Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 30
The world will miss the Summer Olympics
Tokyo, International Olympic Committee made correct, costly call to postpone the 2020 Games.
The Final Four. The Masters. Major League Baseball’s Opening Day and the closure of pro basketball and hockey seasons (including a National Women’s Hockey League title game between the Minnesota Whitecaps and Boston Pride). Several high school and youth championships. All were canceled or postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But the most significant, and symbolic, decision came last week with the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Significant because of the scope: More than 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries were to compete before millions of fans in the stands and billions in front of screens. Significant economically, because the postponement may shave 1.4% of Japan’s 2020 economic output and in turn hurt broadcasters, which account for about 75% of Olympic revenue, as well as sponsors planning extensive and expensive multinational marketing around the Games.
Symbolic because of what the Olympics stand for. The iconic, interlocking five rings, for instance, represent “the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world,” according to the International Olympic Committee. If ever there were a time when the world needed a global, vital gathering it’s now. Unfortunately, of course, COVID-19 is forcing the opposite: closed borders amid a pandemic.
Symbolic also because a postponement is unprecedented: the Games went on even after the 1972 terrorist attack in Munich and the 1996 bombing in Atlanta, and proceeded despite Cold War-era boycotts of the 1980 Moscow Games and the 1984 L.A. Olympics. In fact, in the modern Olympic era, the Games have only had three wartime cancellations, in 1916, 1940 and 1944.
Indeed, the need to present a resounding rebuke to the virus crisis is one reason the IOC and the Japanese government were slow to postpone (no doubt the cost was a cause, too). This led to understandable criticism from some countries and athletes. Finally, Canada said it would not attend regardless, and the inevitable decision to delay until 2021 was announced.
While much of the initial focus on the calls to cancel was on Japan, the host country was actually less of an issue than many of the participating nations. While Japan was hit early by coronavirus, it responded early and efficiently, avoiding the kind of impact overwhelming Iran, Italy, Spain and portions of the United States. Japan’s plan for the pandemic was reflected in its meticulous preparation for the Olympics, too. Far from the shambolic sprint to complete venues in Sochi or Rio di Janeiro, Tokyo was well on track to finish the 40 sites for 33 sports in a fashion as orderly as the pristine city itself.
Tokyo 2020 was focused on the future, spokesman Masa Takaya told an editorial writer in a 2018 reporting trip to the Japanese capital.
“We believe in the inspiration of athletes and sport,” Takaya said. Japan’s Olympiad, Takaya touted, will be more than efficient; it will comprise “the most innovative Games in history.”
That 2020 vision will have to wait until next year, when hopefully COVID-19 is contained and the world can shift its focus from sickness to “Citius-Altius-Fortius” - the Olympics’ official motto of “Faster-Higher-Stronger,” words the world hopes can describe a post-pandemic era, too.
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The Free Press of Mankato, March 26
Election: Pandemic cannot halt voting
Why it matters: States should prepare now to protect the 2020 election from the pandemic.
The United States held a presidential election during World War II. It held one during the Civil War. It held an off-year election during the worst of the influenza pandemic in 1918.
Several states postponed presidential primaries this month as part of the effort to tamp down the COVID-19 outbreak. These were justifiable decisions. Not only do elections draw people to central locations to cast their ballots, the majority of election judges are in the age group believed to be most at risk of serious infection from the novel coronavirus. (Illinois and Florida, which went ahead with their primaries as the virus began to take hold, found turnout lower than usual, both by voters and poll workers.)
Putting off, or even canceling altogether, presidential primaries is one thing. There is no serious doubt today of who the nominees will be, even if no further primaries are ever held. Tampering with the timing of the general election is another.
Not only is the date of the November election set by federal law and thus not subject to the edict of individual states, holding the election is vital to democracy.
But states do have a great deal of control over the mechanics of the election, and nobody can be sure of the course of this pandemic. It has already shaken our daily routines and crippled the economy, and it is well on its way to crashing our health care system.
President Donald Trump’s fantasy that it will all be over by Easter not withstanding, the experts say COVID-19 may dominate American life for months.
These two apparently contradictory imperatives - holding the election as scheduled and protecting public health - can be accommodated, of course. The obvious answer is an expansion of voting by mail. Some states, such as Oregon, now hold their elections entirely by mail. There are voting precincts in this area that are strictly vote-by-mail, and even where there are central polling places, Minnesotans in recent elections have increasingly opted for early and absentee voting.
We understand the argument that the act of going to a polling place to cast one’s ballot is a valuable social act. In this year of pandemic and social distancing, that act today is a hazard, and it may well be so still in November. Those states that have resisted vote-by-mail should reconsider.
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St. Cloud Times, March 27
Steady as she goes, Minnesota: Follow the plan
Minnesota has steady hands on the wheel as we navigate the next steps of Life in the Times of COVID-19. But the success of the plan is up to us.
Gov. Tim Walz has exhibited real leadership in providing clear, calm updates on a near-daily basis. He has communicated the plans - most recently to build out the medical system to handle the expected peak patient load in a few weeks - and earlier to “flatten the curve,” which had mixed success.
The Minnesota Department of Health has done likewise, with reporters from around the state invited to ask questions during a daily briefing phone call and regular news conferences.
Notably, the Department of Health last week expanded its daily statistical updates from the basics - number of cases, deaths and locations of patients - to include the number of hospitalized patients, how many Minnesotans have been released from the hospital and how many have been released from quarantine.
All of that helps the public understand what is known about COVID-19 in Minnesota.
Also notably, however, only about 14,000 Minnesotans have been tested for coronavirus as of Friday. About half of those were tested outside the department’s system. Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm herself noted the discrepancy in a Friday briefing: “This is only the tip of the iceberg. We know there are more cases in Minnesota and the virus is circulating in our communities.”
The shortage of tests that caused the relatively small set of actual data is contributing to confusion about how deeply the virus has - or has not - penetrated our communities. In a crisis, confusion leads to skepticism, and skepticism to complacency.
We can’t afford complacency.
While there is nothing Minnesotans can do to improve testing rates - most of us can’t create test kits, obtain the supplies or perform the lab work - we have perhaps the most important role to play in the coming weeks: Listen to the experts. Do what they ask.
Walz has issued our marching orders, which became effective at midnight Friday: Stay home unless you are an essential worker. Stay home unless you or a loved one needs medical care or essential supplies. Minimize your trips to the store. Participate in your neighborhood and community life from 6 feet back. Don’t gather in groups, large or small.
We will repeat our opinion of last week: The only thing worse than the loss of health, life and economic disruption of this pandemic is if our own actions make it worse.
Experts are telling us to stay at home, be more careful than we think we need to be and restrict our contact with the world. They want that of us to save lives, and to buy time for Minnesota to create more hospital beds and more ICU spaces before the peak patient load arrives.
But if we think we know better than the experts, the chances we’re taking could have dire consequences for our families and our communities. It’s not a chance worth taking, whether you “believe in” the virus or not.
Why? Because for every trip out to “support a local business,” we raise the chances of making all of that business’s sacrifices moot - because if we aren’t protecting health by staying home, what’s the point of shutting them down at all?
Please, continue to spend your money with the local businesses that are part of the fabric of your life. Order some takeout or delivery. Buy a gift card or certificate online to use when they reopen (check out supportlocal.usatoday.com to find at least 20 Central Minnesota businesses where you can do that, or add more.). Write them a great review to bolster their business when times return to something resembling normalcy.
But don’t make their hard times all for naught. Stay home, Minnesota.
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