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Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

harvardpublichealthreview.org

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Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#31

Post by bertil »

fhsdfgdv wrote: post #19
blowski wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a middle-income tourist who has had multiple holidays in Rio, the closest I've come to being robbed was by a taxi driver that wanted $200 to travel from Corcovado to Pao de Acucar. Seriously, it's like any other city in the world. If you walk around a dodgy area talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Be sensible and cautious, and Rio is a lovely place to go on…

talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Please don't apply your standards other cities of the world. What you described does not happen in my (capital) city. In fact if you drop something, you will likely get it back.

I'm not sure about the tone of that message, but I have lived in several cities where this was the case: Oslo, Singapore, Helsinki, Stockholm come to mind as places where even “dodgy” areas have had until recently very little instances of systematic robberies.

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#33

Post by DannyBee »

Serious question: Has anyone seen an article or study about the microcephaly effects on pregnancy where the main population studied was not in brazil?

I have yet to see a study that links it to microcephaly for anyone who has not been in brazil for a long time. I realize the mosquito isn't common, but brazil also does things like: "secretly spray tons and tons of pesticide on their populus", etc.

Given these are all correlative studies, i'd love to see something from a country where there aren't a ton of possible other variables.

(especially given zika has been around and even common forever and it's only now that this seems to be an issue)

You know, before the tourism economies of all of these other countries are completely destroyed.

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#34

Post by blowski »

fhsdfgdv wrote: post #24
deanCommie wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He said in a dodgy area . Pray tell what is this magical city you live in that does not have a single dodgy area.

If by dodgy you mean areas where people regularly steal and harass, then no, we don't.

OK, I'll rephrase to "a lot of other cities in the world" - London, New York, Paris, Warsaw, Berlin, Rome. All of them have their fair share of dodgy places that you should approach cautiously.

What city do you live in, by the way? The only city I know of deservedly with this reputation is Singapore.

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#35

Post by mizzao »

fhsdfgdv wrote: post #19
blowski wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a middle-income tourist who has had multiple holidays in Rio, the closest I've come to being robbed was by a taxi driver that wanted $200 to travel from Corcovado to Pao de Acucar. Seriously, it's like any other city in the world. If you walk around a dodgy area talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Be sensible and cautious, and Rio is a lovely place to go on…

talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Please don't apply your standards other cities of the world. What you described does not happen in my (capital) city. In fact if you drop something, you will likely get it back.

This must be Scandinavia...

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#36

Post by xutopia »

davesque wrote: post #32

So does "fold" just mean "times"? I always thought it meant 2^x times.

Yes. It's quite commonly used in British English afaik.

You can say "This brought a twofold increase in clientele", "We saw a threefold weight increase in affected mammals". I've never seen it used passed "fourfold" though.

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#37

Post by blowski »

bertil wrote: post #31
fhsdfgdv wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Please don't apply your standards other cities of the world. What you described does not happen in my (capital) city. In fact if you drop something, you will likely get it back.

I'm not sure about the tone of that message, but I have lived in several cities where this was the case: Oslo, Singapore, Helsinki, Stockholm come to mind as places where even “dodgy” areas have had until recently very little instances of systematic robberies.

Can't say about the others, but I didn't feel much safer in Stockholm when I worked there for a couple of months in 2005. I didn't think it was particularly dangerous, but I would say the same of Rio.

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#38

Post by douche »

zodPod wrote: post #10
apalmer wrote: post #7

It should be considered, dont know if it makes sense but the pros and cons should be weighed and respected international health organizations should weigh in. Overall though, think given the fact the facilities have not been fully constructed, the Brazilian government is on the verge of collapse, and the risks of being a major disease vector is plausible... Should definitely consider delay or moving

I've thought this too. They pick some of the weirdest places to try to host this stuff. I guess they're trying to bring the areas up or something but if the place can't handle daily life what makes anyone think they can handle a big event like this?

Nobody else is willing to do it/bribe the IOC sufficently. I'm really glad Boston bailed.

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#39

Post by 15charlimit »

EGreg wrote: post #29
mbreese wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine the potential global financial impact of all of the visitors (and athletes) contracting Zika and bring that home with them to spread. Tough call...

Why is the FINANCIAL impact the biggest one to be considered?

Because it's an objective unit of measurement. You can't objectively measure (or assign a value to) human suffering.

Re: Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

#40

Post by icebraining »

zodPod wrote: post #10
apalmer wrote: post #7

It should be considered, dont know if it makes sense but the pros and cons should be weighed and respected international health organizations should weigh in. Overall though, think given the fact the facilities have not been fully constructed, the Brazilian government is on the verge of collapse, and the risks of being a major disease vector is plausible... Should definitely consider delay or moving

I've thought this too. They pick some of the weirdest places to try to host this stuff. I guess they're trying to bring the areas up or something but if the place can't handle daily life what makes anyone think they can handle a big event like this?

How is Rio a "weird place"? They're in a bad situation right now, as any city with an outbreak of a virus and with a political crisis would be, but it's major world metropolis of 12M people with plenty of international business visitors and a GDP of 200 billion USD. They accommodate 900k tourists during Carnival alone.
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