With the Olympics literally just a few days away, the thought of being an aquatic athlete would make me cringe if one had to be in that polluted Rio water.
The more reports that come out concerning Rio, the more I personally want to pull away and perhaps not even go and visit the country. The Olympics are set to start on August 5, 2016 and it’s very apparent that Brazil is not ready to handle it. If the Olympic Committee has anything to learn from this, is to make sure that the cities picked don’t have these sort of issues and are prepared.
Many jokes are made in relation when it comes to Brazil and that there’s everything down there. However, this new report is quite alarming as it warns people to not put their head under water.
While athletes take precautions, there is also concern for the 300,000-500,000 foreigners expected to descend on Rio for the Olympics. Testing at several of the city’s world-famous beaches has shown that in addition to persistently high viral loads, the beaches often have levels of bacterial markers for sewage pollution that would be cause for concern abroad — and sometimes even exceed Rio state’s lax water safety standards.
In light of the AP’s findings, Harwood had one piece of advice for travelers to Rio: “Don’t put your head underwater.” Swimmers who cannot heed that advice stand to ingest water through their mouths and noses and therefore risk “getting violently ill,” she said.
Danger is lurking even in the sand. Samples from the beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema revealed high levels of viruses, which recent studies have suggested can pose a health risk — particularly to babies and small children.
In other words, if you’re going to Rio, make you’re sure in a bubble like the Bubble Boy in Seinfeld.