A waitress serves a table in protective gear in a restaurant inside the Shangri-La Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
BEIJING — The Chinese people working in hazmat suits inside the Beijing Olympics’ closed-loop “bubble” don’t hesitate to be photographed. In fact, they seem to welcome it, showing pride in carrying out a national mission of controlling COVID-19.
Associated Press photographer Jae C. Hong has spent time around Beijing’s Shangri-La Hotel, one of the city’s top destinations for out-of-town guests. It’s also a hotel inside the Olympic bubble, accessible to athletes, Olympic officials and reporters.
Everyone seems approachable. The scenes are incongruous to outsiders who are enjoying an evening meal of Beijing’s renowned roasted duck.
A guest puts on his face mask as a server dressed in protective gear hands a receipt to him in a restaurant inside the Shangri-La Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Waiters and waitress dress head to toe in puffy white suits — with blue, pinstripe trimming — hands covered with clingy plastic gloves, shoes encased inside the ensemble, and masks in place behind plastic face shields.
Everyday pleasures like a cup of coffee or a glass of wine turn exotic when the server arrives, seeming to have landed from the set of a disaster movie.
The industrial-like focus on safety and sanitation contrasts markedly with the opulence of the hotel with its massive chandeliers and displays of Chinese art hanging above overstuffed sofas and lounge chairs.
Apparently it takes only a few minutes to put on the suits, and none of the wearers seems the least bit uncomfortable in the safety gear. Several staff members said they are not supposed to speak to reporters, and they were good to their word.
Dressed in protective gear, a restaurant receptionist talks on the phone at the Shangri-La Hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
But they all offered thumps-up signs when approached, and one flashed five fingers when asked how long it took to put on the suit.
A woman in a hazmat suit watching curling on a large television screen had this to say when she was asked if she understood the rules: “No.”
Asked why she was watching, she laughed and replied: “China is playing.”
The Ionian Islands Museum Network was created two years ago in the midst of the pandemic, arising from a dialogue and synthesis of ideas between representatives of museums and cultural institutions from the islands of Zakynthos, Ithaca, Corfu, Kefalonia and Lefkada.
FALMOUTH, MA – The police in Falmouth have identified the victim in an accident involving a car plunging into the ocean on February 20, NBC10 Boston reported.
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WASHINGOTN - The full text of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ speech to the Joint Session of the US Congress is as follows:
Madam Speaker,
Madam Vice President,
Honorable Members of the United States Congress,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There is no greater honor for the elected leader of the people who created democracy than to address the elected representatives of the people who founded their country on the Greek model and have promoted and defended democratic values ever since.
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