Coronavirus and the World Championships

[4everchan]

I wouldn't be surprised that ISU and National federations worked with Skate Canada to make sure that most athletes arrived plenty of time ahead to go though health monitoring etc... once the athletes are here and safe, considering the city itself has not yet to have a confirmed "local" case, there is very little risk for athletes, staff and locals... those traveling : well if they come from a hot spot, they will be welcomed at the airport and be monitored.... so if someone has fever, they may be quarantined and miss the event if flying close to the date... i am guessing this is what the ones calling the shots considered .... athletes are here, local great public is low risk... high risk travelers will be intercepted at airport... those traveling without symptoms and from low risk places should be ok...

still risky... but i can see them making this sort of call.

 

[starla16]

the worst thing they could probably do is ban visas for international audiences and athletes from Italy, South Korea, China an Japan. But I dont think it will happen.

 

[4everchan]

the worst thing they could probably do is ban visas for international audiences and athletes from Italy, South Korea, China an Japan. But I dont think it will happen.

As i wrote earlier, Trudeau has said that canada is not closing its borders. However. Health Canada officers are at airports helping out people who may be sick

 

[moonvine]

I wouldn't be surprised that ISU and National federations worked with Skate Canada to make sure that most athletes arrived plenty of time ahead to go though health monitoring etc... once the athletes are here and safe, considering the city itself has not yet to have a confirmed "local" case, there is very little risk for athletes, staff and locals... those traveling : well if they come from a hot spot, they will be welcomed at the airport and be monitored.... so if someone has fever, they may be quarantined and miss the event if flying close to the date... i am guessing this is what the ones calling the shots considered .... athletes are here, local great public is low risk... high risk travelers will be intercepted at airport... those traveling without symptoms and from low risk places should be ok...

still risky... but i can see them making this sort of call.

Can’t they be tested? Does Canada have tests? I know the US has an extremely limited amount.

Currently watching American Cup gymnastics. The Chinese team had to be quarantined in Doha (sp?)
for 2 weeks before they could enter the US. Both Russians withdrew, citing health and safety reasons.

 

[TT_Fin]

They have cancelled ladies Ice Hockey WC in Canada. Goverment of Nova Scotia t has succeeded it. Will they do it also for FS WC?

 

[4everchan]

They have cancelled ladies Ice Hockey WC in Canada. Goverment of Nova Scotia t has succeeded it. Will they do it also for FS WC?

i feel that the ISU really wants to hold the senior worlds in montreal this year... the short track speed skating was canceled about two weeks ahead... but since then, the ISU has reiterated that the other events would go as planned (for figure skating)... I feel that we should know already, if they had decided to cancel... and if the situation remains more or less the same, they won't cancel.

some of the events canceled are not money makers...women's hockey is unfortunately not getting enough attention and $$$

 

[4everchan]

Can’t they be tested? Does Canada have tests? I know the US has an extremely limited amount.

Currently watching American Cup gymnastics. The Chinese team had to be quarantined in Doha (sp?)
for 2 weeks before they could enter the US. Both Russians withdrew, citing health and safety reasons.

of course Canada has tests.... i suggest you go check cbc.ca and read about the situation in Canada... all that i am reporting anyways comes from there

Here is about the situation in Canada... there is no community transmission, that's why for now, things are "relatively under control" https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/coronavirus-community-transmission-1.5486080

 

[moonvine]

of course Canada has tests.... i suggest you go check cbc.ca and read about the situation in Canada... all that i am reporting anyways comes from there

Here is about the situation in Canada... there is no community transmission, that's why for now, things are "relatively under control" https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/coronavirus-community-transmission-1.5486080

I didn’t think it was an of course since the US doesn’t have them. Thanks for the link!

 

[Roo87]

some of the events canceled are not money makers...women's hockey is unfortunately not getting enough attention and $$$

You're right. I live in Halifax and there was still a whole pile of tickets left for the event. It wasn't Nova Scotia that cancelled it, it was the IHF.

 

[4everchan]

I didn’t think it was an of course since the US doesn’t have them. Thanks for the link!

so how do you think they confirm people have been infected? I think one has to be careful with the information that is spread around. I am pretty sure that US has available testing to its disposal.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Perhaps they are hoping COVID-19 will die down/out when the weather improves, like most flus. They call it "flu season" for a reason. If it doesn't, there is still time to cancel events.

Bloomsday is May 1. Yes, the big hope is that this virus will act like the covid cold and the flu virus, die way back in the warm, moist months, to possibley return in the late fall. So we can get treatment drugs and eventually various shots for the strains to protect healthy people. But I know no NO expert who is saying anything against the following. "When we get the kits out there and the labs up and running, mass testing can begin (a la Taiwan and Korea) and people will find out just how many Americans are REALLY infected. This is NOT going away any time soon" Yes, there is still time to cancel....but taking people's money NOW only to give it back later without at least a proper warning is not right.
Bottom line...dont panic when we find out just how prevelant this really is....Be SMART. Get educated, be prepared, have a plan.dont stick your head in the sand....as the two viruses now exist, unless they mutate again, this is not that leathal yet. Loosing one percent of say 100, million would be very sad...but we can get though this if only people pull together, like Taiwan and Korea, and take this outbreak seriously....49 poor souls have died in Italy in the last 24 hours...this is not going away.

