from Hacker News

Concerns for global spread of Zika mean Rio de Janeiro Olympics must not proceed

by bd on 5/11/16, 1:58 PM with 202 comments

• by ChicagoBoy11 on 5/11/16, 3:36 PM

  This article is idiotic if the main reason for cancelling the game is actually some "global spread" of Zika.

  Rio is not some city in the middle of nowhere from which no flights are coming in and out of, and now suddenly this massive international influx of visitors will come in -- it is a world-class city, a financial hub of the largest country in the continent.

  If we take London 2012 as a benchmark, estimates there are that the olympics yielded a 13% increase in foreign visitors from the previous summer. And that is London, a place where access from other destinations is cheaper, the infrastructure better, and a lot more appealing to U.S. visitors (due to some of the things cited above). It is completely reasonable to expect that the delta in Rio should be roughly the same, if not smaller.

  The fact is that the"impact" on travel due to the Olympics will be negligible in a city like Rio -- and the economic impact is CERTAINLY negative, unless you are drinking the Kool-Aid of organizers.

  I'm fine with cancelling the games, but claiming that not doing so will lead to a much riskier global health situation than the one we are already living is hogwash.

• by ehmuidifici on 5/11/16, 3:24 PM

  Brazilian here, Ive been in Rio a couple of times (living in Sao Paulo right now, who also has problems w/Aedes Aegypti):

  Come to Brazil if you wish, but take care. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito is all around and can spread not only Zika, but Chikungunya (kindly named "chico cunha") and Dengue.

  Make good use of insect repellent, watch your stuff when walking on beaches (don't forget robbers and thieves) and think twice about trusting someone.

  As someone said before, every city in the world has its problems and brazilian cities have them also.

  Personally, I will not go to Olympics just because hotel prices on Rio skyrocketed and are almost impractical.

• by apalmer on 5/11/16, 2:53 PM

  It should be considered, dont know if it makes sense but the pros and cons should be weighed and respected international health organizations should weigh in.

  Overall though, think given the fact the facilities have not been fully constructed, the Brazilian government is on the verge of collapse, and the risks of being a major disease vector is plausible...

  Should definitely consider delay or moving

• by wyldfire on 5/11/16, 3:47 PM

  Ever since the news of Zika causing microcephaly came up I have been wondering whether it's a net benefit to humanity/homeostasis if we were to exterminate Aedis Aegypti. Can Zika spread among humans already? It would seem like a huge risk to the future of humanity if this infectious disease interferes with reproduction.

  What's the worst-case scenario for letting Aedis Aegypti live? Is it better than the worst-case scenario for exterminating the species?

• by bhouston on 5/11/16, 2:47 PM

  I was wondering about whether this would happen. I am not enough of an expert to make a call on this either way of course, but if experts decided this was the right call would it even be possible to cancel/reschedule the Olympics? Imagine the financial impact on Rio.

• by dsfyu404ed on 5/11/16, 3:04 PM

  I wonder if the medical community is also working with the state department, airlines and travel agencies to make sure people get a stern warning before they buy plane tickets to Brazil and an even sterner warning when they get back.

  Considering the political forces that need to be involved in moving (or not) the games it seems foolish to not have a safety net if "please move the games" doesn't work.

• by S_A_P on 5/11/16, 3:47 PM

  Zika is already in Houston, Dallas and other Texas cities. I dont know if it is tourism that brought it here or not, but it has enough transmission vectors that its only a matter of time before its everywhere.

• by neves on 5/11/16, 7:08 PM

  What will prevent the outbreak is the weather in Rio. The Zika mosquito takes 3 to 4 weeks to reproduce http://www.denguevirusnet.com/life-cycle-of-aedes-aegypti.ht... and it loves hot and wet weather.

  The autumn in Rio is the coldest and driest in a long time http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2016/03/outono-no... When the Olympics arrive, the mosquito will be in their lowest population count.

  If you consider that the Olympics tourists are rich ones, that will spend most of their times in air conditioned environments, the risk is really very low.

• by DannyBee on 5/11/16, 3:25 PM

  Serious question: Has anyone seen an article or study about the microcephaly effects on pregnancy where the main population studied was not in brazil?

  I have yet to see a study that links it to microcephaly for anyone who has not been in brazil for a long time. I realize the mosquito isn't common, but brazil also does things like: "secretly spray tons and tons of pesticide on their populus", etc.

  Given these are all correlative studies, i'd love to see something from a country where there aren't a ton of possible other variables.

  (especially given zika has been around and even common forever and it's only now that this seems to be an issue)

  You know, before the tourism economies of all of these other countries are completely destroyed.

• by transfire on 5/11/16, 4:37 PM

  What? Are they planning a culling, on which they will blame Zika and the Olympics? Otherwise, this make zero sense.

  Despite all the hype, Zika is not the end of the world. Most people who get it hardly notice and get over it in rather short order just as one gets over a cold.

• by davesque on 5/11/16, 3:25 PM

  So does "fold" just mean "times"? I always thought it meant 2^x times.

• by mc32 on 5/11/16, 3:12 PM

  That's not going to happen -- not when their economy is in a nosedive and they are embroiled in impeachment proceedings.

  At most they'll spray and fumigate the skeeters for the few weeks the activities take place and then go back to "normal".

• by ck2 on 5/11/16, 4:14 PM

  Could people accidentally bring back live mosquitoes in their luggage and such that are carriers?

  If so, could spread the world at lightning speed.

  I think there is also concern for the athletes in that the water is absolutely filthy there.

• by askyourmother on 5/11/16, 2:50 PM

  Come to Rio - watch the Olympians swim in the very dirty water they promised to clean but didn't! Catch zika, then fill out the police and insurance forms after you get robbed! Seriously though, Rio is a very very dangerous place to visit even for brasileros, let alone tourists, and the zika and chinkungya virus outbreaks are not helping either.

  Watch it on TV, from far away.

• by tim333 on 5/11/16, 6:51 PM

  It's kind of a shame that there is probably a solution to Zika sitting there waiting for regulatory approval in Oxitec's GM mosquitoes which were first successfully trialed in 2009. Maybe after another one or two million people have caught Zika they'll get around to using it.

• by sremani on 5/11/16, 3:21 PM

  I am mixed about this whole episode, at one level there is bias against developing countries. On the other end, Brazil did not do any favors for itself, with zika, political turmoil etc. But they did pull of a FIFA world cup, so I am a bit more optimistic.

• by kordless on 5/11/16, 3:08 PM

  Good luck on that. People in dissonance don't want to hear about it.

• by msimpson on 5/11/16, 4:17 PM

  Thanks to this article I am now aware of a man named Dick Pound.

• by mariusz79 on 5/11/16, 3:16 PM

  The show must go on.

• by ramon on 5/11/16, 4:00 PM

  Just wanted to reply to all and say: If you are afraid of Zika, Dengue or whatever the mosquitos transmits, don't get out of your houses! I will go after those bastards!

  Best to all, Signed: The mosquito killer! :p