During an interview on “Marty & McGee” on ESPN Radio, Sankey was asked about looming decisions the SEC must make about the upcoming season, with coronavirus cases across the South rising, and about announcements the Big Ten and Pac-12 have made regarding the move to conference-only schedules.
“We put a medical advisory group together in early April with the question, ‘What do we have to do to get back to activity?’ and they’ve been a big part of the conversation,” Sankey said. “But the direct reality is not good and the notion that we’ve politicized medical guidance of distancing, and breathing masks, and hand sanitization, ventilation of being outside, being careful where you are in buildings. There’s some very clear advice about — you can’t mitigate and eliminate every risk, but how do you minimize the risk? … We are running out of time to correct and get things right, and as a society we owe it to each other to be as healthy as we can be.”
In other words, stop being assholes playing politics so the SEC can get back to its usual business of making money. Yeah, I’m sure that’s a message that’ll sink in with its intended targets.
[Ed. note: Might as well be proactive with a timeout warning. Post off-point at your own risk.]
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UPDATE: And in case they didn’t get the message…
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UPDATE #2: You should read Seth’s piece ($$) on Sankey’s quote.
Sankey’s comments, issued on what would normally be a quiet Saturday morning radio show, were … well, we want to say wake-up call. But really, how many more wake-up calls do we need? How many more times did the football fan base, politicians and complicit media members need to be told that the season was in trouble if people’s behavior didn’t change?
Nick Saban, for goodness sakes Nick freaking Saban, filmed a video wearing a mask asking fans to do the same. Kirby Smart said in May that fans needed to socially distance and listen to the experts in order for there to be a season.
And not enough people listened.
We all know what to do, but the Venn diagram of the people who need their long gun at target for protection and those who won’t wear a mask to protect others is a circle.
I don’t want to say this is an easy problem to solve, but it’s obvious from the world around us that it didn’t have to be this devastating for this long.
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“We all know”… damn… why didn’t you tell us… you could have saved thousands of lives.
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Yeah.
Stay home or stay distant, and wear a mask when you’re out. The US has screwed this up so badly, but our arrogant, ignorant asses turned it into political theater and owning/shaming instead actually recognizing it for the public health emergency that it is.
Plus, when we did do what was asked of us, our incompetent government did nothing for those three weeks, and that goon in the White House started talking about liberating states.
So, yeah, we did know, and if you’ve opted not to take the actions required of you, you’re at fault, too.
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will comment later except for the three weeks in february where trump was deferring to the experts at the cdc…not throwing them under the bus was evidently a big mistake. your four Democrat governors in the northeast ordered that nursing homes accept psitive cases which killed tens of thousands and as of today represent over half the deaths in the country. most governors began telling people to wear masks around the middle of April after the trump thirty day shutdown of the economy…but you all knew that the country should have been completely shutdown in early February and everyone ordered to wear masks….even though fauci was sayin at the same time that masks were unnecessary… of course at the same time yall were calling trump a racist for stopping flights from china…the origin of the virus. must be nice to say wear a mask and stay home and blame everything on your political opponent…and of course none of that matters if you are protesting for the right political side.
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Congrats! You’re our first timeout winner!
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chuckle
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Cat deserved a T.O. just for lack of Caps & basic grammar.
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It’s your house Senator so you can kick out whoever (or is it whomever?) you want. But come on, there has been plenty of Trump bashing here. See above: “that goon in the White House”. Doofus swings back and gets put in time out? You may not agree with doofus but I can’t find much wrong with what he said.
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I am going to say this for the last time to those of you who are complaining about fairness. I don’t give a shit anymore.
I gave fair warning in the comments this morning, and, if you note, gave a proactive heads up when I published this post. His was the first out of bounds comment I saw and thus he’s the one getting the penalty.
I’ll sympathize more with your complaint when I feel like you’re at least trying to meet me half way. Defending what he had to say isn’t that.
You guys are free to spout whatever political beliefs you want in the Playpen and in any particular post that invites it. This wasn’t that.
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You don’t think there’s a pattern, do you?
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I think Ray Charles could see the pattern.
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If there’s a blog out there more attuned to your political sensibilities, I won’t be upset if you leave here and follow it.
A Fox News-type Georgia football blog is probably a niche that would find a nice audience.
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I have no problem associating and interacting with people who I disagree with. I think it was Voltaire who said: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” I don’t think I’ve been a political flame thrower here. I was just pointing out that, in my opinion, doofus wasn’t anymore inappropriate than Ben. You feel differently and it is your blog, so I will respect that.
