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TOKYO (AP) – They’re spitting. They are waiting. They hope.
According to the organizers, around 30,000 people from multiple countries spit on small plastic bottles in a daily routine that has become so important at the Olympics to progress through the pandemic-era Games.
If you do the math for the two-week duration of the Olympics, that adds up to half a million saliva samples collected for athletes and other venues that are tested daily in an extraordinary effort to curb the spread of COVID. 19 infections. At about 1 milliliter per sample, that would be a lot of saliva.
In contrast, such tests have long been difficult to find for the general Japanese public. Japan is unique among developed countries in blocking widespread testing for coronavirus.
Thousands of saliva samples are stored in tubes and identified by a barcode, after which they all pass preliminary tests. Those with questionable results undergo another test, according to the Olympic organizers’ “Playbook” outlining the anti-COVID-19 measures.
The tests are conducted at a facility called the Fever Clinic, which also cares for and isolates sick people, called the “Olympic bubble”. When a COVID-19 infection is detected or suspected, “close contacts” are also tested to identify other people who may be sick – a mole-hit process done under controlled conditions. The organizers do not comment on the number of people working at the clinic or special arrangements.
These tests do not require inserting a swab into the nose, which is another common test method for coronavirus.
Medical professionals say the tests for athletes, team officials, the media and others connected to the Games are free for those who submit them, although they are estimated to cost around 10,000 yen ($100) each. Testing for members of the Japanese public usually costs that much, sometimes more.
Some medical professionals have expressed concern about the Olympics turning into a “super-spreading” event. Daily coronavirus cases in Tokyo rose to a record high, reaching 3,000 people this week.
Takanori Teshima, professor at Hokkaido University who helped develop the tests used in Japan, including those at airports, says the constant and careful testing of Olympians means the risks often make athletes sick in the general public.
“As you know, not all people will listen and remain isolated. That’s why it’s best to run tests on tests.” “But that’s only possible because it’s the Olympics. It is unrealistic to think that this method could continue as a routine.”
Shosuke Takeuchi, doctor and director of Take Clinic Shimbashi, one of Tokyo’s largest coronavirus testing centers, acknowledged that voluntary testing may have been limited in stopping the spread of the disease, because the people whose living habits made them the most contagious were precisely the kind of people who won. Don’t call for a test.
Enthusiastic testing at the Olympics has led to shortfalls, and some national teams have recently complained that test kits have not arrived. Organizers strove to provide additional kits.
So far, 23 athletes, as well as others working at the Games, including Japanese residents such as security guards, have tested positive, bringing a total of 225 people as of Friday. But the rate of positive tests at the Olympics is still relatively low at 0.02% for July, with more than 340,000 tests done so far, according to Tokyo organizers.
Teshima and other medical experts say that the places where COVID-19 is spreading the most are the crowded streets of Tokyo, not the vigorously tested Olympic arenas.
Regular testing may eventually become more common for everyone, says Masaharu Isobe, a professor in the Toyama University Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, who has developed a rapid COVID antigen test.
“The goal is to find infected people as soon as possible and prevent them from spreading it everywhere,” he said.
Still, Masaru Kaneko, an economist and honorary professor at Keio University, says, echoing popular opinion, that such tests are not fair to be given to Olympians every day, but difficult to obtain for normal people.
In a statement on his Twitter account, Kaneko said that the Japanese Olympic athletes and staff are given priority in vaccination, the rollout for normal people has been delayed, so far about a quarter of the population has been fully vaccinated.
“Equality as much as the right to life is not guaranteed in Japan,” he said.
Teshima said that testing someone every day is a painstaking and costly endeavor, and at the Olympics it was a government-sponsored private effort.
“This is a big contradiction,” he said. “Why only athletes?”
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