What did I say about COVID-19 and Sport?

It seems the Coronavirus news certainly took off this week. That’s basically all we are hearing about.

In the Tour of UAE, two Italian members of a cycling team tested positive for Coronavirus. The race was cancelled and now all the teams and journalists are quarantined on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. There are worse places to be stuck. Quarantine continues, but so far many have tested negative.

A World Tour cycling event is jammed packed with people, and the fear is real that the virus could spread quickly.

Toms Skujins before the start of a stage of the 2016 AMGEN Tour of California

This does point to the fragility of these large gatherings and how dynamic the situation can be. Dick Pound (yes, that is his name) was kind enough to speculate what might happen to the Olympics and all the headlines turned into “Senior IOC member says Tokyo Olympics may be canceled due to coronavirus outbreak.” Thanks, Dick.

Meanwhile, Japan is closing schools early for the end of the school year, shutting down Tokyo Disneyland, and cancelling concerts throughout the country. Sigh.

And Mike Pence. Double sigh.