Just goes to show the state of both journalism and expertise today. The doctor, looked at as an expert, says something off the cuff that he heard from another expert and is reported by a local outlet. The national media runs with it, because it's all on board with permanent hysteria, and never bothers to fact-check the absurdity of the stat. The original story got all of the play...the follow-up oopsie...not so much. There is only one reported case of myocarditis in the Big Ten -- Indiana's Brady Feeney -- the kid whose mother wrote about on Facebook. By the way, Feeney got coronavirus during the lockdown. Not playing football.
Notre Dame was the last ACC team to announce its schedule. They'll host Kentucky in addition to previously announced matches. Speaking of Kentucky, I have assembled the following schedule based on other schools' announcements: 9/17 @ Notre Dame 9/21 Duke 9/28 Louisville 10/3 Central Arkansas 10/17 UAB 10/30 @ Duke
There have been some disparities amongst the ACC schools on which games are exhibitions, which games are non-conference and which games are conference. I think I've got the non-con vs. con figured out, but exhibitions are another story. But as near as I can tell, the first match of the 2020-21 men's soccer season will be Sept. 17 at 7 pm EDT, Kentucky at Notre Dame.
UVA vs. Clemson exhibition canceled Two players on the Clemson men's soccer team have tested positive for Covid-19. A Friday exhibition against Virginia has been canceled.https://t.co/0MqxsIbh9e— Travis Clark (@travismclark) September 10, 2020
Georgia Southern released its schedule. The Eagles will play their 6-game, double round-robin Sun Belt schedule, the previously released UAB home-and-away and road matches at South Carolina and Mercer. Your Eagles hit the pitch just 9⃣ days from now. Here's a complete look at our 2020 schedule! #HailSouthern pic.twitter.com/rt4D5fLfWT— Georgia Southern Men's Soccer (@GSAthletics_MSO) September 10, 2020 South Carolina now has four known matches scheduled, and Mercer has three.
NC State vs Duke exhibition canceled. Tomorrow night's exhibition match against Duke has been canceled and will not be rescheduled. We'll continue prepping for next Friday's preseason contest at UNC.https://t.co/w59pWeY52e— NC State Men's Soccer (@PackMensSoccer) September 10, 2020
Now there are rumors that B1G "football" may start some time in Oct. I have no idea what that means for soccer.
Actually, there are more than one. From Bleacher Report: "According to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, the conference is aware of at least 10 players who have the rare heart condition myocarditis, which reportedly has a high prevalence in people who have had COVID-19. This is considered an "alarmingly high number" of the rare condition caused by viruses and it has caused decision-makers across college athletics to reconsider their views, per Auerbach."
Myocarditis is not rare. It's very common, and usually self-resolves with rest. The whole point of "high prevalence" among COVID-19 patients is because myocarditis has high prevalence among patients with the co-morbidities that make them more susceptible to bad outcomes with COVID-19. No statistical correlation was established once the math was corrected. Also, if there are at least 10 players...none of them got it playing sports. Simply screen for myocarditis before a player is returned to active status. The Big Ten was looking for something to give them an excuse to cancel football. They expected the rest of FBS to follow along, because they consider themselves the premier conference in the country. The Pac-12 lapdogs immediately followed, but the Big 12, SEC and ACC bucked the trend. Now that it's being shown that sports can be played, the Big Ten needs another life raft to grab onto.
You're right - *most* cases are acute and resolve w/in a couple of weeks. However, some cases can take months to resolve and some never do. The medical community actually classifies five different types of myocarditis, most acute. However, some cases persist: "Sometimes, the damage to the heart muscle is permanent and heart failure persists after the inflammation has resolved." In some instances, the type of disease predicts what class someone will have. I'm sure that's what they are worried about because they simply don't have enough data to determine which class/type of myocarditis this is causing. I'm sure liability is a big factor in their decisions, but hopefully the athletes' well being is also being considered. Also, I'm not claiming that those infected got it from sports. Frankly, I don't see that as an issue. The problem would be the high level of exertion and the load placed on the cardiovascular system during practice and games. And now a lot of pressure is being place on the B1G to resume "football" in October.
GAMECOCK MEN’S SOCCER ANNOUNCES FALL SCHEDULE https://t.co/NIJPuhJa6A— RPI Update (@RpiUpdate) September 14, 2020
My main point is that there is no evidence that COVID-19 causes myocarditis. The original report that seemed to indicate a cause-and-effect was flawed. When they corrected the numbers, no correlation existed. Sure, the BIg Ten is feeling pressure, mainly from its own coaches, players and fans. The conference made a hasty decision, and a month later COVID numbers look a lot better. On August 12, the average daily new case load in the U.S. was 56,132 cases (the peak was 71,553 on July 23). It's now 38,543. The positivity rate on 8/12 was 7.1%. It's now 5.3%. On 8/12, the daily death rate was 1,080 (the peak was 2,086 on April 17). The death rate is now 722. The trend is clearly down. Approximately 8,000 die per day in the U.S., by the way. Sure, I'd like the numbers to be down to 0 in all categories. But risk is a part of life. If faster turn-around tests exist, why can't the Big Ten proceed?
Apologies, that was Lincoln station @KETV https://t.co/0XFdlwtlwQ— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 15, 2020
Interesting, because Mark Patrick has blogged that the B1G doesn't have enough votes to reinstate the season. If they do, what're the chances that the non-revenue sports will be included?
This is only about football. On a side note, the NCAA will moves the start of the men's basketball season (a winter sport) from 11/10 to probably 11/21. Also, most non-conference tournaments will re-locate to bubble-like venues (Orlando and Sioux City have been mentioned, among others).
Yes, Sioux Falls (at Sanford Pentagon). My bad. Another possible venue is Mohegan Sun Casino Resort in Norwich, CT.
"The Big Ten Conference said Wednesday that it will try to play football as soon as the weekend of Oct. 23-24, stepping back from its leadership’s decision just more than a month ago not to compete this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic." - NY Times Still no word on the rest of the fall sports.
"Eventually all Big Ten sports will require testing protocols before they can resume competition. Updates regarding fall sports other than football, as well as winter sports that begin in the fall including men’s and women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and wrestling, will be announced shortly."