2021 Worlds are still on | Page 23 | Golden Skate

2021 Worlds are still on

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The skaters will be tested several times during the competitions. What about if skaters or coaches test positive during the stay? There is countries who won´t allow residents to cross the borders if they are positive and can they even bord a plane if they have a positiv test? So I guess they would have to stay in Stockholm in a hotel room until the symptoms are gone/isolation is done and they are allowed to go back. Skaters who cross the continents could be stuck for weeks in worst case, if there is a limited amount of planes leaving.

If they skaters get stuck in Stockholm and the third wave blows really up, it will not be safe health wise. Also will the insurance count?

I´m really concerned about how the situation will be in Stockholm in 2-3 weeks. If the ICU is full in 3 weeks, they can´t seriously mean Worlds can be done safe? You can´t predict who is going to be seriously ill.
 

DizzyFrenchie

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Dec 9, 2019
Indeed, that's why I was wondering if the Speed Skaters also showed up only a few days prior to the event. Without the 2 weeks quarantine, no-one gettting an infection at the Speed Skating World's would be more a case of good luck rather than proper planning and the problem with luck is what happens when it runs out?

The World's is at the the end of the month, if I was a skater in Europe who could get to Sweden by private transport I'd be inclined to quarantine at home before showing up. That way you could be pretty sure that at least you don't have the virus on arrival.
Of course it is the best and that's what Yuzuru Hanyu seems to have done all along the season. This implies one can go to the rink on foot/bike or with a car or motorbike used only by one's own household, though, and one don't need to go to busy places for job or school.
I am not that much afraid of airports, I think they are rather safe now (if one is prudent), but long-haul flights remain a risk. I have not heard of an onboard air system capable of filtrating or killing SARS CoV-2.
So, I find the principle of a bubble much more risky than a more open system with strict rules and hand-washing facilities at the right places etc. Particularly in winter when, unless blessed by a beautiful weather, skaters and staff cannot even enjoy proper air.
And I hope they give the greatest attention to the minutes, maybe half-hour, after skaters end their practices or programs, this is the moment when they are more vulnerable.
 
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DizzyFrenchie

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Dec 9, 2019
Here are some interesting articles from Yale about why indoor ice rinks are inherently a higher risk:



So Sweden's numbers are rising, ice rinks are inherently riskier, the coaching/officials group is generally in the higher-risk groups, getting the 'rona can shorten or end an athletic career, we've got proof over and over that one of the largest contingents can't be trusted to follow protocols, and...

...people are still calling those who want it to be cancelled fearful whingers.
Thank you.
This being said, this survey is only for the usual practice skating rink, so it is relevant for skaters who practice on such rinks and for their owners and managers, not for Worlds.
Worlds will happen in large arenas, even the practice rinks are large arenas, and there is an air convection, air movements which are quite specific to each arena and I just hope they are being studied, but anyway, given they are so large and there won't be attendance, I don't think the risk will be high.
 

DizzyFrenchie

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Dec 9, 2019
Honestly I don´t agree with you that one can trust the public health professionals in Sweden to make good judgements about if Worlds should be cancelled or not. The so-called "chief" with a degree in epidemiology, Anders Tegnell, said one year ago that Stockholm would have reached heard immunity by the end of May 2020, and at the same time he was mocking the Nordic countries for strict measures "You will pay later, just wait, you will have more deaths by the end and we will be done with the pandemic by the summer". The times he said things that was far off, has been many, there have been thousands of excuses, and yet he still will never admit he was wrong or apologize public.

You should also know that doctors or professors who did disagree with Tegnell, was shamed public.

Since then Sweden has bit by bit enforced strict measures, the authorities has slowly turned the table, but they won´t really admit loud that last spring strategy was wrong, instead they explain the change with that the situation has changed and measures are needed now, for example because of the much more contagious mutation.

All though they have turned a bit around, Sweden is still being very hesitating about the use of public face mask. Much because Tegnell has said there is no scientific proof of wearing it and there has been a huge skepticism about the use in Sweden. It was even so bad, that Officials in a small town forced a teacher to remove a mask and they prohibited the use of mask and PPE in schools!! You can read more about the skepticism here.