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The point is, he was inappropriate enough.
You keep focusing on the content, while I keep focusing on the lack of respect for my wishes. It’s the latter that’s generated the timeout.
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Understood.
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“The point is, he was inappropriate”
Nobody’s arguing that. They argument is you are applying your rules selectively. It is indeed “the content”. You say “no politics” but you really mean “no politics except mine”. You won’t give a straightforward answer to Gurkha’s question because he’s right.
And “if conservatives don’t like it, go find another blog” is your answer to loyal readers who give you fair feedback?
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No, they’re either ignoring it or downplaying it, as you are.
I said “no off-topic”, not “no politics”, but even if I accept your interpretation for the sake of argument, consider what the consequences for poor Doofus are: his comment hasn’t been deleted (indeed, if it had appeared in the Playpen, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now), he hasn’t been banned from the site and his posting privileges haven’t been suspended. All I’ve done is arrange for his comments to be shunted aside to a holding place where I can review them in advance before they are posted. And once it seems like he’s ready to comply with the rules of the site, I won’t even do that.
The reason you think that is because you believe the priority should be on supporting political speech while I think the priority is on preserving site decorum. Gurhka conceded he understands where I’m coming from.
Depends on how you are defining “it” and “fair”. My comment was offered in the sense that if my emphasis on enforcing the rules bothered him enough that he would prefer to find a place that lets people of his political sensibilities have their way — I can think of at least one bulletin board that offers such — I wouldn’t be offended if he took off. And again, his feedback is fair if you accept the priority that preserving conservative speech at GTP is foremost, regardless of how people behave.
I’m sorry if you’re offended by this, but I can assure you whatever offense you feel right now pales in comparison to the way I feel about how many of you have ignored my wishes over the past few months.
BTW, I can’t help but notice that you don’t express any sorrow over Cojones receiving the same treatment. Is that because it was a righteous bust, or because you don’t share his politics?
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So I did not drop by last night looking for a fight – I actually come here for football. But your reply is arguing against a lot of straw men arguments I never made. I never wrote that he shouldn’t be dinged, or that it was too severe, or I didn’t like your timeout rule or process, or that I was offended.
He deserved it, as did Ben, and Cojones too. I never said you should allow “off topic” politics – I wish you would ban all politics, but you’d have to stop your blog posts that troll for it, too.
But it appeared to several of us that you saw the first punch and only flagged the second. No problem – easy to do. But when it was pointed out, you said to hell with fairness and if people (Fox News = some brand of conservatives) didn’t like it they could hit the road.
That is what happened. Your reply is a lot of typing that does not address my post. I like you too much to keep picking at this sore, so if you want to respond feel free to have the last word.
It seems like the policing is a source of great frustration to you, and I sympathize, but it’s been going on for years, now. It seems painfully obvious that many posters of good faith cannot tell where your lines are for “off topic”, “on topic” and “kind of related but okay” and how far is too far on a given day. I have not studied your original posts, but I would guess the political comments are not coming in a vacuum – is it possible your original blog posts are more political in recent years?
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The meme has been out there for a long time about stopping the virus in the south being easy because we love our football. We proved them wrong.
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Yep
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Does anyone argue against the evidence that this spike in cases is a result of bars and/or restaurants opening without proper oversight? Stated differently, is this a result of mostly young people not heeding the warnings? Why is Sankey lecturing everyone when it seems the target audience is small.
we owe it to each other to be as healthy as we can be
Don’t lecture me, you pompous ass. I do my part. Now do yours. Lead, follow or get out of the way.
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Yes.
I think all sorts of things have resulted in the spread of the virus, not just bars and nightclubs.
In short, all human activity.
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They have humans where this thing has been handled you know.
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Bar and restaurants, too, presumably.
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Yep. Its not bars, restaurants or protests or human activity in general that have placed our favorite pastime at peril. Those things are present and have occurred in other places yet the rates of covid here are 10,000% higher here than in places like germany, GB, Ireland and france.
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Until recently, there hasn’t been a bar, restaurant or non-essential store open in New York, California, et al, since March.
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“Until recently, there hasn’t been a bar, restaurant or non-essential store open in New York, California, et al, since March.”
Incorrect.
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Death rates are higher in half of Europe. But never mind that. Nature will bend to our votes.
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Sweeden basically did nothing. And sweeden is always pointed to as the perfect country.
