At least 40 athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics — including swimmers from multiple countries and 16 athletes from Australia — have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks. The uptick in cases has raised questions around the measures in place to stop the spread of COVID at the Paris Olympics.
This year’s Games are considered the first post-pandemic Olympics. Unlike the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, there are no strict protocols or restrictions around COVID-19 in Paris.
However, COVID-19 is still spreading around the world. The United States is facing a summer wave, and the virus is also on the rise in Europe, including in the Olympic village.
Globally, the COVID-19 test positivity rate is about 10%, but it’s 20% in Europe, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the World Health Organization, told reporters at a UN press briefing on Tuesday.
“In recent months, regardless of the season, many countries have experienced surges of COVID-19, including at the Olympics where at least 40 athletes have tested positive,” said Van Kerkhove.
Which Olympians have tested positive for COVID-19?
The actual number of COVID-19 cases at the Paris Olympics remains unclear, as testing and reporting varies by team. However, a number of athletes have publicly announced that they tested positive during the Games.
Australia
Australian swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook is the latest team member to confirm a COVID-19 diagnosis, revealing he was “dealing with COVID” in an Instagram post shared shortly after he won the silver medal in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke final last Wednesday. “Stubblety-Cook finished a five-day course of antivirals for Covid (Wednesday),” the Australian Olympic Committee tells TODAY.com in an email.
Lani Pallister, another swimmer for Australia, also tested positive for COVID-19 this week. “Relay swimmer Lani Pallister is currently completing the five-day course (of antivirals),” the AOC says.
The 22-year-old withdrew from the women’s 1,500 meter freestyle event on Tuesday to “save her energy” for the 4×200 meter freestyle relay on Thursday, Aug. 1, the AOC announced on X. Pallister competed in the highly-anticipated relay, helping win gold for Australia.
On Tuesday, the AOC said in a statement that 44 Australian athletes and officials had tested positive for some form of respiratory or gastrointestinal illness. A total of 85 people were tested — 31 of those who tested positive for an illness were athletes, and 16 of these athletes tested positive for COVID-19, the AOC said.
“Our testing has been the most extensive and accurate of any Games, allowing early and targeted treatment,” said Australian team doctor Dr. Carolyn Broderick.
“Some illnesses were detected on arrival, others during training or competition and some after competition. With more than 1,000 Australians in Team accommodation these results are modest and in line with expectations,” said Broderick.
“We have a range of protocols in place which include mask wearing and isolation where needed but we are making every attempt to ensure athletes can continue to train and compete,” the AOC says.
During the week the Olympics began, five players on the Australian women’s water polo team tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Paris 2024 news release.
“We are treating COVID no differently to other bugs like the flu. This is not Tokyo,” Anna Meares, the chef de mission for the Australian olympic team, said in a press conference on July 23.
According to Meares, the protocols for the Australian water polo players who tested positive included wearing masks, isolating from other team members outside of training and avoiding high-volume areas, like the gym.
Germany
German decathlete Manuel Eitel took to Instagram to share that he has withdrawn from the Games due to COVID-19. “Today is and will be one of the worst days of my life. Due to COVID infection, I have to cancel my entry for the Paris Olympics for 2024,” the 27-year-old wrote, originally in German, in a post on Tuesday, July 30.
Malta
Maltese swimmer Sasha Batt also announced her COVID-19 diagnosis on social media. The 19-year-old, who is one of five athletes representing Malta at the Paris Olympics, tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, a media spokesperson for the Maltese Olympic Committee tells TODAY.com in an email.
“She is in good health and is being monitored by the team doctor,” the spokesperson says. Batt was eliminated after competing in the women’s 1,500 meter freestyle heat on Tuesday.
Great Britain
British swimmer Adam Peaty tested positive for COVID-19 on July 29, less than 24 hours after winning a silver medal in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke final, a spokesperson for Team Great Britain tells TODAY.com via email.
“Adam began feeling unwell on Saturday, ahead of his final. In the hours after the final, his symptoms became worse and he was tested for COVID early on Monday morning. He tested positive at that point,” the spokesperson adds.
Peaty is recovering and hopeful to compete in the team relay events later this week, the 29-year-old said in an Instagram post.
“As in any case of illness, the situation is being managed appropriately, with all usual precautions being taken to keep the wider delegation healthy,” says Team GB.
Have any Team USA Olympians gotten COVID?
