OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
The International Olympic Committee announced this week their ruling that they are requiring that attendees of the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China, live in China, according to The Daily Wire.
The committee declared that “Tickets will be sold exclusively to spectators residing in China’s mainland, who meet the requirements of the COVID-19 countermeasures.”
“Specific requirements on COVID-19 countermeasures for spectators from China’s mainland and the details of ticketing arrangements are under discussion and development, and will be released to the public in due course once they are finalized.” reasoned the IOC.
The statement also said that the decision was made after consulting both international experts and Chinese authorities.
Protestors have demanded that both the U.S. and U.S. owned companies boycott the Winter Games in response to alleged human rights violations being committed by the Chinese government.
White House Press Secretary has stated that “Our position on the 2022 Olympics has not changed.” inregards to participating in the Olympics in China.
She reiterated; “We have not discussed, and are not discussing any joint boycott with allies and partners.”
The World Health Organization continues to investigate the origin of the pandemic, which includes focusing efforts and resources on what occurred in Wuhan, China at the beginning.
“A new team of about 20 scientists—including specialists in laboratory safety and biosecurity and geneticists and animal-disease experts versed in how viruses spill over from nature—is being assembled with a mandate to hunt for new evidence in China and elsewhere.” wrote The Wall Street Journal
They also reported that; “The possibilities that the new team is charged with examining include whether the Covid-19 virus could have emerged from a lab, according to WHO officials, a hypothesis that has especially angered China.”
The WHO’s initial investigation was reportedly stifled by interference from Chinese officials when they rejected requests for data about patients and contraction rates. China has denied the possibility that the coronavirus originated in one if their research labs and have even allegedly accused the U.S. of being the source of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The WHO is attempting again to collect data as more time creates more difficulties in acquiring useful information.
“It took more than a year after the pandemic began for that original team to get visas and permission to enter China, which repeatedly delayed a probe it saw as an attempt to assign blame.” reported the WSJ.
Adding; “After that visit, the team recommended further testing of animals in China and traders there who deal with wild or farmed mammals that are susceptible to Covid-19. Yet China’s government has shut down such farms across large regions, making it much harder—perhaps even impossible—to establish whether the Covid-19 virus spread to humans via such species, many scientists say.”