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And far more people died in sweden than in neighborhood countries.
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Except for some, that’s true.
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Derek, not being combatant here but I’m not convinced the collection of numbers is accurate. First, is every country testing at the rate we are and are they reporting all numbers accurately. Second, more than one US hospital has been caught as reporting COV-ID as the cause of death without confirming it through testing.
If gathering in numbers close to each other without wearing masks, is the cause for the spread, then gathering in numbers close to each other without masks is what not to do.
If people are doing this in other countries and not spreading the virus, what are they doing different? If they are wearing masks and enjoying social life without infecting, then Americans are dumb for gathering and NOT wearing masks. And, who’s fault is that? We have been told. Not sure how the Germans are gathering at bars and drinking while wearing masks thought.
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If i sought and accepted the responsibility of managing a crises such as a pandemic I would do everything in my power to achieve results commiserate with the most successful nations facing the same threat and attempt to do so in a way that everyone, save the extremely fucking stupid, trusted the publicly available information. But I’m didnt and so I’m not. But I can say that this:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/all-hospitals-are-full-houston-overwhelmed-icus-leave-covid-19-n1233430
Seems worse than this:
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/03/887128848/a-look-at-how-europe-is-getting-back-to-normal-after-coronavirus-lockdowns
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I guess these knuckleheads at ESPN should start getting their resumes together so they can go work at Arby’s in December. By then ESPN will be doing replays of Australian Rules Football and Lebron James Town Hall Meetings on wokeness .
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Why did the CDC change the definition of corona virus in April to expand it ie pneumonia.
Unfortunately, football is fighting more than a new virus.
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Exactly…Corona wasn’t killing enough people lately.
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It’s likely because people were getting pneumonia because of complications from the virus. Exactly how they should be counted.
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Amazing how people who can armchair quarterback the CDC do not realize that pneumonia is a condition caused by bacteria or viruses, not a disease itself
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Zig Zag Zell would be impressed by the CDC
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Are you telling me that recommendations on a never before seen virus had to change?!? Ridiculous! I expect perfection for my underfunded government agency! They didn’t know everything in 5 months?!? Worthless! Anyway, you should’ve volunteered for the landmark experiment where they tested to see how far away uninfected people could stand from a cougher with the virus without a mask to see if they got infected. Give me a break.
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chortle
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Don’t forget the righteous indignation we get to have at anyone who doubts the obviously incomplete SCIENCE. When lockdowns were the order of the day, it is our duty to mock those who doubt the SCIENCE. Months later, when lockdowns show no correlation with better outcomes, oh well. But don’t expect an apology from us.
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It’s funny you say that because even at the time people are saying the lock down by itself is it going to cure the virus. It was meant to buy time, time that every other developed country in the world used to figure how to isolate spread post-lockdown. Instead we got a large group who said fuck this lockdown, we never should’ve done it, and the virus is a hoax. Our lockdown was even half assed.
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And it turns out that the lockdowns accomplished nothing. Oh well, huh? That doesn’t mean those proles were right. We’ll just keep imposing new shit upon them until something works, hopefully.
But humility isn’t on our toolkit. We mock them when we’re wrong and we mock them even harder when we’re right.
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Who says the lockdowns accomplished nothing? They accomplished something in every other country. They accomplished something in NY and Seattle and other outbreak hot spots. But rather than learn, SC, FL, AZ, and TX had to go through the same hard lessons.
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The data says they accomplished nothing. If you really believe that New York had a superior experience with the virus than Florida or Texas, it’s not based on data.
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I think you are purposefully being thick. TX and FL has a chance to AVOID having the shit experience that NY had. They had time. They learned nothing.
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I’m talking about data. You’re not.
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You dumb shit of a Sankey. You had the opportunity over 3 most ago to promote those rules with the SEC and the NCAA, but you didn’t promote shit except kicking the can downhill.
You and Trump and the Republicans will meet your maker without anything on the humanity side of your card and last I heard She doesn’t take checks or credit cards.
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Maybe stick with republican leaders? I’m a republican, and agree with you, but myself and many of my closest friends/family do everything we can. I am also evangelical about encouraging others to be wise with the way they handle themselves. Please dont just say Republicans. There are those of us that are good people too, or at least try.
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#FreshTake
#OppositionPartiesGoToHell
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The whiners have a point about your post, so you can join Doofus.
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If you are playing without fans, it seems as if this message ought to be directed at players.
