THERE is a philosophical question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” and this could be extended to “If no one goes to the Olympics, did they happen?”
The Japanese Government has finally decided that there will be no crowds at the 2021 Olympics which seems a wise and quite expected decision.
What will really be different?
The athletes will still be able to compete unless there are positive cases and then events will stop and eventually maybe the competition will stop.
There will still be winners and some records will probably be broken but at what risk to the athlete and official’s health?
Perhaps it would be better to put a line through 2021 and come back in 2024 for the safety of everyone although given how a number of countries are handling the COVID virus, that might be 2028 or 2032.
The world has bigger problems than who will win the 100-meter race and the Usain Bolt record isn’t likely to be beaten for a long time.
Sit at home, watch it in safety and cheer through your masks.
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Could President Duterte be right?
It seems impossible to conceive of but is Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte actually right for once?
He raised the possibility of jailing people who refuse to have a vaccination. It would seem to be a human rights violation but that’s something that he has been accused of before.
The carrot approach of scholarships, large lotto prizes and even food vouchers being given as incentives for getting vaccinated has helped but it looks like the numbers being done have started to stagnate and we are well below the herd immunity levels that we want.
Maybe it’s time to use a stick approach. The idea of jailing people is unrealistic for a large number of reasons and yet they are endangering people by not being vaccinated so what other options are there?
They could be denied access to some transport means such as planes, effectively locking them in their own country.
They could be denied access to sporting events or even restaurants if they cannot prove their vaccination status. Most restaurants and many other venues have a sign that says we can deny you service for any reason we want although it is usually “no shirt, no service”. If they have a medical exception, then that can be shown.
We must all get vaccinated. I’m getting tired of lockdowns. (dfitzger@melbpc.org.au)/PN