Olympic athlete tests positive for coronavirus to continue competing
Several athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have contracted COVID-19 but have been allowed to compete.
Great Britain’s Adam Peaty will compete in the men’s 100m breaststroke final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Nanterre, France on 28 July. Peaty is one of several athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Around 11,000 of the world’s best athletes are gathering in Paris to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics. At least 19 have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two weeks. Many of these athletes are Australian representatives or swimmers. The current count includes, for example, British swimmer Adam Peaty and Australian swimmers Lani Pallister and Zach Stubblety-Cook. Although only a small proportion of competitors have been confirmed to be infected, some experts are concerned that the infection could spread further. Without mandatory testing, many more participants could be carrying SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics introduced strict rules to curb the spread of COVID, including regular testing, social distancing, and near-constant mask-wearing. In contrast, the 2024 Paris Olympics are aiming for a return to normalcy — and not just because thousands of spectators will now gather in the stands, where they were once banned. The Paris Olympics have done away with all previous COVID protocols and are treating the disease the same as any other respiratory illness, like the common cold or flu, meaning officials are allowing athletes and teams to decide for themselves how to prevent and respond to infection.
Athletes are no longer subject to daily testing or frequent temperature checks. Athletes who feel unwell are encouraged, but not required, to wear masks, wash their hands and avoid close contact with others. Private rooms are available in the Olympic Village for athletes who test positive for COVID-19, and some countries, such as the United States, are providing alternative transportation for participants who are unwell. Infected athletes can continue to train and compete, and many have so far. Some athletes have withdrawn from certain events to conserve their energy for other competitions, and German decathlete Manuel Eitel has withdrawn from the Olympics altogether.
Supporting science journalism
If you enjoyed this article, please support our award-winning journalism. Subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you help ensure a future of influential stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping the world today.
SARS-CoV-2 still poses the possibility of disrupting the remaining competition, especially if the entire team becomes infected. “It would be prudent to be more cautious (about the virus) going forward,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at UCSF Health. “The Olympics are only halfway there.”
Chin-Hong points out that the athletes’ village is a “perfect environment for the spread” of respiratory diseases because it’s a large congregate place full of people gasping for breath and screaming. But unlike the flu or the common cold, COVID-19 is now surging across the United States and in many parts of Europe, in part because of new, more contagious strains of SARS-CoV-2. While athletes who play contact sports or compete in poorly ventilated spaces may be at highest risk of infection, all athletes frequent risk areas like locker rooms and dining halls.
Chin Hong also says COVID-19 causes more serious damage to the body than a cold or flu. While most Olympic athletes are healthy and have access to cutting-edge medicines, young people can have complex reactions to infection. Athletes with comorbidities, such as US gymnast Sunisa Li, who has kidney disease, and US swimmer Katie Ledecky, who suffers from orthostatic intolerance, may be more susceptible to infection than others. And even mild COVID-19 symptoms can impair performance.
A study of hundreds of German athletes in 2024 found that elite athletes who contracted COVID-19 had milder symptoms than those who did not. However, more than half of these elite athletes said that symptoms such as headache, cough, fever, and sore throat interfered with their training for 2 to 4 weeks. After a few months, 10% of athletes reported reduced concentration and performance. A study of more than 800 elite swimming athletes in 2023 found that 16% of those infected were asymptomatic, 51% had mild symptoms, 27% had moderate symptoms, and 10% of athletes had long-term symptoms such as fatigue and shortness of breath.
Infected players could also spread the virus to coaches and staff, who tend to be older and at higher risk for severe illness, and some of the team members who coach infected players are now wearing masks. Guardian report.
Paris Games officials Scientific American He said he was working closely with the French Ministry of Health to monitor for any further spread of SARS-CoV-2. During the week the Olympics began, France’s Health Minister Frédéric Valletout reassured the public that there was little reason to fear a spread of the virus. The country saw an increase in COVID-19 cases over the summer but remains at a “low level,” Valletout said in an interview on July 25.
On August 6, the head of the World Health Organization stressed at a UN press conference that COVID infection rates have risen around the world in the past few weeks, urging greater vigilance. In Europe, more than 20% of COVID tests have been positive in recent weeks.
