A “do not travel” advisory to Japan was issued by the U.S. State Department on Monday, less than two months before the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo begins, according to Deadline. The reason for the warning is the rise of COVID-19 cases, which has many to believe if the games will happen. As that is going on, NBC Sports continues its plans for coverage of the Olympics, according to a spokesperson.
Earlier this month, Japan announced a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas through May 31. At the time, Tokoyo was seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases, and Japan was one of the least vaccinated countries in the world. The U.S. Olympic Committee has not commented on the situation, but there have been anti-Olympic protests in Tokyo due to the pandemic.
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Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky recently spoke to PopCulture.com about the plan for the athletes when they head to Tokyo. “The Olympic committee they’re starting to put out more and more information each day about some of those different testing and other measures,” she said. “But, you know, we’ve been doing that on a regular basis in our training environment, so I feel pretty comfortable and confident with all of that. And I know it’s going to feel like a little different Olympics, it’s going to look different, won’t have quite as many spectators, we won’t have our family at the Olympics, but I think we’re still going to be able to have a great game and a great experience in Tokyo.”
In January, The Times of London reported that Japan was prepared to cancel the Olympic games if COVID-19 cases don’t go down. If that were to happen, the country would focus on hosting the games possibly in 2032. The 2024 Summer Olympics is set to take place in Paris, and the 2028 Summer Olympics will return to the U.S. with Los Angeles being the host city.
“All our delivery partners including the national government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, the IOC and the IPC [International Paralympic Committee] are fully focused on hosting the games this summer,” officials said in a statement, as reported by TMZ. “We hope that daily life can return to normal as soon as possible, and we will continue to make every effort to prepare for a safe and secure games.”
