Posted on 08/18/2022 8:09:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Australia’s easing of COVID-19 restrictions last month paved the way for unvaccinated American swimmer Michael Andrew to compete at the 2022 Duel in the Pool, which begins Friday morning (Thursday night in the U.S.) in Sydney.
Earlier this year in January, then-top-ranked tennis star Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia after landing in the country for the 2022 Australian Open. The Serbian’s visa was voided due to his vaccination status. But the Australian government recently changed its policy in July, no longer requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative test to enter the country.
“The Australian government makes decisions on Covid related issues after considering the latest medical advice,” said Mark Butler, Australia’s Minister for Health and Aged Care. “The Chief Medical Officer has advised it is no longer necessary for travelers to declare their vaccine status as part of our management of Covid. Unvaccinated Australians, as well as certain groups of visa holders, have been able to travel to Australia for some time. We will continue to act on the medical advice as needed.”
Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) followed suit by relaxing rules regarding social distancing and quarantine, issuing the same recommendations regardless of vaccination status. For now, those rules are only for U.S. citizens, but new guidelines for international travelers are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. With the U.S. Open just 11 days away and tournament officials already clarifying they will not offer special treatment, Djokovic’s last hopes of playing the final tennis major of the year lie in a last-minute CDC update.
“Prior infection and vaccination confer some protection against severe illness, and so it really makes the most sense to not differentiate with our guidance or our recommendations based on vaccination status at this time,” said CDC scientist Dr. Greta Massetti. “In the coming weeks, the CDC will work to align stand-alone guidance documents, such as those for healthcare settings, congregate settings at higher risk of transmission, and travel, with today’s update.”
Andrew, meanwhile, has remained steadfast in his decision to not get the COVID-19 vaccine. Before last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, he told reporters that he was worried about missing training time due to a potential reaction to the vaccine. Andrew stirred up more controversy in Tokyo when he refused to wear a mask in the mixed zone. The 23-year-old later said he received “death threats” and “evil messages” in response.
“Everybody was walking through the mixed zone without a mask,” Andrew said on the Inside with Brett Hawke podcast in January. “I was so targeted because of who I was and what I said.
“Vaccinated athletes are still testing positive just as much, if not more, than the unvaccinated,” he added. “I just recognize that I don’t really need it. It’s not that I’m anti-any vaccine; I’ve gotten vaccines from when I was young.”
It is unknown how many other members of the US team competing at the Duel in the Pool are unvaccinated.
I guess countries can learn from this. If there are players they don’t want to win, then can bar them from the country. They can [ick the winners. Could be a source of revenue.
“’Cause you can’t swim with a mask on”
And even a fifth grader knows that CCP-cooties can’t be spread in the water.
/s
The coof agreed to a truce so it doesn’t spread in the pool but only on a tennis court, just like the truce when sitting at a restaurant but not walking in the door.
“because reasons”, they coofexplained.
Never attempt to apply critical thinking skills to political and public health agency policies. It hurts your head and only makes you sick.
Djokovic broke rules.
Firstly,
Tennis Australia and Victoria officials said Djokovic had been one of a “handful” of the people granted medical exemptions and had received no special treatment, with applications anonymous and reviewed by two independent panels. Without an exemption, all Australian Open participants, including staff and fans attending the event, are required to show proof of vaccination.
The federal government, however, is responsible for international borders and visas and did not participate in the process for considering exemptions. All of the athletes that received the local exemptions were not allowed to stay. So the exemptions they were given by Tennis Australia and Victoria are not valid for border entry.
Novak Djokovic, the top-ranked men’s tennis player, acknowledged on Wednesday that a travel document he presented to Australian border officials last week contained false information, as the country’s authorities continued to investigate whether he should be deported.
But Mr. Djokovic’s statement did not fully resolve a range of questions that have swirled over his quest to remain in Australia and seek a record 21st Grand Slam title. Among them are exactly when he learned of the positive test result and how his travel documents came to falsely assert that he had not traveled internationally in the 14 days before his arrival in Australia.
In his statement, Mr. Djokovic also addressed questions about that declaration he made on his visa paperwork that he had not traveled to any other countries in the 14 days before arriving in Australia and ws aware the paperwork warns of serious penalties for false answers to the questions.
His declaration had seemed to be contradicted by social media posts showing him traveling between Spain and Serbia. On Wednesday, he said his agent had made an “administrative mistake in ticking the incorrect box.”
“This was a human error and certainly not deliberate,” he said, adding that his team on Wednesday had “provided additional information to the Australian government to clarify the matter.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/world/asia/novak-djokovic-covid-statement.html
This was supported in other news outlets. Day late and a dollar short.
Additionally he still did a photo shoot with L’Equipe magazine in Belgrade on the 18th when he knew he was positive from TMz.com which he did not report either as required.
https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/12/novak-djokovic-australian-open-covid-photoshoot-lying/
He is supposed to be an adult and to be awarded the opportunity to compete for such huge prizes he had to do a few things that were not that hard to accomplish. It is his name out there not his “crew.” He is responsible and he either screwed up or did it deliberately. Then tried to bluff his way through and they wouldn’t buy his violating their rules that he was forewarned about.
So if they are trying to keep him from competing, he sure obliged them by providing multiple violations of their rules all by himself. And anyone with any intelligence would know that the tennis federation and the State of Victoria cannot overrule federal law concerning visas to enter the country. And he knew that, too, and tried to get way with it. The only question is why?
wy69
There were two other individuals, associated with AO 2022 who were admitted into the country under the same conditions as Djokovic. Nobodt stopped them at the border. If Djokovic was not there, nobody would try to deport the other two.
You could have also mentioned Nadal being allowed to enter Australia few days after reporting positive for Covid in Spain. As far as I remember, Rublev was also positive for Covid but allowed to enter Australia.
The following link will remind you that Djokovic had the most successful tennis career in history:
https://www.ultimatetennisstatistics.com/goatList
If he could compete in AO the year before, same rules could have been applied in 2022. We all know that vaccination mandate rule is an arbitrary one, it offers no benefit in protecting public health. Any major international sports competition should not take place if they discriminate against participants who chose not to take experimental Covid jab.
The two other individuals identified as receiving one of the illegal visas were not allowed to play.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/two-more-tennis-players-depart-australia/100756828
You mentioned Nadal.
Speaking to reporters, Nadal said that he feels “sorry” for Djokovic ahead of the 2022 Australian Open but added that Djokovic has long been aware of the COVID-19 vaccine requirements needed to enter the country.
Nadal’s comments:
“He made his own decisions, and everybody is free to take their own decisions, but then there are some consequences,” Nadal said. “Of course, I don’t like the situation that is happening. In some way, I feel sorry for him. But at the same time, he knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, so he makes his own decision.”
https://www.si.com/tennis/2022/01/06/rafael-nadal-novak-djokovic-reaction-situation-australian-open
“...same rules could have been applied in 2022.”
Why? It’s their country. They can pretty much do what they want with it. And the people that made the decision on the visas had nothing to do with the tournament. They were the feds, not the state of Victoria or the Tennis Association that sponsored it of which both make money on who is there.
According to a number reports, if all of them can be believed, there were people there that had tested positive at some point before the tournament. But they apparently weren’t lying on their paperwork and trying to use other ways to sneak past it. And the reports didn’t mention any others that were deported so we don’t know that.
wy69
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