Djokovic Breaches COVID-19 Isolation: Stardom Cannot Justify Callousness

The Novak Djokovic COVID-19 controversy ongoing in Australia was blown open wider on Wednesday after the tennis star admitted to breaching his period of isolation during a positive diagnosis for the infection. Currently the world no. 1 titleholder, Djokovic is at the centre of global scrutiny for his unvaccinated status and apparent violation of pandemic travel norms as he looks at participating in the Australian Open.

His position at the tennis tournament was jeopardised following the possibility of his visa being revoked over his vaccine status. A determined Djokovic, despite being put in detention while his matter was legally heard, sought to stay on and fight. Earlier this week, a court in Australia pronounced a judgment in his favour in a dramatic turn of events.

To top it all, the 34-year-old Serbian kept the fact that he had tested positive for COVID-19 only last month concealed for a considerable period during the controversy.

There is currently much heated noise surrounding the entire fiasco with incensed reactions streaming in for the top sportsman and the status of his visa still hangs by a precarious thread. If at all Djokovic is permitted to play the tournament, he will play next week.

With the COVID-19 health emergency still raging, Djokovic's case comes as a point of reckoning with regard to adherence to vaccine mandates and pandemic-appropriate behaviour. In complete disregard for both of those, there is lots here that is going against the tennis champion and his conduct so far.

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Djokovic issued a statement on social media that contained some damning revelations.

He said he attended a basketball game on December 14 in Belgrade, following which many attendees turned up positive results for COVID-19. Even in the absence of symptoms, he claims, he took a rapid antigen test (RAT) two days later that showed a negative result. He says he also took a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that takes longer to reflect results, "out of an abundance of caution."

Here's where the irresponsibility began. Without waiting around for the PCR test result, Djokovic says he attended a tennis event on December 17, where pictures show he came in contact with many children while presenting awards to them. "I was asymptomatic and felt good" was his justification.

His positive test result came after that event, he said.

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Djokovic further broke isolation "to fulfil a long-standing commitment" to the French newspaper L'Equipe, with which he had an interview and photoshoot on December 18.

"I felt obliged to go ahead and conduct the L'Equipe interview as I didn't want to let the journalist down, but did ensure I socially distanced and wore a mask except when my photograph was being taken."

The French media outlet in an article confirmed Djokovic's statement about masking but the interviewing journalist revealed he had been forbidden from asking the tennis player about his vaccination status.

At this crucial moment in the global health emergency, can stars afford to lose sight of good judgment and prudent action?

There was also a "human error" on the part of his team on the Australian travel declaration form, he said. "...my agent sincerely apologises for the administrative mistake in ticking the incorrect box about my previous travel before coming to Australia."

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The sportsman is one in a legion of anti-vaxxers whose beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccine, among the foremost counters to the pandemic, seek to pose a threat to public health. He has in the past reportedly made clear he is "opposed to vaccination," even though experts have asserted the jab can significantly limit community transmission of the virus.

Under such circumstances, can the Australian Open, which requires all players to be vaccinated, compromise on their mandates? Would it be ethical for Djokovic's celebrity to win him an exemption?

As for his event engagements, they were nothing less than a total and dangerous blunder, especially since one of those involved a highly vulnerable group of people - children. Was it wise of the tennis star to go forth with public meetings, regardless of two negative RATs, before the reliable PCR test result showed up? How many must have been left infected as a COVID-19-positive Djokovic moved about without checks?

Whether or not they like it, celebrities are (fortunately or unfortunately) points of inspiration for the fans that near-worship them. That kind of influence brings power to sway public opinion that famous people must employ towards welfare. Thousands across the world look up to Djokovic. When the matter literally concerns life and death, does he thus have the liberty to be at all reckless?

Views expressed are the author's own.