BEIJING (AP) — With the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics just days away, athletes and team officials are testing positive for COVID-19 at much higher rates than other people arriving in China for the Beijing Olympics.
Local organizers say there were 11 positive tests Monday for athletes and officials on a day 379 arrived at the airport. They were taken into isolation and could miss their events.
Among the athletes testing positive for COVID-19 in Beijing is American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who announced Tuesday that she tested positive.
Taylor, who is double vaccinated and received a booster shot, is currently isolated in a Beijing hotel, USA Today reported.
She has time to recover, the Associated Press reported, since training for bobsled doesn't start until next week.
The positive test rate of 2.9% compares to 0.66% for workers and media.
The three-day trend is 40% higher for athletes and officials. Everyone at the Olympics must have daily PCR tests.
That infection rate was 100 times higher Monday for athletes and officials than workers.
The AP reported that since Jan. 23, a total of 200 positive COVID-19 tests have now been recorded at the Olympics. Of those 200, 67 were athletes and officials.
USA Today reported that for anyone to be cleared from isolation, they will need to have two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart.
