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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

#111

This article is idiotic if the main reason for cancelling the game is actually some "global spread" of Zika. Rio is not some city in the middle of nowhere from which no flights are coming in and out of, and now suddenly this massive international influx of visitors will come in -- it is a world-class city, a financial hub of the largest country in the continent. If we take London 2012 as a benchmark, estimates there…

This is the claim: Scientists can disagree on how much the mass migration of 500,000 foreigners will accelerate the virus’s global spread and make the pandemic worse—but none can possibly argue that it will slow it down or make things better.

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

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked up the actual figures after posting -- seems London has about 5x as many international visitors, so you are absolutely right. But, I think in Rio there is also an argument to be made of how many of those "estimated" visitors are actually simply displacing people who would otherwise have travelled to Rio. To your point, if Rio is in fact no set-up to accommodate as many people as London, then a lot of the eff…

Most people are probably going to stay at Air BnBs. There literally aren't enough hotels there to support the influx of people there. It was a mess during the world cup and that was held throughout the entire country. The only place I could find to stay during the world cup there was an overpriced AirBnb. It was totally worth it, but I've been wondering since how the hell the city is going to handle that many people…

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

#113
post #79
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of a place in Ottawa that I wouldn't feel comfortable wandering around late at night with my phone out.

I'd say the same for Vancouver or Victoria.

too many bicycles are stolen in vancouver to wholeheartedly agree with you on that one.

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

#114

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.

Yet to find a dodgy area in Singapore. I think they don't exist.

One of the smallest and most richest countries in the world, the city of Rio de Janeiro is bigger in size and in population, just the city.

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

#116
post #94
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Rio sees many visitors regularly. What Rio does not see is an influx of visitors from nearly every country on earth. It's that spread that is the problem. The financial impact on hosting the games is already negative for host cities. That's no longer debatable without ignoring fact. Your argument that all the experts studying the Zika epidemic and drawing the ever more cemented conclusion that this is a very ser…

Actually RJ does have an influx of visitors from nearly every country on earth. source (see page 97): http://www.dadosefatos.turismo.gov.br/export/sites/default/d...

So sending an even larger influx into an outbreak is good... why exactly?

Its like arguing that some subset of people drive drunk right now, therefore it would be a great idea if more people would drive drunk this summer.

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

#118
post #71
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6GLohPq8k Not that incidents like this don't occur in other cities in the world, but it shows that avoiding dodgy areas at night might not be enough.

That video is pretty bad. One, it looks like the same kids over and over so the cops clearly do not care. Two, I was wondering what the gun laws were there until some guy chased them with a hand gun. If someone is looking to go have some fun fighting it seems like walking around with a cardboard iPhone might be the ticket. I'm only sort of kidding. I know if some kid grabbed my wife while we were walking down the str…

>... what the gun laws were ...

Almost 60,000 people were murdered in Brazil in 2014, most with guns. While some Latin American countries have higher per capita murder rates, in absolute numbers, Brazil is the deadliest place in the world outside Syria.

Brazilians are far more likely to be shot to death than Americans, a more populous country where there are about 8,000 to 9,000 gun homicides each year.

...

Right now, Brazil actually has tough gun laws.

More here: http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/03/28/472157969/b...

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

#119
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a poor person who doesn't access to the hospitals. I have access to private hospitals because I have the best paid health plan, I didn't get Zika, Dengue.. etc. Because I have anti-mosquito screens in my apartment, I protect myself..

You presumably open your door at times, or even go outside. Access to hospitals is irrelevant. @mhurron pointed out these diseases can often present as a mild cold, for which you'd never go to the hospital. You may well have gotten them without really noticing.

This is a statement from someone that doesn't know Zika really, Zika the person feels really sick and feels their joints hurt a lot, is not like this is something that can go by without noticing! This is a really a statement from someone that doesn't understand what's Zika, people that don't understand what it's and what are the symptoms.

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

#120
post #67
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I live a longtime in Rio and never had Dengue, Zika Don't be so sure about that. Most people who contract both of those don't know that they have them as the symptoms are so mild they are mistaken for a simple cold. But no, it's just racists pretending that diseases can spread. You can relax anyway, there is too much money to be made by those running the games in Rio to have it canceled. No one actually cares if pe…

I'm not a poor person who doesn't access to the hospitals. I have access to private hospitals because I have the best paid health plan, I didn't get Zika, Dengue.. etc. Because I have anti-mosquito screens in my apartment, I protect myself..

Hospitals don't prevent diseases.

The ability to go to a hospital also doesn't prevent diseases.

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