Athletes who test positive for the coronavirus during the Winter Olympics have to isolate until they’re cleared to leave, either through tests showing they’re negative or a review by a panel of medical experts. Some of the athletes have said that besides substandard meals and rooms, the facilities where they're isolating have no access to training equipment or the Internet.
“My stomach hurts, I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes,'' Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova posted on Instagram from one of the hotels, blaming unhealthy food for her misery. "I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired.”
Christophe Dubi, the International Olympic Committee’s executive director for the Games, said improvements are on the way. “These are exactly the kind of things we have to address,'' Dubi said. "It’s a duty. It’s a responsibility.''
The federal government has endorsed an all-hands-on-deck approach, authorized billions in federal funds and loosened pre-pandemic safeguards to increase access to testing. The effort pushed COVID-19 testing capacity in January higher than it's ever been, and labs routinely completed more than 2 million tests per day, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Send an email
