Though Japan has seen a lower prevalence of positive coronavirus tests than the United States or Europe, cases have surged over the past two months to the point where hospitals are starting to become overwhelmed. The country set a record with slightly more than 6,000 new cases on Wednesday, and the next day Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in the Tokyo area, though compliance is largely voluntary. Government officials are asking bars and restaurants to close early and residents to refrain from non-urgent outings.
Earlier Friday, Pound told the BBC that he “can’t be certain” that the Olympics would go on as planned in July, but he told The Washington Post that he was encouraged by the steps the Japanese government has taken to contain the virus.
“They certainly had an upsurge and that has worried them, rightly so. But they’ve taken the steps that are required and they’ve taken them quickly,” Pound, a Canadian and the longest-serving IOC member, told The Post. “This is going to change. The situation will change over the next two weeks, four weeks. I think it’s far too early to panic at this stage. I would give it a 3-to-1 odds of going ahead on the basis of what we know today.”
The IOC is not expected to reveal its specific plans for this summer’s Olympics until the spring.
Pound reiterated to The Post his hopes that Olympic athletes get vaccinated before the Games, but only after the “absolute priorities” are taken care of: “the health care workers, the front line folks, the old and vulnerable, the ones with conditions and so on,” he said.
“And then after you get through those must-haves, you start thinking about a plan for nice-to-haves,” he said. “I said that each country is going to have to make its own decisions on this, a triage of sorts, whether it goes by age or this area, remoteness or whatever criteria will come into that. But don’t forget the Olympic athletes because they will be traveling to a zone where this stuff first started and they will be at risk.
“And what’s important about the Olympics is, you know, after what’s going to be 18 months of really tough sledding on a worldwide basis, we need some good news and a successful Olympics with young people coming from 200-plus countries to make a success of the Games and for all the reasons that is good — that’s a piece of good news that we all need. It’s encouragement. It’s a demonstration of resilience in the face of, really tough conditions. And we need some good news. And so think about them when you start putting your national priorities together.”
Pound told The Post that he hoped widespread vaccinations would allow spectators to attend Olympic events in Tokyo, noting that “the Japanese have experimented with that and had a certain amount of success.” More than 24,000 physically distanced spectators attended Monday’s season finale of Japan’s professional soccer league at the new National Stadium, the venue for the Opening Ceremony for the Summer Olympics in July. The fans were prohibited from cheering to prevent potential transmission of the virus, however, and under the new state of emergency, attendance at sporting events and other large gatherings will be capped at 5,000 people until at least Feb. 7.
