First look at the protocols

 In my last blog post, I speculated that the COVID-19 protocols put into place for the Beijing Olympics in February were going to be a pain. After a summer of protocols in Tokyo, this comes as no surprise to me and I am prepared for what comes down the pike.

Much to my surprise, the first step in those protocols was released shortly after the last blog post, as the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee presented its key COVID-19 countermeasures to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board Meeting. While these were not the detailed measures that we need to follow, they were an overall look at what we should be seeing when we as media arrive in China for the Olympics this coming winter.

While vaccines are not mandatory, anyone who has not received one of the COVID vaccines will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon their arrival in Beijing. This goes for athletes and other games participants.

Those who are vaccinated will enter what Beijing is calling a "closed-loop management system" upon their arrival and will remain in that closed loop for their entire time in China. This sounds a lot like what we did in Tokyo.

The closed-loop management system will cover all games-related areas, including arrivals and departures, transportation, accommodations, catering, competitions and the opening and closing ceremonies. Within this closed loop, participants will be allowed to move only between games-related venues for training, competitions and work using a games transport system.

Additionally, all participants will be subject to daily COVID-19 testing.

Beijing 2022 also announced that they are selling tickets to spectators in China who meet the requirements of COVID-19 countermeasures, so there is a pretty good possibility that the stands won't be empty like they were in Tokyo.

While these are not specific, these restrictions are much like what we experienced in Tokyo. For our first 14 days, we could only move through the venues, accommodations and media center using dedicated taxi services or special media buses. From the sound of it, Beijing won't be "releasing" us like Tokyo did after 14 days.

This is good in one way, as it limits our exposure to the outside world, however, it makes it tough to see anything outside of the Olympics. There were things in Tokyo that I would have loved to see, but it just wasn't possible. It's hard to know exactly what the situation will be in Beijing, but it sounds like it will be much the same.

The first playbooks, which provide the media, athletes, coaches, etc. with many more details about what the policies will be for each individual group, are expected to be released later this month and at that point I will have a better idea exactly what I have to prepare for. My guess is there will again be some sort of short quarantine upon arrival, though this time my accommodations are a little more accommodating with restaurants and food options available.

And an interesting tidbit that came to my attention during the Patriots game on Sunday night, is that the Super Bowl will be played while I am in China and it will also be airing on NBC along with the Olympics. It will be interesting to see if it's possible to watch the game in China, though it would be on first thing on Monday morning over there.

The Winter Olympics kick off in China in February and the first steps in the COVID-19 protocols were released last week.