Olympic athlete and staff member test positive for COVID-19
15 July 2021
An Olympic athlete and staff member are among six new positive cases of the coronavirus, the local Tokyo organizing committee said Thursday.
Why it matters: The announcement comes one day after the International Olympic Committee revealed that an official on the refugee team tested positive. Japanese people continue to protest the games amid the latest uptick in positive cases ahead of opening day July 23.
- Infectious disease experts say the Olympics don't have strong enough protocols for testing or ventilation, either in competition venues or in the Olympic village, Axios' Tina Reed writes.
Details: The unidentified athlete and staff member tested positive one day apart. Both are in a two-week quarantine period.
- The other four are local contractors.
- International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said Thursday that "[r]isk for the other residents of Olympic village and risk for the Japanese people is zero," Reuters reports.
- But health experts fear the Olympics could become a superspreader event.
The big picture: Tokyo reported 1,308 new cases on Thursday, per AP. It's the city's highest daily total since late January. The country itself has a 19% vaccination rate.
- In a bid to prevent the virus from spreading, Japan's government has banned spectators from events. The country also extended its state of emergency.
- Olympic athletes will hang medals around their own necks in a departure from previous ceremonies.
- Members of the Olympic refugee team will make a delayed arrival to Tokyo due to the staffer's positive case.
Go deeper... Axios Today: Controversy ahead of the Olympics
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.