TOKYO – For Olympic host cities, one of the keys to successful games is having an army of volunteers gleefully performing a range of tasks, such as: B. fetching water, driving Olympic vehicles, interpreting for athletes or taking medals to ceremonies.
If the planned games in Tokyo take place as planned this summer, around 78,000 volunteers will have another responsibility: They will prevent the spread of the coronavirus both among the participants and among themselves.
For protection, the volunteers are only offered a couple of cloth masks, a bottle of disinfectant, and mantras about social distancing. Unless they qualify for vaccination through Japan’s slow age-dependent rollout, they will not be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“I don’t know how we can do this,” said Akiko Kariya, 40, a paralegal in Tokyo who volunteered to be an interpreter. The Olympic Committee “didn’t tell us exactly what they were going to do to protect us.”
While organizers have gone out of their way to reassure the globe that Tokyo can end the Games amid a pandemic, volunteers are largely on their own figuring out how to avoid infection.
Much of the planning for the postponed Olympics has seating quality. Less than three months before the opening ceremony, the organizers still have to decide whether to allow local spectators.
An update to the “Game Books” released last week says that those who come in regular contact with athletes are tested, in principle, daily, while those who do not interact with athletes are tested every seven days during their Olympic participation .
Tens of thousands of participants will come to Tokyo from more than 200 countries after almost a year of largely closing Japan’s borders to outsiders. The volunteer duties will put them in contact with many Olympic visitors as they step in and out of a “bubble” that encompasses the Olympic Village and other venues.
“There are many people who have to go in and out of the bladder and they are not protected at all and are not even tested,” said Barbara G. Holthus, volunteer and deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. “I see the risk of a superspreader event.”
A leaflet distributed to volunteers recommends asking visitors to stand at least three feet away from each other. You should disinfect your hands frequently during the shift. When offering help to someone, avoid facing the other person directly and never speak without a mask.
“Wearing masks and washing hands are very easy, but doing the maximum is the most important thing we can do,” said Natsuki Den, senior director of volunteering on the Tokyo Organizing Committee.
“People often say, ‘It’s that simple, is that all you can do? “Said Ms. Den. But when every volunteer implements these basic measures, she said,” That can really limit the risk. Furthermore, it’s hard to imagine magical countermeasures because they don’t really exist. “
While the majority of the Japanese public continues to oppose hosting the Olympics this year, many volunteers say they are at least in principle committed to promoting the international community after more than a year of isolation. (The number of volunteers has had a noticeable success with approximately 1,000 volunteers quitting after the first president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee, Yoshiro Mori, made sexist comments.)
However, volunteers worry about their own health, as well as the safety of athletes and other Olympic participants, especially as Tokyo has new spikes in virus cases. The capital is currently in a state of emergency.
“I’m afraid I’ll get the virus and show no symptoms and accidentally give it to the athletes,” said Yuto Hirano, 30, who works for a tech company in Tokyo and is supposed to help athletes behind the scenes at Paralympic events, bocce, a Ball sports. “I want to protect myself so that I can protect them.”
In addition to the Olympic volunteers, the organizers will need to recruit medical personnel for the staff of the Games. Doctors and nurses usually volunteer at the Olympics too, but this year healthcare workers have started to reluctance as the medical system was overwhelmed after a year of fighting the coronavirus.
“We are surprised by the conversation calling for 500 nurses to be sent to the Tokyo Olympics,” the Japanese Federation of Medical Workers’ Unions said in a statement posted on its website, adding, “Now is not that Time for the Olympics. ” It’s time to take countermeasures against coronavirus. “
As the pandemic rages on, some non-medical volunteers will go to great lengths to ensure safety. Yoko Aoshima, 49, who teaches English at a business school in Shizuoka, about 90 miles outside of Tokyo, has booked a hotel for the days she is supposed to work, which costs 110,000 yen, or about $ 1,000. That means she doesn’t have to commute.
To avoid public transportation in Tokyo, she plans to buy a bike when she arrives in Tokyo to commute to the field hockey stadium where she’s assigned shifts.
But Ms. Aoshima, who volunteered in part to honor the legacy of her father, a former physical education teacher, wonders how she will protect her family when she returns home after the Games.
“If I go back to Shizuoka, will it be safe enough for my family to stay with me?” Ms. Aoshima asked. “Can I go back to work?” She said she had already bought some home coronavirus tests for use after the Olympics.
For volunteers who have spent the last year avoiding the crowds, the concept of suddenly coming into contact with athletes, coaches, officials, or media representatives from outside Japan creates a sense of cognitive dissonance.
“I only saw one friend last year when she had a baby,” said Ms. Kariya, the Tokyo paralegal. “I go to the supermarket or the bank where I really have to go. The last time I took the train was last March. “
In the absence of further security measures, Ms. Kariya said she was considering quitting as a volunteer.
Many volunteers are disappointed that they are not offered vaccines before the games. So far, organizers have stated that they are not considering giving priority to Japan’s Olympic athletes for vaccination, let alone volunteers.
“You can’t say it’s priority because then people would start yelling at you,” said Chiharu Nishikawa, 61, who passed Charles. He volunteered for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and London in 2012 and advises the Olympic Committee on volunteering.
Some volunteers said they were concerned that the organizers did not have the resources to monitor everyone for compliance with the rules. These include wearing masks, avoiding eating in restaurants, and avoiding public transportation.
Ms. Holthus said volunteers could be taken to a difficult place as their main job is to project an image of harmonious hospitality.
A handbook for volunteers published ahead of the Olympics last year encouraged them to “speak to people with a smile”. In online sessions and other messages since then, Ms. Holthus has said, “You still say, ‘Oh, and your smile will be so important. ‘“
“We’re supposed to wear masks,” she said. “So I find that very insensitive.”
Not every volunteer has serious safety concerns. Some said they expected broad compliance with the rules, given what is at stake.
“I think the athletes will do whatever it takes to compete in the Olympics,” said Philbert Ono, travel writer, photographer and translator.
“If we tell them to wear a mask, they will wear a mask,” he said. “When they eat, they sit far apart and apart and only look in one direction. I think they are very disciplined and know what it’s about. “
Hikari Hida contributed to the coverage.
