Admittedly, this may not be among the more serious side-effects - such as death - but does affect considerably more than just those who contract the condition.

The consequences of COVID-19's relentless campaign for world domination have left countless people in all walks of life facing arduous - and potentially life-changing - decisions.

Like Boris Johnson, sport has not been immune to the situation.

And a handful of examples from Tasmania reveal the dilemmas facing elite athletes, the contrast in approaches and also the upshot of their tough calls.

For two sportsmen with so much in common, Stewart McSweyn and Jake Birtwhistle could not have taken much more different routes.

Both aged 25, in the prime of their careers and seemingly destined for a maiden Olympic Games in Tokyo, the pair go way back.

From inter-school cross-country championships at Symmons Plains to Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, the Launceston-born friends have either been in competition with, or support of, each other for most of their lives.

Both faced tough calls this year.

Australia's top-ranked triathlete, Birtwhistle was a day away from travelling to the UAE before the coronavirus took hold there in March, left Spain just before it went into lockdown and eventually flew home from Florida as America's death toll began to skyrocket.

After self-isolating at his family's shack at Greens Beach, Birtwhistle has since been living and training in Launceston.

While the obvious positive of this approach has been the relative safety of Tasmania, the negative was watching the weekend's triathlon world titles take place without him.

Already a world champ as a junior and mixed relay team member, the two-time Commonwealth Games medallist would have been a serious contender for the elite men's individual title claimed by his training partner Vincent Luis in Hamburg on Saturday.

McSweyn took an alternative approach.

Desperate for serious competition and the chance to expand his Olympic options, the King Islander embarked on a potentially hazardous trip to some of the planet's warmest coronavirus hotspots.

Basing himself in London, McSweyn lined up a European schedule including Monaco, France, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Croatia before taking in Qatar on the way home.

In contrast to his former Symmons Plains rival, while the negative was the risk of contracting the virus, the positive has been results on the track.

Keen to add 1500 metres to 5000 and 10,000m Olympic qualifications already secured, McSweyn set a new personal best of 3:31.48 in Stockholm as he edged ever closer to the Australian record for the distance.

Three more of Tasmania's Olympic hopefuls also found their road to Tokyo somewhat bumpier than expected.

Milly Clark followed the Birtwhistle approach, with similar results.

Seeking to qualify for a second consecutive Olympic marathon, the 31-year-old requires races to achieve the selection criteria and force her way into Australia's top-three performers.

Keen to improve her PB of 2:28:08 set on the Gold Coast last July, Clark had embarked on a round-the-world trip targeting the Rotterdam Marathon in early April.

However, the schedule included the New York Half Marathon as a warm-up, landing Clark in the Big Apple just as the pandemic began to tear through the city.

Like Birtwhistle, she caught the first flight home, spent the next fortnight breathing a big sigh of relief in Northern Tasmanian isolation and has since become a regular sight on the jogging trails of Launceston.

Richie Porte's options were less straight-forward.

Already in Europe when COVID arrived, the 35-year-old Launceston cyclist went into lockdown with his young family in Monaco.

Handsomely paid to lead Trek-Segafredo at the Tour de France, Porte made the agonising decision to fulfil his contractual obligations despite knowing it would mean missing the birth of his second child.

"Hurts more than words can express to miss the birth of your child," Porte said on Instagram after the arrival of Eloise, a couple of days before reaching the Tour's first rest day in 11th - the position he finished last year.

However, few athletes faced a bigger decision than Amy Cure.

Already a two-time Olympian, the West Pine track cyclist was one of just three Tasmanians confirmed on the team for Tokyo when the Games were postponed.

The delay was a year too far for the 27-year-old multiple world champion who promptly announced her retirement.

McSweyn has since become the fourth Tasmanian selected - joining paddler Daniel Watkins and track cyclist Georgia Baker - while Forth's Deon Kenzie was this week confirmed in Australia's Paralympic team.

Porte, Birtwhistle, Clark and several other Tasmanians remain strong chances to join them.

As is being said several times over on almost every television news segment at the moment, 2020 has been a year like no other.

Not since Jesse Owens and his contemporaries have athletes faced such adversity.

In 1940, as with 2020, the Olympic Games were due to be held in Tokyo before history intervened.

At least this time around the world is united against a common enemy.