 

[rain]

so how do you think they confirm people have been infected? I think one has to be careful with the information that is spread around. I am pretty sure that US has available testing to its disposal.

To be fair, it has been widely reported that officials in the U.S. are lamenting their lack of ability to do testing on any kind of scale. That's not fear-mongering, it is fact. The U.S. has been slow to react.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-has-the-us-cdc-done-so-little-coronavirus-testing.html

And from Tuesday:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/fda-coronavirus-testing.html

 

[Mista Ekko]

if Corona is seasonal disease like the flu, colds then it will be gone soon or maybe by end of March it will slow down, they dont name it seasonal for no reason. It will go away by the Summer Olympics. The media loves this hysteria because it huge viewership and money making time for them.

They don't know enough about it yet to determine anything like that

 

[moonvine]

Phillip Hersch and Jackie Wong have both tweeted about the possibility of it being cancelled. Ideally they would just let the athletes decide whether to come, but there are volunteers and paid stadium staff and all sorts of other people to consider.

 

[moonvine]

To be fair, it has been widely reported that officials in the U.S. are lamenting their lack of ability to do testing on any kind of scale. That's not fear-mongering, it is fact. The U.S. has been slow to react.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-has-the-us-cdc-done-so-little-coronavirus-testing.html

And from Tuesday:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/fda-coronavirus-testing.html

Thank you. I assumed everyone knew this. That was jingoistic of me.

 

[Shani]

You know it's completely possible it may be cancelled or reformatted so athletes only compete, and no fans allowed except by tv or internet as in Japan for baseball. There are cases of coronavirus in Canada in Quebec province and Ontario which is very close to Montreal also driving time, as is New York state etc Just have to wait and see.

 

[TT_Fin]

You're right. I live in Halifax and there was still a whole pile of tickets left for the event. It wasn't Nova Scotia that cancelled it, it was the IHF.

Sorry my vague explanation and my English errors. According to Finnish even post magazine it was cancelled by IHF, but by suggestion of the Goverment of Nova Scotia State.

 

[Skater Boy]

Someone said it would be the worst thing if Canada prevented visitors and athletes form coming for the world championships. I didn't know how to take that comment. Good or bad the Prime Minister has take a very positive or pro keep Canada open. Itis a fine balancing act between public and world health and the rights of the individuals. You can imagine the headaches if say Korea, Italy, China and Hong Kong weren't allowed into canada otherthanthosein Canada orthe us. The idea of doing it by video has all sorts of issues. As someone pointed out not to mention if the connection is lost or there are tech problems with the cameras/filming. And yes, people perform differently. At a championships there is a live audience and in practice not. So if you excell with an audience you are disadvantaged and if you excel without thenand vice versa. You get the idea. The most affected discipline with a delay or cancellation will be the ladies since the "shelf life" of the Russian baby ballerinas are starting almost spoil so to speak. The virus is just starting to spread to all over the US and Canada. We will just have to wait ten more days. I assume though all those who trained in highly contaminated nations would be in Canada already (quarantined).

 

[moonvine]

Someone said it would be the worst thing if Canada prevented visitors and athletes form coming for the world championships. I didn't know how to take that comment. Good or bad the Prime Minister has take a very positive or pro keep Canada open. Itis a fine balancing act between public and world health and the rights of the individuals. You can imagine the headaches if say Korea, Italy, China and Hong Kong weren't allowed into canada otherthanthosein Canada orthe us. The idea of doing it by video has all sorts of issues. As someone pointed out not to mention if the connection is lost or there are tech problems with the cameras/filming. And yes, people perform differently. At a championships there is a live audience and in practice not. So if you excell with an audience you are disadvantaged and if you excel without thenand vice versa. You get the idea. The most affected discipline with a delay or cancellation will be the ladies since the "shelf life" of the Russian baby ballerinas are starting almost spoil so to speak. The virus is just starting to spread to all over the US and Canada. We will just have to wait ten more days. I assume though all those who trained in highly contaminated nations would be in Canada already (quarantined).

The Chinese gymnasts who competed in the American Cup had to be quarantined in Doha for two weeks before they were allowed into the US. As soon as they got done competing they were going to have to go to Chicago to see if they would be able to get visas to go to their next competition. It seems a difficult thing to be a Chinese athlete right now.

 

[lucyrose]

I think that it will definitely be cancelled. While I do think the whole Covid outbreak is definitely over hyped in the media and it’s no more dangerous than influenza, if people were to get sick after attending Worlds, it would be a complete PR nightmare. The liability is just too much.