New COVID-19 testing threshold for Beijing Games only raises more questions
Bring It In panel discusses meaning of updated testing requirements
The Beijing Olympic Comittee's decision to lower the testing threshold for athletes upon arrival on Sunday has only appeared to raise more questions rather than provide clarity.
The cycle threshold (Ct) of 40 in order to produce a negative COVID-19 test for any participant arriving at the Olympics was lowered to 35.
For context, the NBA and NHL use a threshold of 30, while the NFL uses 35. As well, many places throughout Canada use a Ct value of 35.
"There's so much that we don't know in terms of how this is going to be processed, and let's say it — there's a real lack of trust," Zirin said. "The lack of trust is not just with Beijing and the Chinese government, it's with the IOC [International Olympic Committee] as well.
"So being able to compute what actually will constitute a safe Winter Olympics, make things safe not just for the athletes but for the people of Beijing, it becomes very, very difficult to decipher."
WATCH | Bring It In panel discusses updated COVID-19 testing threshold in Beijing:
From Campbell's view, the shortage of information to help people understand the values in the numbers makes it difficult to contextualize the meaning of them.
"From a communication standpoint, one thing we could all benefit from, which nobody with the power seems to want to give us, is a scale ... What do these different values mean? The numbers sort of mean something and they sort of give us some clarity, but they wind up raising more questions than they answer because they don't have context," he said.
With questions having already existed as to how the Olympics will end up transpiring, McPeak makes her case as to how many more exist regarding the process once athletes are in Beijing and ready to compete.
"Does this threshold being lowered to 35 allow you that, if you do test positive, can only isolate for a certain amount of time and then return as long as your test results after that are 35 or under so that you continue to meet that threshold?," McPeak said.
"That's my concern, is people who get there and then test positive, what does that look like for them? Especially the athletes who might get there and have to compete a couple of days later. We don't know what their situation looks like right now leading up to leaving for Beijing," she added.
WATCH | Bring It In panel discusses sustainability concerns facing Beijing Games:
Campbell, joined by Katherine Martinko and two-time Olympian Seyi Smith, also discussed the sustainability issues that Beijing faces with the 2022 Games.
According to Martinko, Beijing is set to use 49 million gallons of water to produce fake snow for alpine events. Martinko also points to how the practice is not new, as it happened at the Sochi Games in 2014, where an Olympic pool worth of water was used every hour to produce fake snow. The making of the artificial snow has lasting effects on the environment.
Smith, on the other hand, who is running for election to the IOC's Athletes' Commission, spoke of his intention to help be more tactical about how the IOC and other comparable organizations can be more environmentally friendly.