The skepticism fades a bit now because the infection rates rise. The authorities have finally started to advise people to use more face mask (about 2 weeks ago), but skaters and coaches should be aware that face mask in public is not required, and the use of face mask in Sweden is still very low.

I´m sorry if I have a strong disbelief in they way the authorities have acted. I believe everybody can be wrong and change and make the right decisions. But they way the authorities have been, the shaming of people who had another opinion, it doesn´t make them trustworthy at all. To even forbid a school to use protection, it´s horrific.

The ISU protocols that have been made is not because the health professionals in Sweden has good judgement, but I think the host knows very well there will be standards to follow and of course they work together with ISU. If Worlds goes off and it all goes well, it´s because the ISU protocols has pushed by others to be the best, and that the skaters and the team will be very careful and follow them.
I am sorry I have to disagree.
I have followed several European countries policies and (real) results.
Globally, except Denmark who had both strict confinement at Spring and few deaths, countries which confined most had more deaths than others, so there, Sweden and other countries who didn't confine were right.
The number of deaths can be roughly deduced from official weekly death numbers, when compared with expected deaths for the same week, as here :
The official CoViD deaths numbers, or number of infections, cannot be compared between countries because counting methods are not the same. Sweden look more heavily affected comparatively, because they have been more exhaustive than other, more affected countries.
From surveys showing which policies are effective or not, what Sweden "ought to have done" at the beginning is closing borders, testing more (but I don't know if they had enough means; I just know for my country, France, that the government refused cheap testing means until the end of the Spring epidemic and then only started to test before even entering a sort of craze in the Summer. Also, Sweden was not very swift at catching the way of getting masks in a sudden bubble market, I would say that's not their culture. And also, they were part of the global Western failure of confinement of the residents in care home bedrooms. Germany at least took the means of trying all they could to atone this scare, and they managed to avoid the associated deaths. I suppose Sweden didn't?
I rather rely on Swedish health authorities to assure safe Worlds, both for skaters and for Sweden itself, but I feel scared by those petitions, based on panic rather than on any scientific grounds, in case they could impel Sweden into unsafe "safety measures". And in safety, there's the CoViD question, but not only : there's the risk of injury, there's the risk associated to not following one's own right diet, etc.
As to vaccines, while "normal strains" seem to be waning and probably-vaccine-triggered "new strains" on the rise, I hope nobody feel safe and entitled to imprudence because they got their jabs, as they don't protect against new strains.
 
Joined
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I am sorry I have to disagree.
I have followed several European countries policies and (real) results.
Globally, except Denmark who had both strict confinement at Spring and few deaths, countries which confined most had more deaths than others, so there, Sweden and other countries who didn't confine were right.
The number of deaths can be roughly deduced from official weekly death numbers, when compared with expected deaths for the same week, as here :
The official CoViD deaths numbers, or number of infections, cannot be compared between countries because counting methods are not the same. Sweden look more heavily affected comparatively, because they have been more exhaustive than other, more affected countries.
From surveys showing which policies are effective or not, what Sweden "ought to have done" at the beginning is closing borders, testing more (but I don't know if they had enough means; I just know for my country, France, that the government refused cheap testing means until the end of the Spring epidemic and then only started to test before even entering a sort of craze in the Summer. Also, Sweden was not very swift at catching the way of getting masks in a sudden bubble market, I would say that's not their culture. And also, they were part of the global Western failure of confinement of the residents in care home bedrooms. Germany at least took the means of trying all they could to atone this scare, and they managed to avoid the associated deaths. I suppose Sweden didn't?
I rather rely on Swedish health authorities to assure safe Worlds, both for skaters and for Sweden itself, but I feel scared by those petitions, based on panic rather than on any scientific grounds, in case they could impel Sweden into unsafe "safety measures". And in safety, there's the CoViD question, but not only : there's the risk of injury, there's the risk associated to not following one's own right diet, etc.
As to vaccines, while "normal strains" seem to be waning and probably-vaccine-triggered "new strains" on the rise, I hope nobody feel safe and entitled to imprudence because they got their jabs, as they don't protect against new strains.

Oh yes, I saw the report and I was just waiting for someone to bring this into discussion.

First of all, just because other countries are worse, it doesn´t mean that someone who have done it better, isn´t bad.

