Two Swiss athletes are first at olympics confirmed with norovirus

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February 16, 2018 9:28 AM

Two Swiss athletes Friday became the first at the Winter Olympics to be confirmed to have the norovirus, which has affected hundreds of people in Pyeongchang.

The Swiss Olympic delegation said in a statement that the two athletes had shown signs of the highly contagious virus “in the past several days” and that they no longer had symptoms after receiving care.

It said they were sequestered in private rooms and were not staying at the Olympic Village.

The statement did not identify the athletes or their sport, but it said they were staying in a location close to where freestyle skiing events were being held.

It was not immediately clear whether the athletes would compete. But the statement said, “We would like to point out that athletes affected by norovirus will be admitted to the competitions in good physical condition and after examination by a Swiss team doctor,” adding that “it is also not out of the question that the athletes are competitive after surviving the disease.”

Reuters reported that the athletes were freestyle skiers, and it quoted a team spokesman as saying that one was Fabian Boesch. Boesch’s Instagram video showing him hanging from the railing of an escalator by one hand, allowing it to pull him up, went viral this week.

Nearly 250 people, including security workers and members of the organizing committee, have been affected by norovirus while in Pyeongchang. Its symptoms typically include extreme vomiting and diarrhea.

The outbreak was first announced on the Tuesday before the Games’ opening ceremony, with 41 security guards having tested positive for the virus. The guards were staying near Olympic venues but not in any official Olympic Village buildings.

Cases quickly spread to members of the Pyeongchang Olympics Organizing Committee staff, venue personnel and cafeteria workers, raising fears that athletes would be affected. Because the virus can easily spread through close contact with infected people or through contaminated food, water or surfaces, organizers worried about controlling the outbreak.

Park Kisoo, emergency communication director for the South Korean Centers for Disease Control, would not confirm on Friday whether any other athletes had been affected by the virus. He said the health agency was working with the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic committees of individual countries to “decide on the disclosure about health information of athletes.”

The New York Times

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