days. There have been 436 infections so far. Most recently on Friday: an infection of a latecomer who they fished out at Beijing airport. IOC President Thomas Bach spoke of an Olympic infection rate of 0.01 percent. "Beijing 2022, that was one of the safest places on the planet." As an exception, one could hardly contradict him.
But at what price is all this? Olympic life in Beijing took place in a closed loop, a hermetically sealed area from which there is no getting in or out. Before took off, had to take our body temperature for 14 days, do two PCR tests and then another at Beijing Airport, which is only open to Olympic riders. The airport test was the most dangerous, if anyone got hit, it was usually there. This was due to the fact that in China you are considered infected with a lower viral load, for example. That meant: Despite an unchanged viral load, what was considered positive at the place of departure was considered negative a few hours later in Beijing.
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Journalists who were negative were allowed out of their hotel rooms, but didn't get very far. Every day got on a bus right in front of the hotel, went to the main press center, got on another bus, rode the train, rode the bus, got off at the competition site. Always with a mask, always separate from the people outside the bubble. Every day, usually early in the morning, people went to the hotel or press center for the PCR test. Constantly disinfected hands.
There were small disinfection machines everywhere, which sprayed the stuff when you held your hand under it. Anyone who did not reach under the disinfectant dispenser when entering a workroom was usually followed by a volunteer armed with disinfectant - regardless of whether you had disinfected your hands five meters ahead. They even disinfected the air.
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These games have shown that it is possible to hold them, even during the pandemic. That was already a finding from the Summer Games in Tokyo, these Olympic Games have confirmed that. The very low infection numbers in the bladder remained stable. On the other hand, if you look outside, you won't see much that is stable. Shortly before the opening of the games, the central government put over a million people in Xiongan into lockdown for a few days. As before, other cities near Beijing; with China's strict zero-Covid policy, Beijing would probably have been sealed off without the games. But the government did not admit its weakness.
Presumably, the bubble not only kept tight to the inside, but also to the outside. All Chinese volunteers and staff involved in the games must be quarantined for three weeks before they can go home. If you see them, if you ask them: they still enjoy the Olympics, they consider it an honor to be part of it. Unlike almost all of their fellow citizens outside, outside the bubble.
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Outside, hardly anyone went into the public viewing zones that had been set up. Only a hand-picked, counted and well-tested audience was allowed to come to the competitions themselves. Most of the time, the spectators danced a bit in the stands, took photos with the mascot Bing Dwen Dwen, but didn't hear much from them. It was only different when it came to her favorite sports, freestyle with Eileen Gu or short track, where the mood was greatest. Otherwise they were silent games.
What did the athletes get out of these games? Everyone had to cope with victory and defeat on their own, they only experienced a very limited amount of togetherness. In the past, at the pre-pandemic Games, those who just competed would meet up for a few beers in the Olympic Village afterwards. There Olympia was with itself and its original value as a human connector.
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In Beijing in the winter of 2022, you see some you can only feel sorry for because they sat in isolation while medals were awarded in their sport. "I think that's the worst thing that can happen to an athlete," said IOC President Thomas Bach. But would it have been better in a year?
Despite everything, from a purely pandemic point of view, it was probably right that these games took place. Most athletes wanted it that way, they have worked their whole lives towards the Olympics and are also financially dependent on it. "We knew exactly what we were getting into.
That we could face quarantine," said Nolan Seegert, the figure skater in quarantine. After all, he and the combined athletes Eric Frenzel and Terence Weber get a family vacation from the association for the duration of their quarantine.
Where is the journey going? We don't know, but you probably won't see the inside of a hotel room as often.
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