The word "pandemic" comes from Greek, meaning "all people." In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Athens, Greece was the scene of a welcome sight yesterday. Eight members of the Greek national table tennis team, among other Olympic-caliber athletes, resumed training at the Stadium of Peace and Friendship. While the resumption of practice signals progress, the manner in which it unfolded also reflects the realities of life during a pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, Greece has only 2,663 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus. With a population of 10.7 million, this makes for an infection rate of 0.025%, or one in every 4,025 people. By comparison, the United States has 1.2 million confirmed cases out of a population of 328.2 million, or 0.36%. This means that one in every 274 Americans has tested positive, a rate almost 15 times higher than Greece, per capita. Greece certainly wishes keep its case numbers low. Toward that end, the resumption of athletic training was conducted in strict adherence to protocols issued by the Health Scientific Committee of Sports. The guidelines include the now-ubiquitous face masks and sanitizer, as well as pre-entry temperature checks, strict social distancing, rigorous cleaning and the suspension of locker room usage. "We are going gently, with absolute attention and observance of the rules of hygiene so that we can all start training as soon as possible," say Greek national coaches Konstantinos Vatsaklis and Konstantinos Kostopoulos. "We are making an effort to restore normalcy to all. We are in an individual sport, we have team spirit and individual responsibility. Many people have worked hard to get started." Like the literal meaning of "pandemic," all people around the world yearn for life to return to normal. Health scientists agree, however, that the premature resumption of our old, careless ways would be disastrous. Resuming group athletic activity under any circumstances is questionable. Moving forward, we nonetheless must find a responsible way to allow Olympic athletes to resume training for the Tokyo 2020 games, even if they will be held the following summer. The strict hygienic measures adopted by the Greek table tennis team give us some idea of what this may look like. In any case, they are necessary to ensure that this pandemic does not return in force to its etymological home.

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