Rio 2016: Olympics Remain Safe for Athletes, Tourists

(ATR) Organizers for the Rio 2016 Olympics say that athletes, officials, and tourists should feel safe coming to Brazil for the Games.

As international scrutiny continues to be applied to the current outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Brazil, organizers say the number of cases is dropping in Rio, and that they are providing as much information as they can so visitors can make an informed decision.

Savannah Guthrie, who was scheduled to co-host the opening ceremony for NBC, said on Tuesday (June 7) that she would be skipping the Olympic Games because of the upcoming birth of her second child. She is the latest high profile person to cancel their plans close to the Olympics.

The World Health Organization currently has a travel advisory for pregnant women coming to Brazil due to the outbreak, but an emergency panel will meet next week to review the body’s travel guidance for the Games. Zika has shown to cause microcephaly in the fetuses of pregnant women. Microcephaly is caused when the brain of an unborn child is not fully developed.

In a media briefing open to international journalists, Rio organizers say that mosquito eradication measures are performed on all Olympic venues daily, and that all athletes, coaches and officials travelling to the Games will be given mosquito repellent when landing in Brazil.

Organizers say that zero cases of Zika have been reported among the 7,000 athletes, 8,000 volunteers, and 2,000 staff members that worked the 44 test events to prepare for the Games.

Dr. Joao Grangeiro, Rio 2016 Chief Medical Officer, presented data that showed models of the rate of Dengue fever for which the Rio City and State government and Rio organizing committee were using to help estimate the expected rate of Zika transmission. The models showed that Dengue transmission was near the lowest in August and September when the Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place.

Grangeiro also shared data from the State Government of Rio showing that the confirmed cases of Zika have been declining since mid-February at a steady rate. He also said that historically during the months of August and September, Rio is cooler and dryer than the summer and rainy seasons that precede it, lessening the number of mosquitoes that can transmit Dengue and Zika.

"It is important to remember that we had during test events the peak of infestation here and we are going to apply those measures during the Games," Grangeiro said to reporters. "For this reason we are saying it is going to be safe here during Games time. If we are facing a hot August we have the same measures that we had during the summertime and rainy seasons here."

Rio 2016 Director of Communications Mario Andrada told reporters that the organizing committee remains understanding of athletes, officials, and media members deciding not to come to the Rio Games because of concerns over the Zika virus. He says the main goal of the committee remains to disseminate as much information as possible so that everyone attending the Olympics will be doing so in an informed manner.

"It is not for me to comment because there remains Olympic qualifying around the world so the pressure on the athletes is so big," Andrada said. "In every single edition of the Olympic Games some athletes do not show up for personal, medical, or professional reasons, so let’s wait and see how things go."

Organizers have maintained that women who are pregnant or looking to become pregnant soon should consult their doctors before travelling to Rio de Janeiro, which is in line with the current WHO guidelines. Andrada said that if one pregnant women contracts Zika while travelling to Rio it is "too many, but [for everyone] protection can be achieved with information." He added to Around the Ringsthat 600,000 foreign tourists are expected to travel to Rio for the Games based on international ticket sales, and that there is no expectation that tourists will stay away due to fear of the Zika virus.

While organizers remain optimistic in Rio about a relief from the Zika outbreak, city officials in Manaus, one of the hosts for the Olympic football tournament, have extended a situation of emergency regarding controlling the virus for another 180 days on June 2. The extension allows for health officials to continue implementing sanitation and eradication measures in high risk areas of the city.

Dr. Grangeiro told ATR that he had not been able to review the situation of emergency, but stated that organizers are confident that the warmer cities of Manaus and Salvador will see fewer mosquitoes than earlier in the year because of the dryer August and September climate.

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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