Washington Post, June 21, 2020:
While much remains uncertain about the novel coronavirus that causes covid-19, five infectious-disease experts interviewed by The Post agreed that frequent testing of all players, regardless of whether they show symptoms, is the linchpin of any effective outbreak prevention policy. Ideally, all athletes should be tested before returning to campus, those experts said, and once full-contact practice begins — scheduled for early August — all players should be tested weekly.
“This is a highly transmissible virus … and we do know that with just a single case that’s not necessarily symptomatic, in high-risk settings, it can spread explosively,” said Albert Ko, an infectious-disease epidemiologist and professor at the Yale School of Public Health. “There’s actually a question and debate of whether you should test twice per week.”
Across college football, however, what Ko believes is a consensus is not yet agreed upon. Over the past week, The Post surveyed all 65 schools in the five major college football conferences and discussed best safety practices with the infectious-disease experts — including Ko, who consulted with the NBA, which plans to test its players every day when it attempts to resume play this summer.
In interviews, emails and news releases, officials in the Power Five conferences described policies that vary widely from school to school — most of them subject to change — ranging from weekly tests for all players, regardless of symptoms, to no tests for players unless they display symptoms or are discovered to have been near an infected person.
The array of policies among conferences and schools reflects the parochial nature of the sport, which is one reason college football could face more difficulties attempting to play during the pandemic than professional leagues.
I say this entirely without snark, but after reading some of yesterday’s comments here, I guess I need to say it: I am the proprietor of a blog about college football.
When I write about the pandemic, it’s not because I’m writing out of personal lifestyle caution, or because I want you to live your life the way I live mine, or because I want the economy to tank, or because it suits my political preferences or any of the other accusations I’ve seen some of you lob my way over the past couple of months.
Nor is it an invitation for you to tell me how we should live our lives, how it’s about suiting your political beliefs, how there aren’t really any experts who know more than a person who reads Facebook religiously does or any of the other rationalizations I’ve seen some of you pitch over the past couple of months. It’s not that I question your sincerity, just the relevance.
Because GTP is a blog about college football.
So here’s what matters to me, even if it doesn’t matter so much to you.
In just the past two days, here’s what we’ve seen:
If your immediate response to that is, don’t worry, they’re young, the data, etc., save your breath. It’s not relevant to me.
Because GTP is a blog about college football.
Here’s the real bottom line for me. You can brush off every bit of that news because it’s only June, but what happens when the same news hits in September or October? I’ll tell you what happens: they cancel football games. Then they trace back contact and cancel even more football games.
I point out what’s motivated schools and conferences to play and how ill-prepared they are for what they’re about to unleash, not because of the greed factor, or how mediocre they are at their jobs — believe me, there are plenty of other opportunities to illustrate those points — but because they’re about to fuck up something I don’t want fucked up, a 2020 college football season.
So, those of you who have other agendas to push, or are simply too stubborn to admit what’s coming, or even haven’t understood why I post, there you go. You are more than welcome to say your peace, whatever that might be, but if you’re commenting along those lines in the hopes of engaging me in some sort of debate over what’s right or wrong, save it.
Because GTP is a blog about college football.
Get The Picture 
Two thumbs up!
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Well said Senator !
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I had put out my UGA flag on June 8, the day that the players could enter “voluntary” workouts. I do that every year, usually the day that fall camp starts and the flag stays up until after the bowl game. But I think I am going to take it down, at least for a while, cause I would rather our team not get sick rather than me getting to watch them play. This just sucks
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I agree wholeheartedly with your post.
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Serious question. Actually a couple of them
1- do you think UGA hasn’t had any positives or does Kirby just have information locked down?
2- is there a silver lining somehow that says players develop some form of herd immunity and positives tests can somehow be interpreted as a good thing?
It would be the most UGA thing ever for our staff and doctors to do a great job, nobody gets infected, then everyone else develops hers immunity while we start the season vulnerable
If we play this season it’s probably the season where depth matters more than ever
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Jim, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; it’s all about herd immunity. The vast majority will not have symptoms and those that do will be over it in a few days. Just have to watch out for the older staff members.
