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Joseph B. Vincent, Operations; Larry L. Hoffman, Production Japan Can Lift the Covid Cloud From the (Delayed) 2020 Olympics
J
apan blunted the international
outcry over its 83-year-old
Olympic chief’s comment that
“women talk too much” by replacing
Yoshiro Mori with a woman, Seiko
Hashimoto. But it will require a 90-
degree turn for Tokyo to mount what
it calls “an Olympics to unite the
world.”
For better than half a year, Tokyo
2020—it retains its original name,
though it will open a year late, in
July—and the International Olympic
Committee have been brainstorming
over how to preserve the Summer
Games under a Covid cloud. The re-
sult is four “playbooks” outlining the
draconian steps Tokyo 2020 stake-
holders—athletes and their staffs, in-
ternational sports federations, the
accredited press and broadcasters—
are expected to take to ensure a “safe
and successful” Olympics. With minor
variation, they all read the same:
Minimize contact with people. But
can an Olympics without interacting
people be the global festival the
games purport to be?
Here are the restrictions the ac-
credited media, I among them, are
asked to accept, under potential pen-
alty of “withdrawal of your accredita-
tion.” Other “Olympic family” partici-
pants are asked to honor similar
restrictions:
(1) Share a plan with Japanese au-
thorities detailing all anticipated ac-
tivities during your first 14 days in
the country—where you will stay,
where you will go, how you will get
there, whom you will meet. (2) Dur-
ing your stay in Japan, you must
leave your accommodation only to go
to official games venues and limited
additional locations. (3) Don’t use
public transport without permission.
(4) Don’t visit venues as a spectator.
(5) Stay away from tourist areas,
shops, restaurants, bars and gyms.
(6) You must have medical and repa-
triation insurance for the entire pe-
riod of your stay.
Is incarceration an Olympic ideal?
Japanese hotel rooms are often as
small as 110 square feet; functioning
in Tokyo without using the subways
is impossible. With seating at Olym-
pic events likely to be reduced by
50%, journalists—and other partici-
pants—will spend most of their time
penned in their cages. Most athletes
don’t win medals, but mingling with
other Olympians is a memory of a
lifetime. Instead they’ll be expected
to leave Japan within a few days after
their events.
Although 80% of Japanese favor
cancellation or postponement of their
Olympics, the government and the
IOC are determined to hold the event.
The reasons are largely economic: for
the IOC, billions of dollars in income
that fund their programs; for Tokyo
2020, sponsorship and admission
fees that defray mounting Olympic
costs. The games will proceed even if
stands remain empty.
Yet when the playbook rules were
written, no one knew that hundreds
of millions would be vaccinated be-
fore the opening ceremony. The Covid
playbooks all end with this hastily in-
serted qualifier: “All of the rules out-
lined in this Playbook will apply,
whether or not you have received the
vaccine.” The vaccines make the play-
books obsolete. There is an alterna-
tive to a sterilized Olympics.
Israel’s Health Ministry has begun
issuing “Green Passes” certifying im-
munity to anyone who’s received two
Covid inoculations or recovered from
the disease. A pass permits the
holder to visit malls and gyms, attend
sporting and cultural events, and stay
in hotels. When the system is fully
operational, pass holders will be free
to move in and out of the country un-
encumbered. The Green Pass can be
loaded onto a smartphone. Last week
the leaders of Denmark and Austria
met with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to discuss reciprocal
Green Pass agreements, a step to-
ward what Mr. Netanyahu calls a
“Green Passport.”
A similar model can be adopted in
Japan. A two-month state of emer-
gency that expired March 7 reduced
average daily infections to around
1,100. (In Tokyo and three neighbor-
ing prefectures with high infection
rates, the emergency was extended to
March 21.) Vaccination, which began
late last month, will reduce infections
further. Japan has already purchased
enough vaccine to immunize 60 mil-
lion by July. Japan has been unex-
pectedly lethargic with its vaccine
roll-out, but it has the technical so-
phistication to ramp up vaccination
and surpass this goal.
It would be a small matter to re-
quire vaccination for all Olympic par-
ticipants. Major sporting nations
have vaccination programs in mo-
tion. For athletes and other members
of the Olympic family, a hologram
can be placed on accreditation
badges as proof of vaccination. For
spectators, proof of immunity can be
presented with their event tickets.
Japan now requires all foreigners en-
tering the country to download a
Covid-19 Contact App called Cocoa.
Proof of inoculation can easily be
added to the Cocoa system. All spec-
tators at the 2014 Winter Olympics
in Sochi, Russia, were required to
carry a Spectator Pass together with
event tickets. Tokyo 2020 can put in
place a similar pass carrying proof of
inoculation.
By next June, enough of Japan and
the outside world will be vaccinated
to hold a viable Olympics without the
need for stringent policing. Cumber-
some 72-hour swab tests can be re-
duced. Airlines and airports can gear
up for a surge in travel. This can be
Japan’s greatest contribution to the
Covid-19 recovery. Unless similar
steps are taken world-wide, separat-
ing those who are immune from
those who remain vulnerable, we’ll
remain in the Covid quagmire for
years.
Mr. Kolatch writes on China, Japan and the Middle East and is author of “At the Corner of Fact & Fancy.”
