Will the Tokyo Olympics happen?

In April, Japan was in the midst of a fourth wave of the pandemic, with increasingly infectious variants of the virus gaining ground, particularly in Tokyo and Osaka. As infection numbers rose, so did concerns surrounding the fate of the Summer Games. Olympic organizers publicly remained optimistic, but one high-ranking official with Japan’s ruling party said: “I want the Games to succeed, but to do so there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved. If it seems impossible, it needs to be stopped.”

Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, has said there is no “Plan B.” If the Tokyo Games can’t be staged this summer, they probably won’t be held at all. The Japanese have tied up billions of dollars into hosting these Games, but neither the Tokyo organizers nor the IOC seem interested in kicking the can down the road. In mid-April — 100 days out from the opening ceremony — Olympic organizers said Tokyo was already “the best-prepared ever Games.”

Complicating any additional postponement scenarios, the IOC already is starting to turn much of its attention to the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, which are scheduled to begin just six months after the Tokyo Olympics.

While the two-plus weeks of competition might seem familiar to anyone watching on television, behind the scenes the Tokyo Games promise to look and feel from any other Olympics. Athletes, along with all other attendees and participants, will be required to follow strict guidelines, aimed at minimizing risk and limiting exposure to the virus.

Athletes will not be allowed to stay in the Olympic Village for the duration of the Tokyo Games and must depart after their respective competitions conclude. Each athlete will be given a “playbook” that outlines a series of protocols and restrictions. They’ll be barred from using public transportation or visiting non-Olympic sites, including local bars, restaurants, shops and tourist destinations.

Athletes will be urged to maintain good hygiene and practice social distancing. They’ll be tested for the coronavirus at least once every four days and will have to log daily health updates into a smartphone app.

While most travel into Japan has been restricted, the select few who’ve been permitted entry have been required to quarantine for 14 days. But as of late March, Olympic officials said they do not plan to ask athletes and other attendees to quarantine upon entering Japan. Everyone will be required to take a coronavirus test within 72 hours of leaving their home country, though, and some also might face an additional test when they arrive in Tokyo.

IOC officials call vaccines “one of many tools available in the toolbox,” and they are urging athletes to get shots, if possible. But vaccines will not be a requirement to compete at these Olympics. The IOC is hopeful that athletes across the world have access to vaccines “given their role as ambassadors,” but the Olympic body also has said it supports “the priority of vaccinating vulnerable groups, nurses, medical doctors and everyone who is keeping our societies safe.”

In March, the Chinese Olympic Committee offered to make vaccines available to all Tokyo-bound athletes, and the IOC has pledged to cover the associated costs.

Athletes who are inoculated by this summer will face the same guidelines and protocols in Tokyo.

Athletes will not be required to wear masks during competition, but they will be expected to at just about all other times — “except when training, competing, eating or sleeping, or if you are outside and able to keep two meters apart from others,” according to the athletes’ playbook.

Athletes can expect to be tested at least once every four days — and that time frame can be fluid depending on the sport and competition schedule. There will be a dedicated space in the Olympic Village for the athletes to undergo their tests. Officials haven’t revealed the exact type of test athletes will take, but they say “results will be processed in a timely and efficient manner.”

Any athletes testing positive will not be allowed to compete. They immediately must begin isolation or hospitalization, if necessary. Health officials will review all of their interactions from the two days that preceded the test (or onset of symptoms) and will begin contact tracing. Close contacts will be required to test immediately and their participation could also be jeopardized, though officials are still ironing out the details. “Tokyo 2020 is currently coordinating with Japanese health authorities to ensure that a negative test result will allow you to compete as planned,” the athletes’ playbook reads.

Athletes are supposed to alert an appointed covid-19 liaison officer at the first sign of symptoms. If they’re at the Olympic Village or a competition venue, they’ll be taken immediately to a dedicated medical station, and if medical personnel think covid-19 is a possibility, the athlete would be transported to the “Fever Outpatient Clinic” in the village, where a test would be performed.

Athletes can expect their temperatures to be checked every time they enter an Olympic venue. If the temperature reads 99.5 degrees or higher, a second temperature check will be performed. If it is again high, the athlete will be barred from entering the venue, referred to a covid-19 liaison officer and taken to an isolation area.

As of mid-April, Japan had seen more than 516,000 coronavirus cases and more than 9,470 deaths, according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University — a small fraction of the caseload experienced in the United States, which had more than 563,000 covid-related deaths in the same time period. Nearly 20 states, in fact, have had a higher death toll than Japan, as of mid-April.

After a surge in cases late last year, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in the Tokyo area Jan. 7, which was twice extended before the government lifted it March 21. Japan began giving out its first vaccination shots Feb. 17.

Certainly government officials are heavily invested, but public support has waned. A pair of polls in January, conducted while the country was experiencing a surge in cases, cast an especially bad light on public opinion there.

More than 80 percent of respondents to a Kyodo News poll in January said they thought the Olympics should be canceled or rescheduled, up 17 percent from just a month earlier. Another poll around that same time — by the Tokyo Broadcasting System — found 81 percent of respondents felt the Olympics could not be held amid the pandemic, with just 13 percent saying they could.

That sentiment appeared to change slightly as the weeks passed, as a Yomiuri newspaper poll in February found 61 percent of respondents said they wanted the Games to be canceled or postponed, while 28 percent said the Olympics should be held with no spectators. More than half of the respondents (56 percent) in that poll said they expected the pandemic to remain unchanged into the summer.

Tokyo 2020 officials decided in March that only Japanese spectators would be allowed to attend these Olympics. The decision was made to limit the number of foreigners coming into the country as organizers sought to keep both the local population and the Olympic proceedings as safe as possible.

Officials said they would decide in April on venue capacities and were expected to also issue protocols for spectators to follow.