That countries like France and Spain had worse numbers with lockdown, doesn´t mean they would have been better if they didn´t have lockdown, it would probably be a lot worse.

The high numbers can be explained by other factors, such as general health, use of antibiotics (in Nordic countries it´s very restrictive use), health care system, population density and culture difference. For instance, people in the Nordic countries aren´t as social and it´s more natural for us to do social distancing. We don´t kiss on the check and we rather have a seat for urself at public transportation.

You only mentioned Denmark, but Sweden had the most bad outcome from the Nordic countries, no doubt, countries who are similar to each other and doesn´t have the difference as mentioned above.

So just because France and Spain is ranked as nr. 23 and nr 15. doesn´t mean that Sweden did an excellent job in their Covid response.

Sweden death roll is 13 000, total cases per 1M pop. is 1,282, ranked as nr. 24 in the world.
Denmark death roll is 2377, total cases per 1M pop. is 405, ranked as nr. 71 in the world.
Finland death roll is 767, total cases per 1M pop. is 138, ranked as nr. 109 in the world.
Norway death roll is 632, total cases per 1M pop is 114, ranked as nr. 116 in the world.
Iceland death roll is 29, total cases per 1M pop is 85, ranked as nr. 126 in the world..

Sorry to say this, but different ways to count deaths can´t explain this huge difference. Except for Iceland who has a clear advantage of not having borders, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway are quite similar countries and there is no doubt Sweden could have same outcome if they would have more strict measures from the beginning.

They are well aware that the huge difference from their neighbors countries, but they (Anders Tegnell) strongly believed that herd immunity was possible and that was the goal in the beginning. They strongly believed they would only have this first big wave, they would reach heard immunity by the summer and the rest of the world would struggle with second and third wave, and so eventually the rest would catch up and even have worse numbers then Sweden.

It was a big gamble, because they didn´t know if immunity would last.

Instead they put a enorm and unnecessary press on the health care system and they have exposed a lot of people for long covid and had high death numbers.

Also I don´t why you mention Sweden not using mask with supply issues. That was months ago. So the same in Norway, we did have problems with the mask supply one year ago. Now there is no problem. You can even buy them cheap at the grocieries store out in the country. Since August people in Norway started using mask in the big cities and once it was mandatory, people had no problem using and frankly it´s just a habit, face mask have never been in our culture before, so the culture argument is just a lame excuse.

The Swedes have slowly started using face mask after the authorities have finally admitted it could prevent the spread. But it´s not mandatory so still quite few are using it. For months the authorities there have systematically claimed that face mask does not help and it that it even could cause more cases. So why on earth would Swedes start using face mask now when they have been told for months they should not bother? If the authorities wants Swedes to start using mask, they have to make it mandatory.
 
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DizzyFrenchie

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Dec 9, 2019
Oh yes, I saw the report and I was just waiting for someone to bring this into discussion.

First of all, just because other countries are worse, it doesn´t mean that someone who have done it better, isn´t bad.

That countries like France and Spain had worse numbers with lockdown, doesn´t mean they would have been better if they didn´t have lockdown, it would probably be a lot worse. The hight numbers can be explained by other factors, such as general health, use of antibiotics (in Nordic countries it´s very restrictive use), health care system, population density and culture difference. For instance, people in the Nordic countries aren´t as social and it´s more natural for us to do social distancing. We don´t kiss on the check and we rather have a seat for urself at public transportation.

You only mentioned Denmark, but Sweden had the most bad outcome from the Nordic countries, no doubt, countries who are similar to each other and doesn´t have the difference as mentioned above.

So just because France and Spain is ranked as nr. 23 and nr 15. doesn´t mean that Sweden did an excellent job in their Covid response.

Sweden death roll is 13 000, total cases per 1M pop. is 1,282, ranked as nr. 24 in the world.
Denmark death roll is 2377, total cases per 1M pop. is 405, ranked as nr. 71 in the world.
Finland death roll is 767, total cases per 1M pop. is 138, ranked as nr. 109 in the world.
Norway death roll is 632, total cases per 1M pop is 114, ranked as nr. 116 in the world.
Iceland death roll is 29, total cases per 1M pop is 85, ranked as nr. 126 in the world..

Sorry to say this, but different ways to count deaths can´t explain this huge difference. Except for Iceland who has a clear advantage of not having borders, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway are quite similar countries and there is no doubt Sweden could have same outcome if they would have more strict measures from the beginning.

