Tokyo Was Meant to Be the COVID Games. It’s Far, Far Worse in Paris

August 7, 2024

Eiffel Tower during the day

(Sydney Morning Herald) – The Tokyo Olympics will forever be remembered as the COVID Games, an extraordinary feat of public health ingenuity and Japanese forbearance that enabled the world’s largest sporting event to be staged within a massive, temporary quarantine centre while the pandemic raged outside. It is Paris where the virus has truly come to play.

The high-density Olympic village in Seine-Saint-Denis, designed to provide future affordable housing in France’s poorest local government area, is hosting its own epidemic. In response, Games organisers are urging athletes and support staff to take precautions, but have imposed no testing, restrictions or reporting requirements for the more than 11,000 people competing in Paris. (Read More)