Probe eyed of ‘Corona virus’ party
While again stating there are no plans to cancel or delay the Tokyo Olympics, local organizers postponed training sessions for volunteers on Friday for at least two months because of the virus outbreak spreading from China.
About 80,000 people are needed at the Olympics to provide free work which the IOC calls “key support to ensure the success of the games.”
Tokyo organizers said the postponed sessions are “part of efforts to prevent the spread of infection of the novel coronavirus.”
Training will be postponed until May or later, organizers said on their website. More than 200,000 people applied to be volunteers, with about one-third from outside Japan. The Olympics are scheduled to run from July 24-Aug. 9.
The International Olympic Committee, local organizers and the World Health Organization have repeatedly said there is no current need to put the games in doubt.
The virus, known as COVID-19, has caused the deaths of about 2,250 people since it emerged in the Chinese city Wuhan late last year. Up to Friday, three deaths and more than 700 cases — most from a quarantined cruise ship docked in Tokyo Bay — had been reported in Japan.
“There are no considerations of canceling the games nor will the postponements of these (training) activities have an impact on the overall games preparation,” Tokyo organizers said.
Still, plans for some Olympic-related promotions and preparation could change.
“In accordance with the government’s policy for preventing the spread of infectious diseases, we will also evaluate the immediate need for each games-related event on a case by case basis,” organizers said.
Tokyo’s decision coincided with a cautious update from China’s leadership Friday about the slow halt of the virus that has now killed more than 2,200 people.
The Politburo, made up of the senior officials of the ruling Communist Party, said the situation in Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, remains grave.
The 25-member body said the outbreak has been “preliminarily contained” and urged party committees and governments at all levels to carry out prevention and control work without any relaxation to “win the people’s war against the epidemic.”
The National Heath Commission earlier reported 889 newly confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total in mainland China to 75,465. The death toll rose by 118 to 2,236. More than 1,000 cases and 14 deaths have been confirmed elsewhere, from Japan to France.
Newly reported infections in China have trended downward in recent days, though changes in how health authorities have counted cases have muddied the true trajectory of the epidemic.
“The overall situation is trending towards the better, and the outbreak is under control with zero increase in some provinces,” said Zeng Yixin, vice director of National Health Commission. “In Hubei and Wuhan, however, newly reported deaths remain at a high level. We need to take that seriously.”
Irate Asian-American students, offended by an offcampus beer bash with a “Corona virus” theme, successfully demanded a University of Albany investigation into the racist party.
Their anger was sparked by an Instagram video posted Sunday night showing an ice bucket filled with Corona beer and a reveler in a surgical mask alongside the caption, “Corona virus isn’t gonna stop anyone from partying.”
The clip was briefly posted on the Barstool Albany Instagram account, according to WGY-AM in Albany, although the location of the party and the identities of the students involved were not immediately known. The video also showed a white sheet with a biohazard symbol and two faces — one with Xs for eyes and the other with straight lines for eyes, the station reported.
School officials responded Thursday to the complaints from Albany’s Asian American Alliance, with a warning that any students involved “will be investigated and addressed through the university’s disciplinary process.”
More than 2,000 people have died from the COVID-19 virus, and all but about 1,000 of the 75,000 reported cases of the illness have occurred in China.
“As members of the Asian community on campus, your party is not funny and completely insensitive,” read a statement from the AsianAmerican advocates. “The real life effects of this virus have led to not only mass stereotyping of Asian people, but also hundreds of deaths across the world.
“Diseases that affect nonwhite populations are radicalized in a way that stems from the innate xenophobia of American society.”
University officials issued a statement assuring the school community that an investigation was underway into the bad-faith bacchanal.
“The theme of the party was distasteful and hurtful and is not representative of UAlbany or its nearly 18,000 students,” school officials said.