They are well aware that the huge difference from their neighbors countries, but they (Anders Tegnell) strongly believed that herd immunity was possible and that was the goal in the beginning. They strongly believed they would only have this first big wave, they would reach heard immunity by the summer and the rest of the world would struggle with second and third wave, and so eventually the rest would catch up and even have worse numbers then Sweden.

It was a big gamble, because they didn´t know if immunity would last.

Instead they put a enorm and unnecessary press on the health care system and they have exposed a lot of people for long covid and had high death numbers.

Also I don´t why you mention Sweden not using mask to what happen last summer, that was months ago with supplies issues. So the same in Norway, we did have problems with the mask supply but that was months ago. Now there is no problem. Since August people started using mask in the big cities and once it was mandatory, people had no problem using and frankly it´s just a habit, yet there still hasn´t been in our culture before, so the culture argument is just a lame excuse.

The Swedes have slowly started using face mask after the authorities have finally admitted it could prevent the spread. But it´s not mandatory so still quite few are using it. And for months the authorities there have systematically claimed that face mask does not help and it that it even could case more cases. So why on earth would Swedes start using face mask now when they have been told for months they should not bother? If the authorities wants Swedes to start using mask, they have to make it mandatory.
There have been surveys in France, Spain and Italy with the Spring lockdowns. People unaffected by the lockdowns, all ather things equal, were less likely to get infected although they tended to work in risky situations. Also, when French government dictated the Autumn lockdown, numbers had been on the plateau since a few days and even starting to go down, then after a few days of lockdown they went up a few percent (but then down because the epidemic was anyway getting to its end and no bad policy could prevent it completely).
You are writing about "death tolls" and "cases" which cannot be compared because very different methods were applied. Many countries changed methods during the epidemic, some several times, by the way. Look at the deaths declared by Netherlands during the Spring epidemic and then compare with their real excess of deaths. These numbers cannot be used to compare countries.
Now, if you look at real mortality numbers on the link I sent you, you will see Norway and Finland did better than Sweden — they didn't confine either, but nobody spoke of it, I don't know why people only spoke of Sweden. They did have a better border management (this has changed recently in Sweden, where I read that new cases were mostly with effectually confined people, workers building a factory in the North and again care home residents, but that was about two weeks ago), and I suppose they took better care of their care home residents, though I know Norway at least limited family visits (but so did Germany yet they sought and apparently managed, to compensate with dedicated teams). I know nothing about Iceland, sorry, anyway it is a small country (300.000 inhabitants) and with particularities, so I don't know if one could say much.
I don't know who spoke of herd immunity and who didn't, I know so little of Swedish politics anyway, I am just observing their policies and they are doing rather well among Western countries; but of course much less well than Eastern Asian countries who tackled the virus from the beginning, and we had the means to do that in late February, had we had decent governments.
 
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TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
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Finland did not confine, but last spring we had much more restricitions than Sweden, so as Norway did and at the moment we have also some. We do not need so high limits as people in southern Europe, because we have more land and less people and we are not so social by nature. But - we had limits on meetings, we were not allowed to go to rest homes or hospitals as visitors and restaurants could sell only take aways. We had also strong recommendation to work as distance when ever it is possible. Sweden dit not have restrictions like that. At the moment we have some local restrictions, for example the area were I live the maximum limit at meetings are 6 people at the same time. They also closed the frontiers between other parts of Finland to Uusimaa, where most people at Finland live and the population density is highest in whole country, for a weeks last spring.
 

DizzyFrenchie

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Joined
Dec 9, 2019
Finland did not confine, but last spring we had much more restricitions than Sweden, so as Norway did and at the moment we have also some. We do not need so high limits as people in southern Europe, because we have more land and less people and we are not so social by nature. But - we had limits on meetings, we were not allowed to go to rest homes or hospitals as visitors and restaurants could sell only take aways. We had also strong recommendation to work as distance when ever it is possible. Sweden dit not have restrictions like that. At the moment we have some local restrictions, for example the area were I live the maximum limit at meetings are 6 people at the same time. They also closed the frontiers between other parts of Finland to Uusimaa, where most people at Finland live and the population density is highest in whole country, for a weeks last spring.
And were there spread events in Sweden? I mean, they didn't limit it by law, and so didn't Japan, yet they gave sensible advice.
And also, an arbitrary limit of 6 persons doesn't make much sense in itself. A small party with 6 people sweating and having skin contact in an apartment, is much more likely to spread the virus than a worship in a huge volume with 50 people attending.
In fact I have seen nowhere in affected areas sensible calculations and modelling.
 