They seem to be infected at a higher rate then the general public and will constitute the lion’s share of individuals in attendance.
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The virus’s greatest strength is that it moves slower than a news cycle. We just can’t stay focused on it long enough to get a handle on it.
Maybe she can be our next commissioner.
https://www.politico.com/amp/news/magazine/2020/07/08/gina-raimondo-interview-rhode-island-governor-covid-353799?__twitter_impression=true
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More testing = more cases. The players that are getting tested weekly (or more) don’t show symptoms but test positive. The fatality number is now matching normal flu death rates (that include pneumonia). Bottom line the leaders need to decide is something millions enjoy worth the risk? I would wager most of the players, coaches and fans would accept the risk and go forward. Those that don’t can stay home until they feel comfortable with a lower risk.
In a no fans at games scenario where players/ coaches are tested weekly at a minimum, the risk level is very low. TV revenue is maintained and there is a season. I suspect the no fans at games season is what will happen. If there’s no season my only enjoyment will be getting my refund from Greg.
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There were 0 flu death in the 27th week of this year
839 covid deaths on July 10th.
So some may consider those “matching” rates depending upon whether your encephalogram comes back positive or not.
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For half of each year approximately 560 people from the flu. Not to mention the CDC changed the way cause of death is listed.
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Burn!
#MillionsWillDie
#RatesEqualCounts
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I’m not sure where you are getting your informatiion: “more testing=more cases”. Not sure that is accurate at all, since both the hospitialization rates and the positive test results are up at a higher rate than the testing is increasing. Everything I read from scientists is that not only is the rate of the virus increasing, most likely due to poor social distancing during reopen efforts, protests, political rallies, etc. Of course I choose to get my info from the scientists, not the political wanks who want to convince me that “we are doing great” so their election chances improve.
I am also unclear why people are having such a hard time thinking beyond the players themselves. Sure, many of them want to play, it is the dream of every UGA player to make the NFL, and that won’t happen if they can’t play and demonstrate their skills. However, given that a majority of the players are black, and the death rate for blacks is about 5 times as high as for whites, do you not think some of these kids might not want to take the virus home to mom, dad and grandma/grandpa? Sure, they are young and will most likely be fine, but they can’t be sure that they are virus free and only asymptomatic and take the virus home to loved ones who are five times more likely to die. Just for your entertainment value. Oh, and don’t tell me they should just choose not to play.
Those who say this virus is only hitting “old people” are also blind to the fact that “Old” by this definition is 65. I am a very healthy 66 year old. I do not smoke, I am not overweight and don’t have diabetes. I work out diligently. But I am still at high risk because I have a genetic heart disorder and damaged my lungs in a car accident years ago. So pardon me if I think that anyone who is too cool to wear a mask in public, who demands that bars and restaurants open so they can have drinks with their pals, who insist that the pandemic is a “hoax” etc. is not using the proper neurons to think for themselves, and have no sense of responsibility to their fellow men and women. I would say something more forceful, but I don’t want to end up in time out.
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I haven’t seen the latest figures for this week if they are out yet, but for the last week June/first half week of July, the CDC highlights page notes that both outpatient and emergency department hospitalization are below the baseline rate for ILI against the five year average in all ten regions surveilled.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0o9a5neVj2QdxV1nNdO6wRc2nKpPQf7vgnATHahluBlGjfRDKZM3k5-Tw
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It also notes that positive test results declined from the previous week from 9.2% to 8.8%.
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Both can be true. A person who tests positive and must test negative before returning to work must test often. So if he tests positive nine times before testing negative, that shows up as nine positives in the counts, even though it’s the same guy. Florida has explicitly admitted this is how their data works. Other states haven’t, but I’ve seen IT guys claim they don’t have a system to do anything else.
However, infections are likely up because of decrease distancing. The good news (for those who want the pandemic over) is that death rates continue to decline. So the new cases are less serious than the early cases.
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The doctors are also finding good medicine combos. But even that’s been politicized
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By the same token, those that test negative can and do retake the test every day if they want to, and some do. This reflects the test accounting in favor of deflating the true infection rate.
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Two things:
1) Please stop with the flu comparisons, it’s not a good look. Over the last 8 years, the US has averaged an estimated 38,000 deaths a year from the flu (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html), and that factors in one of the all time worst years for the flu in 2017-2018 COVID-19 is closing in on 4x that number in roughly half a year. And unlike the flu, COVID-19 doesn’t have a vaccine, a ready supply of trusted treatments, an understanding of long term health effects, or an infrastructure built to handle it.
