FINA has implemented COVID-19 safety protocols for all credentialed individuals ahead of the upcoming World Aquatics Championships that begin on June 18 in Budapest, Hungary.
Vaccines are not required for credentialing, and Hungary is no longer requiring a COVID-19 test to enter the country. FINA, however, has implemented its own regulations – albeit only for credentialed individuals and not for spectators.
- A negative PCR or Antigen test is required 48 hours prior to traveling to Budapest
- Upon arrival, a PCR and Antigen test are required, and mask wearing is mandatory until those tests come back negative. After that, mask wearing is optional.
- Upon a positive test, close contacts will not be disqualified from the meet or required to isolate if they are vaccinated, unless they test positive as well. Those close contacts will be tested more regularly. Close contacts who are not vaccinated must remain in isolation until at least the 5th day of the meet.
These regulations are more lenient than those in place at the World Short Course Championships in Doha in December. There, several athletes were removed from competition after testing positive, and in at least one case, an entire delegation, Nigeria, was removed after one team official, who had minimal contact with athletes, tested positive.
The prevalence of at-home testing has made it harder to accurately track the COVID-19 pandemic, though official reporting in Hungary shows very low case counts. The Omicron variant, as well as subvariants thereof, have led to increases in case counts in much of this world, though these variants combined with improved treatments have resulted in fewer, though still significant, death counts than previous waves.
The variants are still highly contagious, however, and if an infection spread throughout a team, it could substantially impact performance at the meet, even though most athletes are in lower-risk groups.
In before someone tries to insult me for being super dumb.
Anyone who gets covid at the meet will be out of competition because they will not be healthy enough to swim well.
In the words of dodgeball… “thats a bold strategy cotton lets see if it pays off”
I also agree that big pharma can be dangerous, just like any other big special interest group. I am glad the vaccine exists, but mandates are wrong. So is offering preferential treatment to the athletes who take it.
#AthleteLivesMatter
Stop spreading misinformation.
Michael Andrew is not vaccinated.
And he is allowed to compete at worlds championship
What is the rule if you test positive, are you disqualified for the whole meet, or what ?
There’s no such rule.
Stop making things up and spread misinformation.
So I guess athletes should take precautions to avoid testing positive if they don’t want their WCs ruined.
It is time to end medical discrimination. We don’t tolerate any other types of discrimination on the basis of gender, race, religion, etc… Unvaccinated individuals are entitled to the same rights as vaccinated individuals.
Exactly….u don’t force your choices on anyone
You have the choice.
You are allowed to not get vaccinated and still compete.
Ask Michael Andrew.
Hank, I totally agree with you! This medical discrimination is eroding the public’s trust in the prestige of the gold medal. This is becoming an attempt to hand pick who makes it to the podium.
#AthleteLivesMatter
you don’t know what discrimination means. If you try to get on a plane without a ticket, is that discrimination or policy?
If you are talking about Justin Bieber, he developed shingles and the virus was in the right facial nerve. Shingles is chickenpox virus.
I have a cousin and two uncles. They followed misinformation on Facebook and believed it, distrusted “mainstream media”,
refused to get vaccinated. They got Covid and died. I trusted experts, was vaccinated, got Covid, and survived.
Sorry for your loss, but there is no way to know that had your relatives gotten the vaccine if they would be alive today. You’ll never be able to prove in court that by taking the vaccine they would have survived Covid.
#AthleteLivesMatter
Copying previous comment:
Unvaccinated people are 17 times more likely to die of Covid. Data does not lie. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-compare-covid-deaths-for-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-people/?amp=true