On Tuesday, soon after the CDC shortened its recommended isolation period for asymptomatic people with COVID-19 from 10 days to five, Beijing Olympic organizers stood by a policy that could bar athletes from the upcoming Winter Games long after they’ve cleared infections.
Protocols for the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics, outlined in published “playbooks” and supplementary documents, require all participants to submit two negative PCR tests shortly before entering China. They do not include exceptions for athletes who’ve recently recovered from COVID-19, despite widespread evidence that PCR tests can continue to detect insignificant traces of the virus weeks after the contagious phase of a person’s illness.