Olympic Covid restrictions are gone, however some athletes nonetheless self-quarantining : NPR

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Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP For most individuals, if not everybody, the pandemic days of masking are behind us.

In sure corners of the Winter Olympics in Italy, although, issues nonetheless look loads like they did in Covid instances.

Some athletes are taking excessive measures to remain wholesome.

When members of the U.S. girls's cross-country ski crew walked right into a information convention in a packed room in the beginning of the Olympics, every of them wore a masks. Jessie Diggins, the crew's high athlete, mentioned the identical guidelines apply if she's inside together with her husband, who's staying not with Diggins on the Olympics, however with household.

"He desires to guard my well being, too. And he is aware of how necessary that is," America's most embellished cross nation skier mentioned. "And it is like, we have been ready 10 years to have the remainder of our lives collectively on a regular basis, and never worrying about illness. We are able to wait two extra weeks. It is okay."

Locked down, however that is okay On the final Olympic Video games, in China, a optimistic coronavirus check may put athletes in an isolation lodge.

Issues aren't that severe this time round. However athletes in cross-country snowboarding are among the many most vulnerable to respiratory viruses, and lots of are being further cautious to remain wholesome throughout an important competitions of their lives.

Not solely are many skiers and coaches carrying masks indoors. America's cross-country crew, and a few from Scandinavia, have disbursed with the Olympic village altogether and are renting out their very own lodges, the place they will keep away from busy cafeterias and management who comes out and in.

"We're fairly locked down making an attempt to not get sick, and making an attempt to not waste vitality," mentioned Ben Ogden, one other star on the U.S. crew.

"However that is okay, as a result of, like, now we have six, seven of our greatest buddies, like, which are contained in the bubble."

Not each crew, although, can afford a setup just like the People. Cross-country skiers from nations with smaller budgets are nonetheless staying inside an Olympic village within the mountains close to their competitors venue.

And groups competing in different sports activities within the Olympic hub metropolis of Milan are taking drastically completely different approaches altogether.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8021x5347+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb7%2F2e%2F0759bef14535928a003c4b66f4cc%2Fap26039726602778.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8021x5347+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb7%2F2e%2F0759bef14535928a003c4b66f4cc%2Fap26039726602778.jpg" class="img" alt="Team Finland huddle before a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between Czechia and Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)" loading="lazy"/> Member's of Finland's girls's hockey crew needed to postpone their first sport on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, after members contracted norovirus infections. Darko Bandic/AP conceal caption

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Darko Bandic/AP Livin' on a prayer Members of the Finnish girls's hockey crew, for example, have been belting out Bon Jovi collectively at a karaoke celebration at a restaurant in Milan, simply earlier than the Olympics began.

A couple of days later the Worldwide Olympic Committee introduced their sport in opposition to Canada needed to be postponed resulting from a number of instances of norovirus on Crew Finland's girls's hockey squad.

"It in all probability was a pleasant second, simply between teammates," mentioned Anni Arko, a sports activities reporter for the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti. "Nevertheless it was such an enormous threat. Like, I simply could not consider my eyes that they really did that."

Iltalehtim wrote a scathing column in regards to the norovirus outbreak, contrasting it with the intense measures taken by Finland's cross-country skiers.

On the final Olympics, Arko says, the crew's star, Iivo Niskanen, "was thanking his spouse loads, as a result of he was not seeing his family and friends. But in addition his spouse was not seeing mainly anyone, so the household would not get any infections and Iivo could be wholesome."