Asked if any Team USA swimmers had tested positive for COVID, a USA Swimming spokesperson tells TODAY.com via email: “We don’t share athlete health information publicly.”
Addressing whether USA Swimming is following any COVID safety protocols, the spokesperson says: “We do not have mandatory masking or testing in place. We encourage our athletes to do whatever makes them most comfortable, working with the team doctors.”
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) also tells TODAY.com via email: “We don’t share athlete health information.”
Is there a COVID outbreak at the Olympics?
So far, at least 40 athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Paris Olympics. This does not meet the threshold to be considered an outbreak, NBC News medical contributor Dr. Kavita Patel, who has expertise in public health and pandemic preparedness, tells TODAY.com.
Patel notes that, based on existing guidelines, 5% of athletes (there are an estimated 11,000 total at the Paris Olympics) contracting COVID within a seven-day period would constitute an outbreak.
Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, tells TODAY.com that he’d call it “a cluster of infections. Some might call it a small outbreak … but that’s usually a designation (from) local public health investigators.”
However, COVID may be more widespread than the confirmed cases suggest. “The actual number of athletes infected, whether with symptoms or without or very mild symptoms, might be notably higher,” Schaffner points out.
“Anytime you have a large congregation of people in one place like this … you’re going to expect that there will be transmission and acquisition of respiratory infections. At the top of the list is COVID, since it’s spreading very widely and effectively at the present time,” Schaffner says.
What are the COVID protocols at the Olympics?
There are no mandatory, preventative COVID measures at the Paris Olympics, French newspaper Le Monde reported previously.
A spokesperson for the Paris 2024 press office tells TODAY.com via an email 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 sanitizer. Hand sanitizer stations can be found at all the residential areas and also the restaurant of the Olympic Village.”
“We have a protocol (that) any athlete that has tested positive has to wear a mask and we remind everyone to follow best practices, but in terms of monitoring COVID, cases are quite low in France,” Anne Descamps, Paris 2024 chief communications director said Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Asked by TODAY.com what measures the International Olympics Committee is taking to prevent the spread of COVID, an IOC spokesperson says via email: “Athlete health and safety is of the utmost priority for the IOC and Paris 2024. Paris 2024 is following good practices in managing infectious diseases at the Games.”
Paris 2024 also told Le Monde last week that it’s “closely monitoring (COVID) developments in collaboration with the health ministry and Santé publique France (the French national health agency)” and that it will decide to implement specific COVID measures if necessary “in agreement with the health ministry and the SPF.”
The USOPC tells TODAY.com that it has the following protocols in place to reduce the risk of COVID among team USA athletes:
“We implemented an infection prevention program prior to the Games (‘Don’t let a cold keep you from the gold’) that encouraged athletes to wash their hands, wear face masks when indoors during their travel from the US to Paris, etc.
“At the Games, we encourage those who are feeling sick to come to the sports medicine clinic to be evaluated.
“If they have an infectious disease, we will set them up with the indicated treatment/medications, and provide them with a private room so they don’t have to worry about getting their roommate sick.
“We will help with transportation so they aren’t in a bus with other athletes, and we will deliver their meals.
“We will have them wear a mask anytime they are inside and around other people.
“We will allow them to train and compete as long as they feel up to it.”
Patel, who is in Paris at the Olympics, tells TODAY.com she’s observed zero COVID protocols and that most staff, including medical personnel, are not wearing masks, though a small number of spectators are. She also says it’s not clear how cases are being contained and expressed concern about availability of COVID tests.
The 2024 Olympics, which kicked off on Friday, July 26 with a star-studded opening ceremony in Paris, involves over 11,000 athletes traveling from over 200 nations, as well as millions of spectators — which experts say are prime conditions for COVID (and other infections) to spread.
However, officials have assured that the Games will not become a superspreader event. “There is no big risk of a cluster,” French Health Minister Frédéric Valletoux told broadcaster franceinfo last week. “COVID is here. We’ve seen a small peak (in cases). But we are far from what we saw in 2020, 2021, 2022,” Valletoux added.
Santé Publique France is monitoring the situation closely and has not raised the alert level at this time, Valletoux tweeted on July 25, adding, “We must remain vigilant and respect prevention measures.”
The CDC issued the following statement on its website regarding the 2024 Olympics: “Mass gatherings are associated with unique health risks, including an increased risk for respiratory illnesses. If you plan to travel to Paris for these events, make sure you are up to date on routine and recommended vaccines, including for COVID-19.”
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This article was originally published on TODAY.com