msteach3

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I don't understand the obsessiveness of some posters on this forum regarding Worlds. Are all of you medical professionals? I doubt it. The competition is scheduled and will happen near the end of the month. From what I've read, every precaution is being taken. No one is, as far as I can tell, being forced to participate. Skaters and their coaches have the right to make a decision for themselves. No one is forcing posters on this forum to attend the competition and/or put themselves at risk from the competition taking place. You can watch it from the safety of your own home if you wish. Let's show support for skaters who choose to attend, rather than continually trying to make a mockery of the event itself.
 
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Mar 21, 2018
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Norway
Covid is everyones business so why should we not be allowed to discuss this topic because we are not medical professionals?

I´m seriously concerned about peoples health. Both residents of Stockholm and the skaters and teams. We have seen how heavily affected skaters like Medvedeva, Kostornaia and Scherbakova have been, this is no joke.

Skaters take a huge risk even when they travel to the event. Skaters who cross the Atlantic will have very long flights and need to transfer, probably in Germany. Being at at airplane with strangers you can never be sure you won´t get infected because of poor airplane circulation for several hours. I hope they use 3-layers mask.

Many skaters would feel to go in order to qualify for the Olympic. If they can secure a spot early they can fully concentrate on preparing for the Olympics off-season, and not stressing about the last qualifier event at Nebelhorn Trophy in the autumn.

I think we should still be open to that the event can be cancelled at short notice if the infection growth continues. Bubble or not, you can not host a big sport event if the health system is on the verge of collapsing. That is both irresponsible to the residents and the skaters.

If the situation get worse in the upcoming days, and ISU and the authorities won´t cancel, I hope some big skaters fed like USA and Canada will make an example and WD, and that others will follow, so that ISU eventually have to cancel or postpone the event.
 

Amei

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Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Covid is everyones business so why should we not be allowed to discuss this topic because we are not medical professionals?

I´m seriously concerned about peoples health. Both residents of Stockholm and the skaters and teams. We have seen how heavily affected skaters like Medvedeva, Kostornaia and Scherbakova have been, this is no joke.

Skaters take a huge risk even when they travel to the event. Skaters who cross the Atlantic will have very long flights and need to transfer, probably in Germany. Being at at airplane with strangers you can never be sure you won´t get infected because of poor airplane circulation for several hours. I hope they use 3-layers mask.

Many skaters would feel to go in order to qualify for the Olympic. If they can secure a spot early they can fully concentrate on preparing for the Olympics off-season, and not stressing about the last qualifier event at Nebelhorn Trophy in the autumn.

I think we should still be open to that the event can be cancelled at short notice if the infection growth continues. Bubble or not, you can not host a big sport event if the health system is on the verge of collapsing. That is both irresponsible to the residents and the skaters.

If the situation get worse in the upcoming days, and ISU and the authorities won´t cancel, I hope some big skaters fed like USA and Canada will make an example and WD, and that others will follow, so that ISU eventually have to cancel or postpone the event.

Shcherbakova has stated that she had pneumonia - the only people I believe that has stated she had Covid was some Fed official around Nationals that made several comments that contradicted each other (I remember people pointing this out in the Nationals threads), and then of course all of the medical experts on figure skating fan boards on the internet.
 

ladyjane

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Jun 26, 2012
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The Short Track Speed Skating World Championships are currently being held (lots of information on ISU pages). Far more dangerous with all these skaters doing matches very close to each other (and that's competitors from various countries, not individual pairs or ID couples who train together anyway and stick to protocols). If that's successful (and I'm not talking about medals here, but about getting Covid) and there's another zero just as there was with the Long Track Championships, why shouldn't the FS WC go through? I don't get the obsessiveness either. Not because I don't want everybody to be safe (I do), but because I get the feeling some people think Figure Skaters are especially prone to getting the disease. They do not. Regrettably everyone can get it