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No hospitalizations or serious illness.
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Nearly half of the country is seeing R values over 1, including Georgia.
Rate of infectious reproduction is very important as we prepare to send students, etc back to campuses, Symptomatic or not.
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Average age requiring hospitalization has dropped into the 30’s due to all the young people getting sick.
We won’t hear numbers from UGA for at least 90 days.
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You are one thick-headed SOB.
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Just completely unnecessary.
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LOL
You pull the negative from the linked articles, I’ll stay positive.Carry on.
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Happy Fathers Day to all the dads! The thing about all the positive tests and the effect on college football is that this virus is basically a type of cold. it will more than likely be with us for years. Conservative early projections were and are that as much as half the population could eventually be exposed over the next several years. Some think that millions have already been exposed and that it began late last year.
The good folks who want to stay locked up and don’t see any way we can play college football appear to think we should keep the economy locked down until there is a vaccine. What if we never have a vaccine or the virus keeps mutating? Are we going to have this conversation next year? The year after?
The folks who ask how many deaths is it worth to have football are political imo. The aids epidemic was a rallying cry for democrats for decades. Given the ongoing cultural revolution many of us think that while a terrible virus… it is also another political sledge hammer being used to remake society. So don’t be surprised if there is some push back.
It is a fine line to balance sports and politics and this site does it better than any other. You have a good mix of opinions and most comments are respectful if not snarky. To those folks calling for massive change in our politics and our societal interactions and expecting that there will be college football on the other side… good luck with that.
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It’s like you didn’t read his post.
Also lol at “ The folks who ask how many deaths is it worth to have football are political imo.” Not sure how you’re defining “political” but it sure seems like a reasonable question to be asking. Frankly any person or party not asking the question is scary to me.
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Is one death too many? We loose over 50,000 each year to the flu… which is tragic. And as far as defining political it appears you answered that question yourself.
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#NewNormal
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The amazing thing about this “political” crisis us how it has united countries around the world with the singular purpose of making Trump look bad. I mean, China and Europe are contemplating new shutdowns, obviously timed to coincide with our campaign season. That’s some amazing unity.
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Politicians grasping for unprecedented power simultaneously has to be for good reason.
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A new Stanford study confirms that the fatality rate for the virus is less than one per thousand in infected patients under seventy. And I’m posting this as a man over sixty with underlying conditions.
Take the precautions you deem necessary but don’t shut down the economy and specifically college football. Sports appears to be the only thing that unites us and boy do we need it.
Have a great day.
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Just want to point out that one in a thousand – that’s one dead kid per conference. Also just want to point out that mortality isn’t the only potential outcome.
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The mortality rate he quoted was for under 70. And most of the risk will be at the higher ages.
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Actually what I want is to not be locked up but for people to socially distance and wear a mask in public places except for exercising or eating.
And the good people who don’t want to wear a mask should show some respect for the rest of us and stay home.
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He laid it out pretty clearly in the post. Here’s a test I propose before pressing “post.” If your reply includes any of the following words, yep, you completely missed the boat: Trump, liberals, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, “the media,” politics, political, “snowflakes,” “mamby-pamby,” “candy-assed,” economy, economics, election, or any derivation of Biden, Joe Biden, or Uncle Biden. Feel free to offer any suggestions as to words which I have forgotten.
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Trumptard is a personal favorite. I’ve been called that one on imgur.
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Haha; that probably qualifies.
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My assumption was they were allowed to come back for “practice” controlled infection. The virus is not going away so controlled infection is the answer as of today.
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If that’s the unspoken strategy, it’s some Tuskegee-level bullshit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment
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If one person who should be tested but can’t because sports testing is consuming test kits & lab use, THAT SAYS ENOUGH. Aside the economic impact, general public health & hospital care capability should drive the decisions. Test the police & military & health care workers & farmers & similar…. Congress & Executive branch can shut down/stay home & the country won’t collapse.
