At the Harvard Public Health Review Amir Attaran argues that the Olympic Games should be cancelled or moved away from Rio:
Simply put, Zika infection is more dangerous, and Brazil’s outbreak more extensive, than scientists reckoned a short time ago. Which leads to a bitter truth: the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games must be postponed, moved, or both, as a precautionary concession. There are five reasons.
He goes on to list them. Read the whole thing.
There’s another factor that should be taken into consideration which Dr. Attaran is, perhaps, too discreet to mention: Brazil is going through what is its most serious political crisis in decades, possibly the most serious in nearly a century. Will the Games help Brazil deal with everything it has on its plate or will they encourage them to postpone dealing with things in the hope of sweeping them under the carpet until after the Games are over? The history of the Games suggests the latter. Serious economic recession, political corruption both connected to the Games and not, Zika, and political crisis are a lot for any country to handle.
It may come as a shock but people occasionally do not do the right thing. That extends to the international Olympic Committee, Brazil’s Olympic Committee, politicians of whatever country, and the World Health Organization. Since the time of the Lydians, money has been a powerful inducement. I suggest that the countries of the world, particularly the members of the OECD, offer Brazil a sizable financial incentive to postpone its hosting of the Olympic Games for several cycles at the least.