If a Championship is held safely (and there are examples, even in Figure Skating itself) - and this can be done - please let the WC go through. I have no reason to distrust the Swedish authorities in enforcing the protocols (you know the ones), nor do have I a reason to distrust the entries from certain countries because they might not stick to protocols at home. They do when it's required. I understand the need for caution, and so there should be. But I really don't get the obsessiveness. I'm not a medical professional either, have not protested against the Covid measures (although I think some of them in my country are ridiculous) and actually lost a close family member to the disease. Don't anyone dare to accuse me of not caring about public health. But I do think if ways can be found to keep athletes competing, even with a pandemic, please do.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Mar 3, 2014
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I don't understand the obsessiveness of some posters on this forum regarding Worlds. Are all of you medical professionals? I doubt it. The competition is scheduled and will happen near the end of the month. From what I've read, every precaution is being taken. No one is, as far as I can tell, being forced to participate. Skaters and their coaches have the right to make a decision for themselves. No one is forcing posters on this forum to attend the competition and/or put themselves at risk from the competition taking place. You can watch it from the safety of your own home if you wish. Let's show support for skaters who choose to attend, rather than continually trying to make a mockery of the event itself.
I don’t understand this language about “obsessiveness”. I don’t believe I am obsessed for offering an opinion.🤷‍♀️

I could also say that I don’t understand the “obsessiveness” of those who think that just because skaters “make their own decisions”, that the public health concerns of those decisions can be disregarded.

:scratch2:
 

ice_tulip

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
I don't get the obsessiveness either. Not because I don't want everybody to be safe (I do), but because I get the feeling some people think Figure Skaters are especially prone to getting the disease. They do not. Regrettably everyone can get it

I don't think people believe figure skaters are especially prone to getting the disease. The concern likely is that the disease will affect their ability to compete at their top level moving forward. I recall a young promising Russian singles skater had to retire due to complications from COVID, although her name evades me.

While most athletes probably won't get severe COVID, even a mild case could set them back competitively -- a 1% difference could be the difference between 1st and 10th place. When you're competing at such a high level, the margins are tiny. A "normal" person who recovers from a mild to moderate case of COVID might not notice that they have a slightly reduced lung function because they aren't pushing their bodies to the max every day. However, that slight reduction in lung function would strongly impact a skater.

Overall, I believe the main concern is for public health. At the Australian Open (tennis), all players and their teams (limited to 2-3 people) had to quarantine after arriving in Melbourne, with special areas set up for them to practice separately for 2 hr per day + 1 hr in a private gym area (scheduled very carefully). If anyone on the privately-chartered planes to Australia tested positive for COVID, everyone on that plane had to do a "hard" quarantine (HQ) where they weren't even allowed to leave their hotel room for 14 days. Two of the planes each had one positive case, so quite a few players/teams had to do the HQ. Strict but it worked. They figured out ways to train in their hotel rooms. On Day 5 or so of the tournament, a couple cases were found outside the tennis bubble stemming from an official who had been in the bubble a few days earlier, and in an abundance of caution they halted all play and tested everyone that day, then resumed upon all negative results but without fans for 5 days. Fans were able to return for the last few days of the tournament after lots of testing & no more cases were found. They did an excellent job of protecting the public and the athletes. I haven't seen the exact protocol they will be following in Sweden at Worlds, but I highly doubt their protocol is anywhere near that of Tennis Australia.
 
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karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
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Jan 1, 2013
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Australia
Shcherbakova has stated that she had pneumonia - the only people I believe that has stated she had Covid was some Fed official around Nationals that made several comments that contradicted each other (I remember people pointing this out in the Nationals threads), and then of course all of the medical experts on figure skating fan boards on the internet.
Ah yes, pneumonia. Like an unusual number of Russians had and died from last year.............but of course they didn't have COVID.

