At Winter Olympics, virus fight waged with worker sacrifices

By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — So athletes from countries where COVID-19 has raged can compete, China’s Winter Games workforce is making a giant sacrifice. Tens of thousands of Chinese workers have been hermetically sealed inside the ring-fence of virus prevention measures that China has erected around the games, locked in with the athletes and Olympic visitors. But while Olympians jet in for just weeks, Chinese workers who cook, clean, transport, care for them and otherwise make the games tick are spending several months sequestered inside the sanitary bubble. China’s ruling Communist Party does not allow workers to organize independently, so there is not a whisper of public complaint. But there’s plenty of enthusing from workers about how lucky they are.