Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/china/article/3149184/beijing-2022-vaccinated-nhl-players-head-winter-olympics-chinas-zero
Sport/ China

Beijing 2022: as vaccinated NHL players head to Winter Olympics, China’s ‘zero Covid-19’ strategy put to the test

  • The Chinese Olympic Committee can breathe a sign of relief, potentially every NHL player who goes to Beijing this February will be vaccinated
  • An uneven landscape has emerged in the North American professional sports landscape while China’s ‘zero Covid-19’ strategy faces its biggest test
Will China relax its ‘zero Covid-19’ strategy in time for Beijing 2022, or just for the Olympics specifically? Photo: Reuters

If you’re looking for vaccination success stories, you might want to check out the National Hockey League.

The NHL’s deputy commissioner Bill Daly announced it expects the league’s around 700 players to almost all be vaccinated (98 per cent) by the time the 2021-22 season kicks off October 12. This means maybe 10 to 15 players will not be vaccinated.

The announcement, weeks before the season starts, may also be an isolation tactic to weed out those final holdouts and let them know the league can move on without them. The firing of Columbus Blue Jackets assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre, who refused to get vaccinated, further showed the NHL and its players are on the same page: get the jab, or go play somewhere else.

However an uneven landscape is emerging when it comes to professional sporting leagues in North America, amid widespread division over vaccines and vaccine passports in both the US and Canada. The National Football League finds itself in a more difficult situation: around 93.5 per cent of its players are vaccinated. There are around 200 NFL players who have yet to get the jab, and the NFL is already within its 2021-22 season, which kicked off on September 9.

US president Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate which requires employers who have more than 100 staff to require workers to be vaccinated, or for them to undergo weekly testing. The NFL said it’s been pushing a vaccine requirement for its players, however the NFL Players Association pushed back.

Chances are the NHL could hit 100 per cent when it comes to its vaccination rate. Photo: AP
Chances are the NHL could hit 100 per cent when it comes to its vaccination rate. Photo: AP

However the NFL finds itself in a very different situation when it comes to its fans. According to a report by CBS, a handful of teams including the Seattle Seahawks, Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints, are requiring fans to provide vaccination records to enter their stadiums. Other arenas are saying they never will.

Then there is Major League Baseball, which has an 86 per cent vaccination rate, and has announced it has incentivised teams with relaxed Covid-19 protocols that hit 85 per cent (around seven of its 30 teams haven’t yet). However, much like the NFL, the MLB Players Association has repeatedly stated it will not mandate its players to be vaccinated.

Finally, we have the National Basketball Association, with arguably the most outspoken athletes of the four major professional sporting leagues in North America. While the NBA announced all staff who work with the league or in any of its arenas must be vaccinated, players do not have to, as per a negotiation with the NBA Players Association. This means unvaccinated players will be tested on game and practice days.

According to a report in The New York Times, the NBA has the lowest vaccination rate at around 85 per cent. This is a substantial number and essentially means it is unlikely the NBA will achieve 100 per cent vaccination, as opposed to the NHL, who could very well hit that mark soon.

This announcement must be music to the ears of the Chinese Olympic Committee, given roughly 150 or so NHL players won’t cause them any issues concerning the whole debate around vaccine hesitancy or requirements come February and what is expected to be the tightest, most locked-down Olympics in history.

The chances are that every NHL player in Beijing will be vaccinated. This gives China a pass in essentially trying to strong-arm the NHL into getting its players vaccinated before coming to Beijing, however there is an estimated 3,000 competitors coming from well over a hundred countries.

The NFL is part of an incredibly uneven landscape when it comes to vaccination rates in professional sports. Photo: USA TODAY Sports
The NFL is part of an incredibly uneven landscape when it comes to vaccination rates in professional sports. Photo: USA TODAY Sports

China will not be able to host the Olympics by requiring incoming athletes to be vaccinated, nor will it be able to apply that to the massive support staff which comes along with each athlete. This means there will be cases during the Games much like there were in Japan, and China’s “zero Covid-19” strategy is going to be put to its biggest test since the start of the pandemic.

China will not be able to apply their strict, citywide, snap lockdown measures like they do to their own citizens, which presents an ideological problem heading into Beijing 2020.

Japan got through its Olympics by simply pushing through a rise in infections, and only isolating a few athletes. If China tries a harder stance come February, you can bet the international community will not be so kind when it comes to “zero Covid-19” and the media will give China another controversy headache as its tries to pull off a squeaky clean Games.