Lack of food, information at Beijing’s quarantine hotels: Olympic athletes

Olympic athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19 in China are slamming conditions in Beijing’s quarantine hotels, The Associated Press reported.

Multiple athletes have criticized the lack of available information and edible food, as well as an uneven implementation of quarantine protocols.

Athletes who have COVID-19 and are symptomatic are supposed to go to a hospital while those who are asymptomatic are supposed to isolate at a designated hotel. However, the AP noted that some athletes who have tested positive for the virus have been allowed to isolate in the Olympic village.

Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans took to social media after she was transported to a second location to quarantine despite being under the impression that she would be discharged at the time, the AP reported.

Meylemans was ultimately allowed to quarantine in the Olympic village instead.

“I am now in a wing that’s just isolation, but at least I’m back in the village,” Meylemans said Thursday. “I feel safe and I’ll be able to train a little better here.”

Valeria Vasnetsova, a Russian biathlon athlete, complained about the food she was given, posting on Instagram a photo of a meal that included several potatoes, plain pasta and charred meat, among other items. She discovered that her coronavirus-positive team doctor was given better food, including prawns and salad. 

“My stomach hurts, I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired,” she said on social media, according to the news outlet.

Sergei Averyanov, a spokesperson for the Russian biathlon team, appeared to suggest that her complaints had proven fruitful after Vasnetsova later shared a photo of a meal consisting of yogurt, salmon and sausages, AP reported. 

Vasnetsova “is already smiling, and that’s the main thing,” Averyanov wrote.

Dirk Schimmelpfennig, the head of Germany’s delegation, pushed for more reliable food deliveries and larger and more sanitary rooms in the quarantine hotel after German Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel tested positive, the AP noted, citing Germany’s FAZ newspaper.