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BTW, Season ticket holder since 1980 something, retiring Sept 4 and was looking forward to spending many full weeks in a VRBO in Athens. Team potential looks great fof 2020. The time with tailgate friends & family, golf Fridays, meals at The Last Resort, Five n Ten, Cali nTitos, White Tiger, Heirloom Cafe, Mamas Boy, the Varsity, Southern Kitchen…, music at Hendershots, The Foundry, Georgia Theater, the breweries…. AND IN SANFORD STADIUM is a major part of our life. We go to most of the away games too. When we cant go, we gather at our local Bulldawg Club bar. It will be terrible if the season or even one game is cancelled. But it wont be the end of my life/world. Allowing anyone to die unnecessarily is not an option I can accept nor be a part of. The student athletes and coaches and referees (???) and tv production employees lives are worth much more than my entertainment and self serving wants.
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The standard of a single death is an interesting one. Several players have died over the history of college athletics. Football automotive traffic has resulted in deaths. And on and on and on. All of those deaths are unnecessary. So why the difference for this virus?
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I haven’t done the math but I will bet you the death rate over the past 150 years from any other cause such as injury, automobile wrecks, heat stroke, homicide, or any other cause is much lower than 1 in a thousand.
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Death dates aren’t the “even a single death” standard. But mortality rates for healthy 18-22 year-old athletes from Covid-19 are around zero.
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No, it is not zero. It is less than 1 in a hundred but so are all those other deaths from other causes.
No one (I hope) says that paralysis resulting from contact on the field only happens to less than 1 in a 1,000 and rounds to “around zero” and so no one needs to find ways to reduce the risk.
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Around zero is not the same as zero. But the 1 in 1,000 estimate is for all ages outside of nursing homes with all underlying conditions. For young healthy people, it’s much less. Like around the chances of being struck by lightning.
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What will really stress the system regarding UGA’s 2020 season is Athens/Clarke County (ACC). They made different decisions than the State of Georgia from the beginning and often purposely fight any directive outside of the local decision-makers. From my limited understanding of August’s reopening procedures for the University, not knowing what ACC might do keeps things a tad more difficult to figure out. What if ACC re-shelters in place and UGA wants 92,000 in the stadium? With no restaurants or lodging, etc; an unsupported influx of fans could be a problem. Could a mandatory mask order be enforced? Athens under the best circumstances struggles to handle Gamedays or ANY stress to the system and happens to include a sizeable population that has been traumatized by fifteen (the majority in a single nursing home) deaths and 55 hospitalizations (serving a seven county area).
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FWIW ACC has all but reopened at this point and I think did a commendable job calling their own shots given that their hospital systems serves a couple dozen surrounding counties and never really got too overwhelmed. It’s not like there is a disagreement between ACC and UGA, either; the thousands of administrators, faculty, and staff (and even a few thousand students) who live in Athens want their homes and families to remain relatively safe (including all of the football coaches and ADs). So, that’s why of the 3 options for reopening Sanford, 2 of them include no tailgating; you show up, you attend the game (likely with a mask required for entry), and then you drive back home or stay in a hotel. Would that hurt the Athens economy? Yes. Would it allow people who live in and around Athens to continue going to grocery stores and restaurants and to work throughout the Fall with the same level of risk that currently exists? Also yes. But then gameday is small potatoes compared to mid-August when freshmen roll in; we are all going to find out quickly just how sustainable this is by Labor Day.
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You mean cower in place
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Senator, if you were college football commissioner/czar, what would your solution be to have a normal/non-screwed up football season? What’s your definition of a normal football season?
If a season is going to be played, it isn’t going to be normal … not even close. Here are a few things I think are going to have to happen:
1) Players quarantined during the week under constant testing and let out for 6 hours on Saturday – I have no idea how they will control the movement of those who live off campus.
