X. The Impact of Covid-19 on the Safety and Security of MSEs

The economic burden of the COVID-19 pandemic

In the post-pandemic world, the bidding and hosting of MSEs could become more risk-prone, as is already the case with the Tokyo Olympic Games. Originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, the Games have been postponed to July 2021, but might take place in a scaled-down form. At the time of writing (April 2021), many uncertainties remain. The economic, social and medical burden imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic may affect MSE bidding and security requirements for years to come.

The international community has not seen a public health emergency of the magnitude of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic since the outbreak of the Spanish influenza at the end of the First World War. The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns have imposed severe restrictions on everyone’s way of life and present the world, including the world of sports, with unprecedented

challenges due to the many uncertainties surrounding the high transmission rate of the coronavirus. At the time of writing (April 2021), it had infected close to 130 million people worldwide and cost the lives of more than 2.7 million persons in 210 countries and territories.105 While the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as regional and national health and disease control authorities, monitor and try to control the pandemic’s course, vaccines were still not universally administered in April 2021.106

For those planning MSEs, which generally takes 8 to 13 years or more of preparation, it is tempting to assume that things will have returned to normal once “their” MSE takes place. However, for those Host Authorities who made a successful Bid years ago and where the event is scheduled to take place in the near future — as in the case of the Olympic Summer Games in Japan — the situation is altogether different and a “wait and see” approach is not feasible. Postponing and rescheduling an event brings its own problems and costs with it. Yet even if a rescheduled event actually takes place, the organizers will have to take great precautions and make special arrangements as long as mass vaccination against COVID-19 is not universally administered.

Guidelines about precautionary measures and arrangements are readily available from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs107 and the World Health Organisation.108 WHO also has a special Unit dedicated to challenges associated with mass gatherings (MGs) and provides support to international sports federations. A selection of guidance currently available from WHO is as below:

• WHO Key planning recommendations for mass gatherings in the context of COVID-19: interim guidance, 2020;109

• WHO Considerations for sports federations/sports event organizers when planning mass gatherings in the context of COVID-19, Interim guidance, 2020;110 and

• WHO Mass Gatherings Sporting Risk Assessment, 2020.111

Considerable additional efforts are now required from all MSE organizers to explore and understand the links between organizing MSEs and disaster preparedness and management. More than ever, resilience-building has to be factored in when planning and preparing major sporting events.

The global societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance for Host Authorities of MSEs to include crises and disaster contingency-planning in their preparations.

105 As of 28 March 2021; see https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases

106 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56237778

107 Cf. “We Will Help The World Rise Stronger After COVID-19.” UN DESA | United Nations Department Of Economic And Social Affairs; see https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/covid-19.html

108 See https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance-publications.

109 See https://www.who.int/publications-detail/key-planning-recommendations-for-mass-gatherings-in-the-context-of-the-currentcovid-19-outbreak

110 See https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331764/WHO-2019-nCoV-Mass_Gatherings_Sports-2020.1-eng.pdf

111 See https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/points-of-entry-and-massgatherings