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NFT: Brazil should cancel, postpone, or move the Olympics

ColHowPepper : 5/27/2016 6:21 pm
according to a letter sent by 100 "prominent" doctors and professors to the WHO citing the risks from the Zika virus.
Quote:
(CNN)The summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro should be postponed or moved "in the name of public health" due to the widening Zika outbreak in Brazil, more than 100 prominent doctors and professors said Friday in an open letter to the World Health Organization.

"We make this call despite the widespread fatalism that the Rio 2016 Games are inevitable or 'too big to fail,' " the writers said in the letter addressed to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "Our greater concern is for global health. The Brazilian strain of Zika virus harms health in ways that science has not observed before."

The letter shows a growing gap within the medical field on what to do about the Games. On Thursday, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "There is no public health reason to cancel or delay the Olympics."


http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/health/zika-virus-olympic-games-health-officials-postpone/index.html

The concern is no surprise, but the divide in the medical community is. It's also a bit of a surprise to see the CDC on the less conservative side of this issue. From a layperson's perspective, isn't the idea of sending thousands of people into the Zika virus lair and then returning to their home countries around the world a recipe for contagion of this bug?

Quote:
The CDC's current recommendation is that pregnant women should not travel to areas where the virus is spreading and that men with the virus who have pregnant partners should use condoms when having sex for the duration of the pregnancy.
"We're working closely with the USOC and Brazilian health authorities, and will update our guidance if needed," Frieden said in a statement Friday in response to the new letter.
The WHO had no immediate reaction to Friday's letter. The International Olympic Committee has said it has no plans to cancel or postpone the Games.


Is the CDC guidance sufficient?

Quote:
There have been calls in recent months for a delay or postponement of the Olympics, but what makes Friday's letter different is the scope and number of physicians, professors and bioethicists who signed it -- from Japan to South Africa, Norway to the United States.
The officials said the Zika virus has "more serious medical consequences than previously known" and has worsened in the Rio area despite widespread mosquito treatment programs.


As a practical matter any move to cancel, postpone, or move the Games will meet with furious resistance from organizers, national committees, sponsors, and...athletes? Are they right?
They should've cancelled it  
Modus Operandi : 5/27/2016 6:32 pm : link
When Brazil didn't sufficiently clean the waterways as promised. Those poor athletes will be swimming in human sewage. Add in the Zima outbreak and it's a no brainer. Won't happen at this point as Brazil, essentially a third world nation has spent billions to prep in the face of protests, political upheaval, etc.

Total shitshow. Literally.
Mr. Green disagrees  
SomeFan : 5/27/2016 6:42 pm : link
with the cancel or postpone sentiment.
And btw, Tom Frieden is a Crackpot  
Modus Operandi : 5/27/2016 6:42 pm : link
This is the same guy who moved Bloomberg's administration to ban transfats and limit salt in in restaurants, and banning soft drinks.

Those are public health concerns. Swimming in sewage and mitigating the spread of the Zika virus? Eh, not so much.
A zima outbreak sounds just awful  
Rob in CT/NYC : 5/27/2016 6:46 pm : link
With Bartles and James wine coolers as a side effect :)

I agreed with the thread's premise, and zika didn't make my top five reasons.
A Zima outbreak  
Modus Operandi : 5/27/2016 6:53 pm : link
On top of everything else would be catastrophic. Like end of days.
Women athletes need to stand up for themselves  
UConn4523 : 5/27/2016 7:28 pm : link
and boycott going. I know how hard they worked for a major part of their lives but they have a chance to do something bigger than themselves and their country. Postpone it to next summer in a runner up location.
Agreed.  
SanFranNowNCGiantsFan : 5/27/2016 7:34 pm : link
But they won't.
I don't understand why they should boycott  
Bill L : 5/27/2016 7:56 pm : link
IMO, the advisory is exactly right. Don't travel if pregnant. Don't have unprotected sex for three months or so after coming back (with a male partner who traveled). If your partner stayed home, don't have unprotected sex for a couple weeks after returning. Otherwise, women or men have no reason to stay home because of Zika. The fecal-contaminated water is an entirely different issue. I'd stay home because of that
With billions of dollars committed and at stake....  
Crispino : 5/27/2016 10:20 pm : link
there is zero chance that it will not go off as scheduled.
Doesn't look problematic to me  
JesseS : 5/28/2016 10:10 am : link
I've been swimming in raw sewage. I love it  
Greg from LI : 5/28/2016 10:23 am : link
I've always wondered  
ColHowPepper : 5/28/2016 1:07 pm : link
who you look like, Greg.

Several weeks ago there did seem to be some push back from some of the sailing teams who were going to be thrust out into the bay out from the RdeJ shore. It's not optimal circumstances, for sure, and Brasil seems to be saddled with one run of bad luck after the other; perhaps we should dub this Olympiad the (NY)Giants' Olympics.
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