Hayden Wilde of New Zealand holds his bronze medal during a medal ceremony for the men's individual triathlon at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee relaxed its health rules and said medalists can remove their masks on the podium for photos — for 30 seconds.Health protocols agreed to ahead of the Tokyo Olympics to control COVID-19 infections had required all medalists to keep masks on for the whole ceremony.
But it’s not all freedom and exposed mouths from here on out. Athletes have to stay on their own podium step. And group photos on the top step? Masks back on, please.
Since AP cannot be messaged, I'd like to draw your attention to a small spelling mistake in this story. The word 'though' in the second line.
31 seconds is too much.
Baby steps
Maybe just allow them to be unmasked for individual pics? But if they're hugging the other medalists they should be masked.
Of course wearing masks may help convince COVID Deniers to wear masks and get vaccinated.
At 31 seconds they take the medal back?
wow