COC cancelled - Italy will host

[anonymoose_au]

That reminds me...T/M were just at Cranberry Cup in Boston. I wonder how they got in - perhaps they got a long time visa for when they were training in Florida (can you do that?).

Or is the US not as strict as France at the moment? Last I heard AZ wasn't actually an approved vaccine over there!

 

[moonvine]

I think the women skaters from China are the ones at risk of being uninvited if it goes to Finland... but the men, pairs and perhaps even dance could be relatively safe...

But I need my Vallter Virtanen! Seriously can’t they just add a few? It would be unconventional but more fair.

 

[4everchan]

But I need my Vallter Virtanen! Seriously can’t they just add a few? It would be unconventional but more fair.

well this is all speculation but i am thinking they would definitely want boyang and han yan, if china lets their athletes travel.... so there is still room for your V V

 

[Colonel Green]

I think the women skaters from China are the ones at risk of being uninvited if it goes to Finland... but the men, pairs and perhaps even dance could be relatively safe...

Finland has two good dance teams that I'd assume they'd want to include, but Wang/Liu should be okay whatever happened.

 

[Jammers]

Seriously how is China going to host an Olympics if they can't even hold a figure skating GP event?

 

[el henry]

China is very busy on hosting the Olympics

Tokyo’s Olympic Bubble? Wait Till You See Beijing’s. (Published 2021)

For the Winter Games, just six months away, China plans far more elaborate Covid-19 precautions than were taken at the Summer Olympics.

www.nytimes.com

It's not that they don't know what to do for Cup of China, it's that they don't care enough about a GP skating event to put the effort into enforcing their protocols.

They do care about the Olympics.

 

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

Also, China's quarantine rules don't work in a GP setting, either, because it's a very strict timeline. Also, the GP event was in Chongqing and the Olympics will be in Beijing. The Olympic Test Event, the Asian Open Trophy, is still going ahead as planned as far as we know.

 

[RUKen]

...SA one year was in Reading, Pa which is 35 miles from me, back when I was "fallen away" from FS. Geez, I'd think I died and gone to heaven if that happened again. But I can't imagine anyone actually staying overnight in Reading????

Drifting off-topic a bit, but Skate America was held twice in Reading, in 2003 and 2007. (And I stayed overnight both times.)

 

[el henry]

Drifting off-topic a bit, but Skate America was held twice in Reading, in 2003 and 2007. (And I stayed overnight both times.)

Of course, during my "interregnum" (I drifted away from following skating in the 2000s, until 2014 I came back with a vengeance. ). There is nothing particularly bad about Reading, and spent many an overnight there for work. But leisure capital of Pennsylvania it is not. You are a good fan.

And they surely are not making a bid for CoC

 

[LiamForeman]

I was at Skate America in Reading in 2003!

 

[ice_tulip]

I think the gp series is dead they just aren't publicly saying it. China has canceled their event, France isn't going to let certain people in, I doubt Canada is going to be all that open.

Canada just let in tons of international tennis players for a huge tennis tournament in Toronto last week. They even had fans in attendance. I was shocked. Edited to add: I know for a fact many of the players were NOT vaccinated, AND they didn't have to quarantine very long if at all because lots of them were coming straight from the Tokyo Olympics.

 

[Minz]

That reminds me...T/M were just at Cranberry Cup in Boston. I wonder how they got in - perhaps they got a long time visa for when they were training in Florida (can you do that?).

Or is the US not as strict as France at the moment? Last I heard AZ wasn't actually an approved vaccine over there!

I’m not 100% sure, but it depends on how long the visa is for and what how many times you can enter and such. They probably have a pretty flexible visa as far as getting in and out of the country because of competitions and stuff. AFAIK, the US isn’t terribly strict with some stuff, but states and cities have set some of their own rules and guidelines for travel and such. And no, the AstraZeneca vaccine is not and has never been approved in the US. Only Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson are approved here. Pfizer is approved for ages 12 and older, while the other two are 18 and older.

 

[anonymoose_au]

And no, the AstraZeneca vaccine is not and has never been approved in the US.

Gee that means when Australians travel there, a large percentage won't be considered vaccinated. Awkward....

The AZ people should get onto that ASAP, because most UK people had that one too.

