COVID measures a big winner
Beijing’s Winter Olympics efforts to combat pandemic draw widespread praise
The Winter Olympics flame was extinguished in Beijing on Feb 20, capping Games that will be remembered not only for the thrill and emotion of competition but also for a sense of security essential for any sporting event, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thanks to joint efforts in devising and enforcing a closed-loop management system aimed at stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus, no major outbreak was reported at Olympic venues and no cases elsewhere in China were traced to the Games.
Officials and experts said the Winter Olympics provided valuable experience in hosting a major sporting event during a pandemic and demonstrated a feasible and safe way to resume international travel and communication.
In Shanghai, Zhang Wenhong, head of the infectious disease department at Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, said: “The virus containment wisdom offered by Beijing 2022 satisfied people’s desire to interact with each other, which had long been constrained by the pandemic. The effects of such wisdom have proved surprisingly good.”
Zhang said China managed to strike a balance between preserving its hardwon virus control outcomes and moderately reopening cross-border travel for better links with the outside world.
“Before the pandemic is completely brought under control … these experiences are expected to be applied to international exchanges in the political, economic and academic arenas,” Zhang added.
Hosting the Games and welcoming athletes and team members from around the world were viewed as a big test for China’s efforts to prevent infections being imported.
The emergence of the highly infectious Omicron strain in November added to concerns over whether China could maintain its “dynamic zero COVID-19 policy” to swiftly eliminate local outbreaks.
The nation succeeded. From Jan 23, when the Olympic Village opened, to Feb 20, only 437 people tested positive out of more than 1.8 million tests.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said during a briefing on Feb 18: “The closed-loop situation was a success, with an infection rate of 0.01 percent, I guess. It (the loop) was one of the safest places on this planet, if not the safest.”
Matt Graham, an Australian freestyle skier, said: “Once in the bubble it’s great. You feel very safe and kind of go about your business and focus on the sport.”
Preventing the virus penetrating the closed loop also contributed to minimizing the threat of it spilling over to outside communities.
Zhang Yingchun, who lives in Chaoyang district, Beijing, said she would have loved to watch her favorite figure skating star Yuzuru Hanyu in person, but she understood the Olympic committee’s decision to keep athletes away from the public to prevent wide transmission of the virus.
“I still greatly enjoyed the Games on television and followed Hanyu on social media platforms,” Zhang Yingchun said. “After all, having fun and keeping safe are equally important in my opinion.”
Beijing is not the first Olympic host to envision a closed loop, or bubble, to keep the virus at bay — the key to such success being stringent enforcement of the right rules.
A reporter from Japan’s Kyodo News Agency, who requested anonymity, said during an interview with Global Times, “The anti-virus measures for Beijing 2022 were far more rigorous than those for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (which were delayed until last year due to the pandemic).
“Take my experience for example. When I arrived at the airport in Beijing, workers in full protective gear collected nucleic acid samples and also tested my luggage,” the reporter said.
“On the bus from the airport, the driver was separated from the passengers. I was also required to stay in the hotel room before the sample collected at the airport returned negative.”
Instead of taking it for granted that people would abide by the rules, the reporter said China had come up with a more sophisticated system to prevent violations.
Zhang, from Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, said that while Tokyo 2020 made initial attempts to explore the possibility of holding an international event during a raging pandemic, Beijing 2022 made improvements.
In addition to Tokyo’s strategy, which included an emphasis on mask-wearing and rapid detection of new cases, Zhang said China introduced more measures, such as promoting vaccination, establishing COVID-19 liaison officers and putting all Winter Olympics participants in a closed-loop management system.
“With the closed-loop system in place, we could see that the number of infections (inside the loop) was falling and that we had managed to stop the virus spreading at Olympic venues as much as possible,” he said.
One of the biggest concerns for frontline anti-pandemic workers was whether these measures could be put into practice.
Yin Jinshu, vice-president of Beijing Shijitan Hospital and deputy general manager of medical service and pandemic prevention at the Wukesong Sports Center, said, “Sports stadiums have many elevators and exits to disperse crowds quickly.” Such a layout prompted experts to draw up detailed plans on where to erect physical barriers and to control the flow of people to prevent cross-infection and keep the loop intact.
Two test events to assess whether the anti-pandemic strategies would work were carried out last year, Yin said.
“We all needed some time and practice to familiarize ourselves with the rules and regulations,” she added.
Staff members at Olympic venues fully realized the significance of halting the spread of the virus and protecting everyone’s health.
Yin said there were more than 30 categories of official employees at a venue — each responsible for a function area. The anti-virus workers formulated control guidelines tailored to each team.
She added that during one inspection, an official asked if tumblers could be given to spectators as souvenirs and
whether hot water dispensers could be set up in a stadium.
“The event services team said the proposal was considerate but would be hard to realize in view of the risk posed by public water dispensers to the virus spreading. The team suggested selecting other items,” Yin said.
“There was no need for we health workers to speak up on such an occasion, because each of us fully understood the importance of anti-virus work,” she said.
Yin added that the first thing she did on waking in the morning was to check nucleic acid test results. “I only felt assured when all of them returned negative,” she said.
“If a close contact of a positive case came to the stadium for an event, our workload would increase exponentially. Everyone on the team was determined and dare not let down their guard for one second in order to ensure safety.”
The hard work of Yin and her fellow workers won praise from Olympic officials and athletes.
Christophe Dubi, the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Games executive director, said: “No effort was spared, no stone unturned to keep everybody safe. The degree of sophistication of the operation was unprecedented.”
Aaron Blunck, a freestyle skier from the United States, said: “They have honestly done a stellar job with the whole COVID protocol.”
He said he did not know what to expect before arriving in Beijing and had read some negative reports in US media. “They were completely false. It’s actually been phenomenal — everybody from staff members, to COVID testers, to accommodations,” Blunck added.
Three more international sporting events are due to take place in China this year.
They are the 31st Summer World University Games in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in August, the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in September, and the postponed 2021 Asian Youth Games in Shantou, Guangdong province, in December.
Drawing on the experience of Beijing 2022, the customs authority in Chengdu said recently it would set up a special lane at ports of entry for participants in events and would also add more monitoring equipment.
Huang Qiang, governor of Sichuan, also urged strict implementation of closed-loop management and told organizers to coordinate on staging events and control work.
Yin said several new devices to monitor health and sanitize environments and objects were produced during the Winter Olympics and are expected to be used at other events in the future.
“We have been battling COVID-19 for more than two years and are constantly upgrading response measures. The success of Beijing 2022 has shown that with correct measures in place, it is safe to hold sporting events,” she said.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr, chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022, said he was impressed with China’s thorough preparations to ensure safety and deal with emergencies during the pandemic.
“I have full confidence in China to hold any other large-scale international sporting event,” he said.