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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

#171

Post by tluyben2 »

blowski wrote: post #151
tluyben2 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shanghai feels incredibly safe and i've walked around in a lot of places where my colleagues thought it was dodgy (it wasn't; just poorer). I have not one time felt unsafe in Shanghai and I go there a lot. That's quite different from say, Fort Lauderdale, which was the first time in many years I really felt threatened when we stupidly went to a very dodgy gas station. Actually that was second time in that same busine…

In my experience, a lot of Brazilians talk about crime in the same way that the British talk about the weather. There are more dodgy areas in Sao Paulo than there are in London, and what happens in those dodgy areas is dodgier than what happens in the dodgy areas of London. But the safe areas still dominate the city, and it's worth going to see them. Stay out of the dodgy areas, don't walk the streets by yourself at…

But still, that doesn't sound... Great. If that makes sense? I'm a night person and in countries where the weather is nice (like in South of Spain where I live) I like to to walk outside and sit in bars working and chatting until 3-4 am. I do that here, Amsterdam, London (not that it's often possible in the latter two) but also Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok etc. Seems there is no problem doing that all the time while in Brazil it seems not an option? It is not a big loss per-se however it doesn't feel too nice to have to think like that. In South Africa or even Venice Beach I had that as well and it just doesn't feel like you can be yourself if you have to actually be warned by police or bar owners to get out of there at sundown by cab or you might have an issue.

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

#172

Post by gtirloni »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #12

I wonder if the medical community is also working with the state department, airlines and travel agencies to make sure people get a stern warning before they buy plane tickets to Brazil and an even sterner warning when they get back. Considering the political forces that need to be involved in moving (or not) the games it seems foolish to not have a safety net if "please move the games" doesn't work.

The Ministry of Health in Brazil has been getting a new head of department every few months, depending on the backstage deals the president has had to make in order to keep her government in place. So no, I wouldn't count on any coordinated actions being spearheaded by the government. They are pretty busy running around like headless chickens, which means insisting in inneficient methods to eliminate the mosquito (e.g. fuming).

Some airlines have been allowing passengers to refund tickets to areas affected by Zika [1].

I think every decent travel agency should worry its customers that traveling to Brazil at this time is not a good idea.

Besides the health issues, Brazil is ousting its president today and most leftist parties and unions have vouched to stop the country with strikes, blockades and protests. You may get stuck in a 2-hour traffic jam on your way to the games.

1 - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/zika-virus-m...

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

#173

Post by Tycho »

maxerickson wrote: post #168
Tycho wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. will read Seems to still be doubt though ... https://twitter.com/yaneerbaryam/status/728035459574710272

Just to clarify, the parenthetical that I had searched was meant to point to my not being especially informed, not a complaint about you asking or anything like that.

No worries, I took it as such.

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

#174

Post by rorykoehler »

urbannomad wrote: post #137
rorykoehler wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not even Geylang?

Not even Geylang. It has more character than the rest of Singaporean neighbourhoods for sure but hardly qualifies as dodgy. It's tame compared to even the best parts of Johor for example which is just across the water.

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

#175

Post by ChicagoBoy11 »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #169
ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I wrote my original comment I certainly had a model that the base rate of travel was pretty comparable to LDN, but I looked at actual figures from a few years ago and saw that it is in fact 5x smaller. Nevertheless, the 500,000 figure cited would represent a ~25% bump in the number of visitors (if we use 2012 figures). If you consider the area in Brazil most affected by Zika (which would include São Paulo), then…

> You then also have to realize that a lot of those visitors displaced people who did not travel to Rio because of the olympics If, as seems to be the case, you're looking at the anticipated percent increase in travel, then you've already included this displacement.

True, but how do you know how they reached their 500,000 figure?

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

#176

Post by andersonvieira »

matwood wrote: post #71
cven714 wrote: 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…

In Brazil, if you are under 18 and get caught for theft, robbery, or even armed robbery, you will probably be out of jail by the next day.

I guess many officers think arresting someone underage is not worth the trouble, unless it is some life threatening situation.

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

#177

Post by marcosdumay »

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

> the Brazilian government is on the verge of collapse

Don't believe those news. The government will change today, nothing will collapse. There will be some roads closed (until the police gets there), and some brave discourses on the media, and that's all.

The government attempt a coup Monday - everybody just carried on.

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

#178

Post by ZoeZoeBee »

tluyben2 wrote: post #165
toyg wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> two crackheads got in the lift with us, pretended not to know eachother and followed us to our room. Wow, what did you do? Keep walking? back in circle? If they get to your room it's game over...

I was with my wife; we looked at eachother and ran to your room as soon as the elevator opened (they were much slower); called the desk and looked through the peephole. They didn't see which room we went in (it was one of those huge Disney things with many hallways) and saw them walk by. We didn't see them after that but it was really scary; I have seen flaky people before but these were completely out of place. And…

It's Central Florida they could have been in town for the Meth conference down the block

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

#179

Post by marcosdumay »

ck2 wrote: post #109

Could people accidentally bring back live mosquitoes in their luggage and such that are carriers? If so, could spread the world at lightning speed. I think there is also concern for the athletes in that the water is absolutely filthy there.

The mosquito already lives in every place the climate does not kill it.

It's the spread of the virus that's scaring everybody.

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

#180

Post by jacobolus »

untog wrote: post #131
VLM wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No, it's like arguing that some people get into car accidents, so more people driving is a bad idea.

That’s a pretty reasonable argument. Building better train networks between economically linked cities, getting people to choose other forms of transportation for their commutes, giving buses/light rail their own lanes, designing infrastructure to better segregate drivers from pedestrians/cyclists, encouraging car-pooling and use of smaller lighter cars wherever practical, and in general trying to slow down the speed of automobile traffic (ideally all urban driving would be Automobiles, while often convenient, are one of the leading causes of death, and we should try to organize public policy around reducing their use and the deaths they cause to the extent possible without overly compromising their convenience.

Reducing the number of automobiles would also have a big positive environmental impact, and reducing the number and widths of roads and parking lots would free up a lot of space which could be used for other purposes. Other forms of transportation also scale a lot better with population density, and denser cities use a lot less other infrastructure per capita.

Once self-driving cars become effective, I have high hopes that they will replace a large proportion of current human drivers, something else which should save many lives.

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