Come on. It's extremely well-known that the Russian Government was instructing health officials to record COVID deaths as pneumonia to keep their numbers down.
The Short Track Speed Skating World Championships are currently being held (lots of information on ISU pages). Far more dangerous with all these skaters doing matches very close to each other (and that's competitors from various countries, not individual pairs or ID couples who train together anyway and stick to protocols). If that's successful (and I'm not talking about medals here, but about getting Covid) and there's another zero just as there was with the Long Track Championships, why shouldn't the FS WC go through?
Is this also not the World Championships that are missing significant numbers of athletes because of COVID restrictions? No Japan, Korea and China, and no Brits allowed?
I don’t understand this language about “obsessiveness”. I don’t believe I am obsessed for offering an opinion.🤷‍♀️

I could also say that I don’t understand the “obsessiveness” of those who think that just because skaters “make their own decisions”, that the public health concerns of those decisions can be disregarded.

:scratch2:
Whenever someone says people are obsessed with Worlds not going ahead because of fear, there's a reverse option in my mind. That people are obsessed with wanting it to go ahead, because it means that they were right and all those countries who took it seriously were wrong, see?
 

Flagstaff

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 9, 2016
Pretty sure participants are required to sign waivers limiting the liability of the ISU when there isn't a "pandemic" happening, a decision to explicitly include mention of the "pandemic" is likely done as an additional protection so that if someone did get something and decided to sue they would likely struggle to find a lawyer to take on a case with an explicitly stated waiver.
No, participants don't have to sign a waiver in "normal" times. For Worlds this year, medias have also been required to sign a waiver and it's a first too. All this has been established because of Covid. Particular situations require particular measures.
 

kan01

Final Flight
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Dec 15, 2019
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Romania
I imagine the "cancel worlds" folks watching the show vigilant to catch any slip of the mask, any protocols not fully respected with the magnifying glass and the printed guidelines near them, but lowkey (or not so lowkey) thrilled when their faves are successful in their programs as much or more than the people who are happy for it to go ahead, lowkey and deep down glad it went ahead. :ROFLMAO:

And by the way, we are allowed to comment just as we are allowed to disagree and criticize what it's said, we're on a message board.
 
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DizzyFrenchie

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 9, 2019
Shcherbakova has stated that she had pneumonia - the only people I believe that has stated she had Covid was some Fed official around Nationals that made several comments that contradicted each other (I remember people pointing this out in the Nationals threads), and then of course all of the medical experts on figure skating fan boards on the internet.
What I understood but I may be wrong (because of automatic translations and/or unreliable sources) is that she had earlier a mild or very mild CoViD, which was not disclosed publicly, and later a non-CoViD pneumonia, more severe, with 5 days off-ice and several weeks with fever.
Still not as severe as Elizaveta Tuktamysheva's 2018 flu, which kept her 10 days at the hospital and several weeks very weak.
A particularity of CoViD, as has been said several times here, being that often it generates clots in the lungs or even heart conditions, which effects can last long (or even forever?), this doesn't affect much the average sedentary person but much more a high level athlete.
 

eaglehelang

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 15, 2017
The Short Track Speed Skating World Championships are currently being held (lots of information on ISU pages). Far more dangerous with all these skaters doing matches very close to each other (and that's competitors from various countries, not individual pairs or ID couples who train together anyway and stick to protocols). If that's successful (and I'm not talking about medals here, but about getting Covid) and there's another zero just as there was with the Long Track Championships, why shouldn't the FS WC go through? I don't get the obsessiveness either. Not because I don't want everybody to be safe (I do), but because I get the feeling some people think Figure Skaters are especially prone to getting the disease. They do not. Regrettably everyone can get it
Because Speed Skating was lucky nobody was Covid positive going into the tournament.

In Thailand Badminton Open held in Jan 2021, players tested positive only AFTER the 7 day quarantine. AFTER, not before. They, their coaches & officials all tested negative upon entry to Thailand.
If I remember correctly, players from 3 countries tested positive after the quarantine, just before matches started.

The whole India team was told to quarantine another 10 days by Thai authorities when one of their Women singles player tested positive. Even though the rest of team tested negative(at the time). After protest by team India, their players who tested negative allowed to compete, alone, without coach.

I would reckon protocols are much more stringent in Asia Pacific region than Europe. And yet, there were positive cases.

With Worlds having no quarantine....
Speed Skating tournament went smoothly does not mean Figure Skating would too as been proven by Badminton. It should not be left to chance/luck when it comes to this virus.
If a Speed skating scenario happens, well & good. If a badminton Thailand scenario happens, better hope & pray it does not involve your country's skaters.
 
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