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1960 Winter Olympics Public Health Services at the 1960 Winter Olympics RICHARD F. WHITE, M.D., MALCOLM H. MERRILL, M.D., and WILLIAM W. STILES, M.D. of the VIII Olympic Winter Squaw Valley is in the Sierra Nevada Moun¬ STAGINGGames in Squaw Valley, Calif., February tains of California at an elevation of 6,200 feet. 18 through 28, 1960, presented an unusual op¬ The site was picked because of the superb skiing portunity for a local health department to adapt conditions and the certainty that there would be its program to a mammoth public event. The enough snow for the contests. Financing of contests in skiing and skating drew tens of the games was underwritten largely by State thousands of persons each day to this previously and Federal Governments, and the facilities sparsely inhabited valley. Long and careful have since been turned over to the State of Cal¬ preparation was necessary to insure success of ifornia for a recreational park. Funds were the events and to prevent untoward public also provided through individual donations and health emergencies. from the sale of tickets. Much of the staff re¬ Squaw Valley was chosen as the site in June sponsible for putting on the games were volun¬ 1955. At that time the valley had only one ski teers from various organizations and industries lodge, one ski lift, and a few scattered homes. throughout the United States. By February 1960 there had been erected a Athletes and team officials began to arrive giant ice skating arena with a seating capacity on February 1, and the number increased until of 11,000, an oval speed rink 400 meters in there were more than 1,000 when the events length, three practice ice rinks, three chair lifts, were opened on February 18. After that date several courses for downhill and slalom skiing, the number remained essentially constant. In four three-story dormitories large enough to addition to the athletes and team officials, there house 1,200 athletes and team officials, an were nearly 4,000 resident administrative and athletes' recreation center, two large centers ancillary personnel and spectators numbering for spectators, and supportingcommunity plant from 10,000 on a weekday to 47,000 on Sunday. buildings. The existing ski lodge accom¬ modated officials during the games, and most of Public Health Administration the for was in the Lake housing spectators in advance of the State and Tahoe and Reno areas, within a 10- to 40-mile Long games, radius of Squaw Valley. local health authorities and the Olympic Or¬ ganizing Committee, a nongovernmental agency Dr. White is director of the Placer County Health responsible for staging the games, agreed that Department, Auburn, Calif. Dr. Merrill is director all public health matters would be handled as of public health for the State of California. Dr. nearly as possible in the customary patterns Stiles, professor of public health, University of Cali¬ of health administration in California. The fornia School of Public Health, was medical director health department of Placer County, in which of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games Organizing Squaw Valley is located, would maintain legal Committee. jurisdiction over all public eating places, waste Vol. 76, No. 5, May 1961 431 disposal, small water systems, and communi- Olympic events without significant sacrifice in cable disease control. The California State existing programs or sizable expenditure of Department of Public Health would exercise funds. The only special expense was $875 its legal responsibility regarding large water toward food and lodging of the resident staff. supplies and sanitary features of installations on State-owned land. It would also be avail- Environmental Sanitation able for consultation to both the Placer County Health Department and the Olympic Organiz- As part of the permanent facilities con- ing Committee on all public health questions. structed for the Olympic Games, a full-treat- Representatives of these agencies held 12 ment sewage disposal plant costing half a planning meetings, beginning in December 1958. million dollars was erected in the valley. Some of these were attended also by repre- Treatment at this plant, designed for a peak sentatives from the regional water pollution capacity of half a million gallons of sewage control board, the California State Division of a day, consists of primary and secondary Housing, the Nevada State Health Department, sedimentation, biofiltration, and postchlorin- and the health departments of the adjacent ation with disposal of effluent into a recharge counties of El Dorado and Nevada. The meet- filter 12 feet underground and 100 feet distant ings dealt initially with basic sanitation and from Squaw Creek, the main drainage channel later with housing, preventive medical services, of Squaw Valley. and provision of public health staff during the Squaw Creek is a tributary of the Truckee games. (General medical care was not part River, which is a source of domestic water of the public health responsibilities.) Coopera- supply for the city of Reno. Because of the tion