In the following presentation, Dr McCloskey explained how a combination of standard public health and social measures (physical distancing, respiratory and hand hygiene, mask wearing, ventilation) with a comprehensive test, track and trace programme and a global vaccination effort by the Olympic Movement helped keep the pandemic at bay during the Games.
Dr McCloskey said: “These results support the approach, advocated by the World Health Organization, that tackling and managing the COVID-19 pandemic depends on using all the options available – public health and social measures, robust test and trace systems, and vaccination. Relying on any one of these alone is unlikely to be effective. The results also show that, despite the criticisms and concerns expressed before the Games, Tokyo 2020 did not lead to a spreading event, let alone a super spreading event, and mass events can be delivered safely if the appropriate countermeasures are in place.”
With only 33 positive cases among the 11,300 athletes and 464 overall among tens of thousands of accredited stakeholders, the Olympic Games proved to be safe for both participants and the population of Japan.
The learnings from all Tokyo 2020 countermeasures have also informed the planning for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, which will operate under a closed-loop management system to keep Games participants and people in China safe through reducing unnecessary interactions. The COVID-19 guidelines for the upcoming Winter Games have been outlined in the Beijing 2022 Playbooks.
AloJapan.com