2) No fans allowed to attend – I just don’t see a scenario where a university is going to be able to enforce the requirements of distancing and masking
3) Campus closed down to prevent tailgating or such restrictions in place that it’s impossible
That, honestly, doesn’t sound like something I’m interested in participating in this season. That will probably mean we’ll win a national title since I have attended Georgia games every year since 1981.
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BIggest wildcard I can figure nationally is the exposure of players to their classmates when campuses fully open in the Fall. I think it’ll affect all teams though to varying degrees depending on geography and population density. So do you say “let’s push the season back a month and let everyone acclimate/the virus spread around campus and recalibrate in October”? Because the only other solution to that issue is make everything online for the Fall and have football go about business as they are currently.
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I think athletes are going to be required by their schools to take online classes only to minimize exposure.
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That’s not going to be possible, not for all 85 scholarship guys pursuing different majors, many of which simply don’t have online course options and not when everyone still has to meet PTD and 12 hour minimum eligibility requirements. It’s possible that some guys who have underlying health conditions could request online learning accommodations for their courses but unless UGA makes all of its courses hybridized or at least converts the large class sizes into online-based courses for the Fall, athletes are going to be on campus same as everyone else.
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I agree
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I still believe the NCAA will take its cues from MLB and the NFL. If MLB cancels its season (and I am willing to be it will), then the pressure will be on the NFL. If the NFL delays its season, I can not see a path where the NCAA and its member institutions can afford the risk exposure to be the first one out of the gate.
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Distribution of money and compensation is going to be the reason the MLB season won’t be played. If it doesn’t come back for 2020 it won’t be because of COVID-19.
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The entire premise of playing sports with zero positives confuses me. If that is the thinking, why did the schools bring athletes back in the first place? It sounded like they believed they could control the environment better than 100 hometowns. I understand that sick kids can’t play but zero positives and a miracle vaccine seem like unrealistic goals for college football or anything else. Fans worrying about your starting QB or OLine getting sick in 2020 is a waste of time. They will. Playing will mean walk ons in key roles. Forget a legitimate NC.
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I believe the NCAA and universities brought the athletes back because the money is too importsnt and the return date is the “best case scenerio.” Once the players were on campus the universities had them in a controlled environment. If the virus disipated the players are there and univetsities don’t have to round them up with the risk of having been exposed. If thd rates of infectiln grew the players are on campus and avsilable for playing under alternstive plans.
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Senator, thank you for the post.
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Mask required in classrooms. All but Tech and UGA will be “cowering”
University Name Masks required in classrooms?
UCLA Yes
Cal – Berkeley Yes
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor Yes
Univeristy of Virginia Yes
Georgia Tech No
UNC – Chapel Hill Yes
UC – Santa Barbara *likely yes
University of Florida Yes
UC – Irvine Yes
UC – San Diego Yes
UC – Davis Yes
College of William and Mary Yes
University of Wisconsin – Madison Yes
University of Illinois – Urbana Yes
UT – Austin Yes
UGA No
Ohio State – Columbus Yes
Florida State University Yes
Penn State – University Park Yes
Purdue Yes
Indiana Yes
Iowa State Yes*
Michigan State *not yet determined but probably yes
NC State – Raleigh Yes
Ohio State Yes
Purdue Yes
Stony Brook University yes
Texas A&M University Yes
U of Arizona Yes
U of California Yes
U of Florida Yes
U of Iowa Yes
U of KY Yes
U of MD Yes
U of Missouri Yes
Virginia Tech Yes
Penn State Yes
UT – Austin Yes
UC – Berkely Yes
UCLA Yes
U of Ill – Urbana-Champaign Yes
U of MI – Ann Arbor Yes
U of Minnesota – Twin Cities No* (but, see notes)
UVA Yes
U of Wisc – Madison Yes
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Yet some of those schools have players testing positive.
#It’sSoEasy
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So, is it relevant what the ultimate outcome of the infections are? Or are we simply playing the eliminate the curve game?