between the State and local health author- sewage treatment plant's proximity, water ities and the medical division of the organizing samples were collected from the creek above committee was excellent. The organizing com- and below the plant and tested for coliform mittee provided office space for the local health bacilli before and again during the games. department staff during February and paid Except for one weekend when the plant was half the cost of their lodging and meals. grossly overloaded, the plant functioned effi- Local health department staff resident at the ciently and no contamination of water occurred. games site for the entire month consisted of The more than 100 private homes in Squaw two sanitarians for daily inspections of eating Valley, many of recent construction, were places, housing, and other sanitary installations served by individual septic tank disposal in Squaw Valley and the surrounding area, one systems. All septic tanks were subject to public health nurse for work in isolation and rigorous regulations and inspections by the investigation of communicable diseases, and a county health department, and there were no medical officer to direct the health activities and reports of failure during the games. State and carry out a surveillance program on communi- local health officials also worked closely with cable diseases. A sanitary engineer from the officials of the three sewer districts in the Lake State health department worked periodically Tahoe area to insure optimum operation during at the games, and a reserve force of State health such abnormally heavy winter loading. department physicians, nurses, sanitarians, and Water supply for the main Olympic facilities, statisticians stood ready to come in on short except the private ski lodge, was obtained from notice should a severe disease outbreak or other three cased wells more than 100 feet deep public health emergency occur. The local pub- located in the floor of Squaw Valley. Results lic health bacteriology laboratory was available of frequent bacteriological sampling during the 80 miles away at the county seat, and the State previous year were good; however, chlorination virus laboratory 200 miles away was alerted to was also provided as an additional safeguard. receive specimens of suspected viral diseases. Chlorine residual was tested daily by the resi- By advance planning and careful budgeting dent sanitarians and ranged from a trace to of time and funds the local health department 0.5 ppm on all days exeept February 8 and 17, was able to give complete coverage to the when no residual was found. Breakdown of 432 Public Health Reports the chlorinating equipment and delay in obtain¬ processing center was visited daily during the ing the necessary parts accounted for the lack month by a resident sanitarian, but few cor¬ of chlorine residual on February 8. rections were necessary. Inspections covered The water supply for the private ski lodge temperature of dishwater and refrigerated stor¬ was derived from surface runoff collected from age units, rinse-water disinfecting procedures, a dam on a tributary of Squaw Creek high on food-handling techniques, appearance and the ski slopes within an unprotected watershed. cleanliness of food-handling personnel, cleanli¬ The local health department was instrumental ness of meat choppers, cutters, and other uten¬ in getting the owners to install a chlorinating sils, protection of storage areas from rodents, system before the Olympic Games, and the and other items of general food sanitation. equipment was operating successfully at the Larger than normal quantities of food and beginning of February. On February 7 a dishes necessitated use of booster units on the heavy rainstorm washed mud and debris into dishwashing apparatus to insure the required the reservoir and caused temporary failure of 180° F. temperature of the rinse water. the system. Turbid water was detected in this All the restaurants in the surrounding area supply for 2 days until negotiations were com¬ were inspected at least once in the fall of 1959 pleted for a temporary connection by fire hose and again in January 1960. During February to the main Olympic water supply. they were visited every 2 to 5 days by a resident Houses on the floor of the valley were sup¬ sanitarian. Some of the restaurants required pliedby two mutual water systems using ground a more frequent and more thorough check than sources. These wrere operated under permit others because they were trying to accommodate and surveillance of the local health department unusually large numbers of people with rela¬ and were considered safe without chlorination. tively antiquated equipment. State and local health officials during the pre¬ Through the combined efforts of the Cali¬ vious year had worked closely with small and fornia State Division of Housing and the local large water systems in the Lake Tahoe-Truckee health and building departments in the Squaw area in order to bring inadequate systems up to Valley area, inspection surveys of all public a reasonably safe standard.
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