Tim Dower: Things are looking dicey in Tokyo, and the Olympics haven't even started

Even before the Olympics are officially open, things are looking decidedly dicey in Tokyo.As of this morning, there are now 55 covid cases among people linked to the Games.This includes various contractors and suppliers, as well as the smattering of cases among the athletes themselves.Most recently, members of the South African football team have been told to isolate, after cases in their contingent.So far, the New Zealand team have not been directly affected.Let's hope it stays that way.But teams are flying in from all over the world...some from countries where the virus is totally out of control.Even with all our requirements about pre-departure tests and travellers supposedly being covid free...we get new cases arriving in managed isolation every day.To think the Olympics won't end up being a super-spreader event is living in dreamland.The first day of competition includes football and softball, as well as opening ceremony itself.Neither of those is a contact sport per se...but you can't have a game of either of those without players getting very close to one another.Some won't even know they're infectious...but they'll be spreading it among their own teammates and from team to team.And then heading back to their home countries with newly acquired new variants to share all around the world.80 per cent of people in Japan don't want it, but there's a lot invested.Sponsors have put in billions...the broadcasters have big dollars tied up...there's all the infrastructure...the accommodation...and so on.Let's hope I'm wrong, and that somehow the Games go off without causing another mass outbreak.We wouldn't want Tokyo's name to become as infamous as Wuhan's.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.