If 30 LSU players test positive, none develop serious symptoms, and all recover, does that matter? Or are we just going to cancel their games?
If the outcomes matter, then I think it’s entirely possible the season can be played. If every positive test is to be treated as an apocalyptic worst case scenario, then just shut it down now because positive tests will happen.
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flatten the curve?
Never heard of it.
#stayathome
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If the 30 LSU players have zero contact with older family members, coaches, friends, professors, janiorial staff. dining staff, and classmates then testing positive is not relevant. If the players are part of the university community then players getting thed virus is a public health problem.
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” If 30 LSU players test positive, none develop serious symptoms, and all recover, does that matter? Or are we just going to cancel their games?”
It matters, because the virus continues to spread that way.
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So you’re in the eliminate the curve camp? Fine.
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The best news I have seen so far is that protests in cities like Seattle do not appear to have spiked case counts. That suggests being outdoors with a mask even in crowds is a reasonably low risk-activity. Which means you could some things with attendance.
But the games have to happen for fans to attend.
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It is still too early to know the long term effects of the protests. I cant see how it helped anything Covid related. Not talking about the need for the protests or not. Tens of thousnds of people standing should to shoulder chanting for hours and hours can’t be good from a pandemic view point.
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In several cities, protesters were encouraged to get tests and identify themselves as protesters, date and area of activity, etc.
So far, positive rate in that group has been well below national average.
But it’s a self selected group, so the usual caveats apply.
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Keep rolling the dice, ADs.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/coronavirus/os-ne-coronavirus-pasco-county-boy-coronavirus-20200621-kkq52lhrnbe67k6uytj4yqjlzu-story.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true
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Fwiw, I do appreciate the Jon Stewart, “I’m just a comedian,” defense.
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Too bad that’s not what I offered.
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Easy pal, I’m just a football blog commenter.
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Nothing wrong with that. Sorry, I had you confused with a mind reader.
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No need to read minds to gauge your thoughts on the matter.
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Tell me something, then. What should happen if, say, 20-30 players on a team test positive in week three of the season. Do you just tell the asymptomatic ones, play, because the odds are in their favor? What if they don’t want to? What if their healthy teammates don’t want them to? What about the older coaches who don’t face the same odds? What about that week’s opposing team and coaches?
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What should happen depends upon what the standard of risk is. If the standard is, take whatever action is necessary if it might save even a single life, then shut down colleges completely until there is a 100% effective vaccine. If the standard is sometime a little more realistic, then colleges can host class and athletics with some precautions.
If you’re asking what will happen, like most other things, it will be whatever coaches and schools can get away with. Even with significant evidence on head trauma, coaches still leave kids in when they shouldn’t. Unless the NCAA or conferences come up with standards that will be enforced, schools will play kids who test positive. Fortunately, the risk to the players looks to be fairly low. And I guess coaches can wear masks.
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Is the standard of risk different in the regular season than it is in the preseason? ‘Cause they’re shutting down practices now over this.
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I have no desire to endanger any of these kids health with Covid but what do we do cancel the season and hope we have a better handle on things net year? It is a serious question. If so let’s go ahead and do it. I am not sure how much will change in a year for the better or worse. If we have a vaccine maybe we can get a handle on this. There are no good answers to any of the questions we have. I would rather wait until we can play a whole seson than the hodge podge of who knows what this season.
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Canceling the season has its own set of challenges for the sport. For example, assuming all players receive an extra year of eligibility, how is that going to play out for scholarship limits for the 2021 class? Are all freshman deemed to be redshirted for 2020 with 4 years to play 4 seasons? How are schools going to be able to afford all of the season ticket (and, potentially, contribution) refunds? How many colleges will be required to shutter their athletic departments due to the loss of ticket revenue and media rights revenue? How many non-revenue sports get terminated?
I don’t have the answers, but the decision to cancel the season has ramifications that will reshape colleges and universities for years to come.
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One problem at a time I reckon.