 

[Tanya]

Canada just let in tons of international tennis players for a huge tennis tournament in Toronto last week. They even had fans in attendance. I was shocked. Edited to add: I know for a fact many of the players were NOT vaccinated, AND they didn't have to quarantine very long if at all because lots of them were coming straight from the Tokyo Olympics.

Interesting. But I guess part of the frustration last year was that Canada was finding a way to hold hockey events but didnt care enough about figure skating to try and hold those events. So I dont have a clue what their intentions or plans on, but it still could be a case where they put resources into continuing certain sports safely and not others.

 

[Ziotic]

Interesting. But I guess part of the frustration last year was that Canada was finding a way to hold hockey events but didnt care enough about figure skating to try and hold those events. So I dont have a clue what their intentions or plans on, but it still could be a case where they put resources into continuing certain sports safely and not others.

The nhl games were a bit different aa each team traveled in a bubble from hotel to rink with no spectators. It was the same league of people on repeat.
International skating is just that, lots of different people coming from different places with varying degrees of vaccination.
I don’t think this situation is really comparable.

 

[Minz]

Gee that means when Australians travel there, a large percentage won't be considered vaccinated. Awkward....

The AZ people should get onto that ASAP, because most UK people had that one too.

I don’t think it’s the AZ people, it‘s the FDA who approve vaccines. And I’ll look into it, but having the AstraZeneca vaccine might not mean that you aren’t considered vaccinated, it just means that they can’t give the AZ vaccine in the US. (I’m not 100% sure, but I’ll look into it.)

 

[Colonel Green]

Interesting. But I guess part of the frustration last year was that Canada was finding a way to hold hockey events but didnt care enough about figure skating to try and hold those events. So I dont have a clue what their intentions or plans on, but it still could be a case where they put resources into continuing certain sports safely and not others.

Hockey has tons of money behind it and so can afford elaborate safety measures. Figure skating doesn't.

 

[Cutting the ice]

I will say that as a country with pretty high vaccination rates (however, not high enough yet to fully mitigate the risk of a 4th wave), the population of Canada is very much in favour of this policy. People who have opted to become fully vaccinated are pretty tired of those who promote anti-vaxxer opinions. Some provinces and many organizations are moving to mandatory vaccination for certain jobs. This includes my workplace and there is a sigh of relief that they have gone that way. Of course, with approved exemptions.

But more to this point, this is from the website I linked to:
Amateur Athletes:
A person who enters Canada to take part in an international single sport event that has been authorized by the Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage (a high-performance athlete or someone engaged in an essential role in relation to that event, affiliated with a national organization responsible for that sport), as long as the person complies with any conditions imposed on them to minimize the risk of introduction or spread of COVID-19
Pre-entry test required
Exempt from arrival test
Exempt from Day-8 test
Exempt from quarantine
Exempt from mandatory hotel stopover

So it looks like unvaccinated Russians who are not infected, will be able to enter Canada if the GP figure skating competition is recognized by the Government.

Just to remind people who are concerned that unvaccinated people are able to enter Canada, there are several exemptions. International competition for amateur athletes is one of them as I posted previously. Skate Canada would need apply for such status and provide a biosecurity plan that was acceptable - to the federal government and likely also to the provincial government. Let us hope that countries with participating countries get their 4th wave quickly under control so that this exemption doesn't change!

FYI - Federal government (i.e, Canada) controls international travel and entry requirements, but provincial governments determine what happens in their province including staging of events and inter-provincial travel.

 

[lariko]

I don’t think it’s the AZ people, it‘s the FDA who approve vaccines. And I’ll look into it, but having the AstraZeneca vaccine might not mean that you aren’t considered vaccinated, it just means that they can’t give the AZ vaccine in the US. (I’m not 100% sure, but I’ll look into it.)

This is my biggest concern atm in respect to my personal plans to travel to SA, that I hope Canadian government resolves with US or we will have an option to add third vaccination for travel specifically, because I am Astra and Pfizer combo.

 

[GretchenG]

Actually, I think Canada has an exemption:
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/c...nal-single-sport-travel-authorization.html#a2
But I don't understand it

It sounds like Canada is willing to let foreign participants in a sporting or other event enter the country, but they have a big list of requirements, like they want to know how you will set up your bubble and probably how they are going to test the athletes and how often and how it'll be handled, etc. I'm guessing that they did the same thing for Stockholm, but as viewers, and even as skaters, it's less complicated. I still don't trust Canada, though.