2) Looking at current data on a national level is a disservice. It’s a volume vs. velocity issue. Right at 13% of the entire country lives in the NYC, LA, and Chicago metros, and they got hit early, so the national data spiked like bombs going off. As it has now spread to less densely-populated areas, the impact to national aggregate numbers will be less, but it’s incredibly difficult to determine whether the rate of spread has been reduced.
Anyone that tells you they have they have sufficient grasp of COVID-19 is full of shit, on any “side” you choose to listen to. All we can do is what Saban, Smart, Sankey, and pretty much everyone not beholden to party politics have others have advocated – minimize risk to ourselves and be considerate to how our actions and decisions can potentially affect others. It is the least we can do until we understand more, especially if we want football, school, or better economic outcomes.
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1) Both are viruses and kill people. They both spread rapidly, the flu cases number in the hundreds of millions and covid will as well. That puts them in the same ballpark, not like smallpox 500 years ago which is how the media treats covid.
2). Short of living in a bubble there isn’t a way to eliminate the covid risk. It’s going to spread and run it’s course whatever that is.
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1) 8-10x more deadly and exponentially less understood is one hell of a ballpark
2) minimizing risk does not mean the same thing as eliminating risk.
My 4 year old grasps the concept that wearing a helmet while riding a bike minimizes but does not eliminate the risk for a head injury while biking. But then again, my 4yo is not trying to rationalize a political stance.
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#NotEvenASingleHeadInjury
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8 to 10 times based on the cdc revised guidelines.
Spot on about risk.
My point is let individuals decide what is enough risk without taking away so many activities those individuals enjoy. I guess that’s a political view vs. acting like lemmings.
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The Covid-19 virus doesn’t give a shit. You furnish the red meat, it infects.
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We will learn much about society before this is all over. Our freedoms may come at a steep price to society in general. Football would be great this fall, but we may not get the chance without to have football.
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For those arguing COVID=flu, please at least be intellectually consistent noting the fact that it has achieved its number of deaths despite the fact that we are in an unprecedented lockdown (opposed by many) that has limited spread. Less than 1% of the country has gotten it accroding to John’s Hopkins’ count. Even if you assume 10x of that number has been asymptomatic, that is still 90% of the country that has not been exposed. We don’t shut down schools and businesses and every other activity for the flu to achieve its annual fatality rate.
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You’re looking at the math wrong. Using the best CDC estimate, upwards of 40 million people have been exposed.
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Yes! About 10% of the population!!!
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Hit send too fast.
It also means that that the remaining 90% includes shit ton of people who have been isolated from this given their age and underlying conditions once we learned to keep it out of the elderly and at risk population.
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But we don’t need 100% exposure to hit burnout. Probably about 20% will get us there.
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Burnout? I have certainly seen the speculation that it dies out at 20%, but I also read the same speculation that the heat would kill it. I hope it does.
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Mayo clinic cites an estimate that 70% of the population needs to be exposed or vaccinated to reach herd immunity for Covid. So 20% probably won’t get us there.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/herd-immunity-and-coronavirus/art-20486808
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Yeah the Chicom virus is deadly and irritating. So is the heat. But what’s really pissing me off is all the whinging. Everyone needs to get back to work and school. Wash your nasty hands and don’t touch your face. Wear your mask when you’re around people and be courteous. But stop whining. You know who you are.
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I saw the post yesterday and had to stop by and check the carnage. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be!
RR’s comment draws mine: Unless specifically ordered otherwise we are going back to school. If we do have the session there is no way I’ll avoid being infected, if I haven’t been already. I’m really not that concerned about it and my lifestyle allows me to easily distance outside of work.
What I am absolutely sure that we will see once schools reopen is the biggest increase in positive tests yet. How will society react to it? I don’t know but watching how it’s been handled so far? CFB will agree to a conference only limited access schedule. School goes back, cases skyrocket and the respective Governors will shut it back down. No CFB or school.
Because of all the social interaction for the short period of school session the genie will get all the way out of the bottle, positives will go sky high, “Herd Immunity” or “burnout” will be reached around the first of the year. Hopefully things will start getting back to normal.
P.S. I can’t stop laughing picturing Doofus and Cojones as Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in “Stir Crazy”.
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My question is if there are not going to be fans present then aren’t the stats outside of the people directly connected to the football programs meaningless to the health of the teams?
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