Tokyo 2020 Moves to Limit Olympic Audiences to Only 10,000

Citing an official from the Games, NHK reported that audiences for the Tokyo Paralympic Games would of course be similarly adjusted. The final decisions on all Olympic audiences are being determined in discussions including the Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government, and also the IOC/IPC.

Even limited to domestic spectators and now smaller audience sizes, COVID-19 experts have voiced concerns over the safety of holding such enormous sporting events in the midst of a pandemic. Japan is behind many other countries in terms of vaccination rates, with vaccines still unavailable to most of the public (at time of publication). Any one of the Olympic events could become a super-spreader event.

In the meantime, no extensions have been made to Tokyo's state of emergency due to end on June 20th (although some of the emergency measures will stay in place), while more large-scale vaccination plans should be starting the day before. With just over a month to go until the Olympic Games begin, we'll soon find out if current safety measures are enough.


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