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A vaccine will be a big step but like with the flu, not sure it will be a panacea. For me and my comfort level, I’m looking for reliable treatment options that don’t involve ventilators or lung transplants. For example, if those common steroids turn out to be a reliable and simple treatment with minimal side effects, then I would think we could get back to normal.
But right now, the risk may be fairly low but the consequences are too high. Our ICU beds are filling up here in Houston where we have a world class medical center. This is in sharp contrast to just a few weeks ago when our ICU usage rates were below our normal. And the patients are much younger.
Bottom line, in my opinion there are too many questions to say we will have football this fall. I understand that they have to plan like they are going to play (and that students will return to campus), but I can’t see any of that happening without some big changes in treatment and testing.
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Expecting good decisions from anyone is unreasonable when there are no clear cut answers.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but it seems to me that society should be primarily focused on protecting those most at risk. College students do not fall within that category.
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If we have classes it would seem we can have football. If we don’t have classes it would seem we can not have football. So 1st and foremost we have to determine if we’re having classes.
And nationally things are pretty much Wild Wild West. Even New York City people are now hitting the bars no mask no social distancing. Everything down here is wide open. It seems the country has hit a point of no return.
In August leaders commissioners directors presidents are gonna have to make some real big time decisions.
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No, it isn’t like that at all, actually. We can have classes with masks and socially-distant spacing and limited class sizes and, actually, we can be fully online and have classes too, you may have heard.
Let us know how football can have social distancing and online tackling.
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I have 0 faith in 30000 people that ride busses , go to class, live together, eat together, over 85 student athletes. Those 30000 are not gonna be tested, monitored. Furthermore there’s 8 million things you do in college that you cannot do online.
So I completely and vehemently disagree with you. If they can have class they can have football.
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All I feel like I know is that it will be a cluster but luckily we have the brightest and smartest to lead the way, college ADs.
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And even if games are played, 30 players won’t be available for any given game. Not sure even Kirby can manage the roster through this.
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I second what you’re saying Senator. I work for a large community college district and the thought of playing college football this fall with the resources and personnel that we have in place scares the heck out of me. I do not think that this is a good idea at all. College football has been shut down before for emergencies, like World War l and World War II, it probably ought to be shut down again until we figure this thing out. Hate to say it because it’s my favorite thing other than my family, but I just don’t think these folks can pull this off.
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Has the idea of an extra year of eligibility been brought up in the event there is no season or a severely shortened one? I don’t recall having seen it discussed yet.
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If Fall sports don’t happen, they will likely get an extension of their eligibility given what the NCAA extended to the cancelled Spring sports. But, guys who are eligible for the NFL draft could still go so it’d be akin to everyone taking a redshirt which means we could lose out on a year of seeing some guys play longterm.
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Here are some #s from the GA Dept of Public Health:
https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report
688,588 tests so far in GA
58,013 positive tests; so 8.4% of all tests have been positive
2,642 deaths; so 4.5% of all positives died, or 0.3% of all people tested
So why can’t we proceed? These numbers reflect several weeks of the state being “opened.” I realize that people haven’t gathered in great numbers yet, in churches or arenas or anywhere large crowds have congregated before; but these percentages tell me that, even if you do get sick, you’re very unlikely to die from this virus. That doesn’t mean you can’t get sick, or that we shouldn’t take precautions; but, I think regulating Sanford Stadium to 1/3-full status (2 empty seats between every occupied seat); requiring fans to wear masks (realizing most would take them off, once they got inside the stadium); and strongly suggesting that everyone get tested (which I’ve done, twice; and I fail to understand why anyone in GA who’s worried about the virus hasn’t gotten tested) would be precautions enough for the fans.
Of course any player who tests positive has to be quarantined, for however long it takes to be sure the player’s no longer sick. I’d require frequent tests for players, twice weekly maybe.
The virus is dangerous. I’m genuinely sorry for anyone who’s gotten sick from it, and I pray that we as a society can work our way through. But I think we can deal with it if we’re careful.
One other thing: Senator, I’d love to read your thoughts, not on what we shouldn’t be doing, but on what we should be doing, how to play or not to play. Like you say, this is a college football blog, the best, most informed, most thoughtful blog I’ve ever seen on the Internet. I think you’re one of the most responsible writers anywhere. I’ve presented my specific thoughts on what needs to be done, now I want yours. I think you owe it to all your readers.
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He doesn’t “owe” anybody anything.
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If most of the Georgians i see in our local Lowes and Krogers refuse to wear masks I have ZERO confidence that the Georgis fans will adhere to mitigation guidelines.
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Wide open here and most everywhere
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I think Kirby will be on the mother systematically better than his peers. Will that be enough?
The students in Athens currently are having a run of positive tests. Asymptomatic for the most part but positive is positive. The players are bound to get it unless you figure out how to keep them under house arrest for 6 months. Don’t think that’s going to happen..
If you acknowledge there are going to be positive cases by players during the season, then risk mitigation would indicate twice weekly testing for rapid isolation. The asymptomatic nature of transmission with this among kids could easily result in multiple otherwise healthy players missing games simply for positive test. That’s ironic because teams pump players full of fluids and let them play when they have missed practice all week from other viruses. There is no differentiation between being Covid positive and whether a player is actually ill. This is going to cause issues during the season.
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“shut up” he explained.
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Interesting take on “You are more than welcome to say your peace, whatever that might be”.
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There is no plausible way to prevent infection.
None.
If the expected standard is to quarantine players for two weeks when they are positive, there will be no season.
That’s reality.
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I’d be ok to push back and play 4 -7 exhibition games. Thatd be enough to fix the scholie and draft stuff. It’s clear its gonna fracked.
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Thanks, Mike. I’ve been posting that message as often as possible here and all I’ve heard back is “Now do Georgia”.
Think that your purpose was the same as mine – you didn’t want reality to hit with a big thud later and destroy college football in everyone’s mind.
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The solution is simple: don’t test! Then there are no positive results and we can rest easy, amirite? Even the current resident of the White House thinks tat is the answer.
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So. Much. This.
Trump said exactly today words. He wants people dead. Nail salons are the new gas chambers.
#CovidHolocaust
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*those words
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The bottom line is this…if we test we are going to have rampant positives. If the collective “we” decides that “we” want sports back then “we” have to be prepared for positive tests. The only way to ensure that we don’t have athletes testing positive is to cancel the season and stop testing athletes on campus. That is the reality regardless of what your political, economic, or social stance is on the virus and what we need to do as a society to try to limit the spread.
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The European Football leagues have developed best practices for handling COVID within sports. They are not perfect but the EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A are all back playing in front of zero fans. Players have been in quarantine and remain in quarantine. It is not perfect but it seems to a better plan than what is being offered here in the US.
From a sport standpoint, it looks like Europe (at least in the football leagues) all followed a standardized policy which has gotten them to playing games again. Of course they have been trying to complete their seasons (Ligue 1 in France cancelled the rest of their season) and it will be interesting to see what their process will be for the 2020-21 season.
Atlanta United has had 2 players test positive in recent days and they have been in quarantine. There have been reports of MLB and NFL positive tests in recent weeks. Obviously we have heard about the positive tests in college athletics.
Based on what I have read above, I think some people are confusing an asymptomatic diagnosis as not being contagious. An asymptomatic player still needs to go to quarantine.
Last Week Tonight discussed sports several weeks ago – if they truly want to do this right. Players, coaches and staff will be in quarantine for the length of the season.
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I don’t disagree with your conclusion, but the idea that colleges will quarantine student-athletes for the length of the season while not requiring the rest of their student populations to do so is unlikely.
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In a weird way, it would have been easier to quarantine if athletic departments were still operating under the 80’s/90’s with athletic only dorms, etc.
There is no easy answer here but, at least for me, I am disappointed by the inability to develop a cohesive policy across the board other than everybody do it your own way.
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