Caving to pressure, putting profits before public health. Perhaps suspending football this season was overly cautious, but this is a good time to be cautious.
I'm pretty sure the resumption of college football CAN be done safely. But WILL it be done safely? Given that there are hundreds of football players per team, and knowing how such players act in general, it seems unlikely.
Staying locked down is not the answer, in my humble opinion. It just delays what's going to happen anyway. Farr's Law has not been repealed. By now we know that older people and immuno-compromised people are vulnerable to this disease. The rest of us have a 99.99% chance of recovering. If this were a disease that was indiscriminately killing the young and healthy, I'd be right there with you. But it's not. You do realize a year without football, after a year without the NCAA men's basketball tournament, would have killed all of the other NCAA sports? Men's soccer is a luxury, and it truly hangs in the balance.
My part of the country...still very strict. Malls are closed, schools are online, restaurants are outside only, etc. Masks must be worn outdoors at all times.
Not here. Yesterday I was surprised to hear that I am the only member of my Kiwanis club who has expressed doubts about resuming in-person lunch meetings for our group that is largely older members. I suppose that type of thing is why we are where we are.
I wouldn't characterize any of the efforts that states and local leaders have made as a "lock-down". Safer-at-home measures to reduce interactions will slow the virus and effectively using masks would be the best way to get our country and our economy working again. I base this on looking at countries around the world. What the USA is doing now, isn't effective. It's why the USA is top 10 of deaths (per 100K population). Ignoring the truth and hoping that it just goes away is the problem. I hope all are safe and I know that we don't want to turn this thread (or forum) into a political soap-box.
I know I'm outnumbered, but safer-at-home is a euphemism. I knew everyone would say "that's not a lockdown." This is not China. You can't put people under house arrest. Slowing the virus doesn't stop it, and when you open up that's when it ramps up (happened here in July). So the solution is to be "safer-at-home" forever? No thanks. I waste enough time logging soccer scores. I'm going to live my life fully and completely. The fear of COVID has been way worse than the actual disease. We overtest, we overcycle the tests (35x to 40x) and then we count everyone who subsequently dies as a COVID death. While we counted nearly 200,000 as COVID-related, we've "cured" several other diseases...no one dies from the flu anymore. Oh wait, the twindemic is coming. No upvotes for me!
GD - I'm not trying to pile on, but it's a fallacy to say all or nothing proposal (e.g., safer-at-home, forever). As a society, we need to decide if we want to control this thing or just do the "herd mentality". This administration has shown a single motivation for their own self-interest and be damned to the American people. There's a way that we could have controlled this - but we didn't implement the necessary testing (we don't over-test, yes the overcycle is a problem, and no we don't count everyone as COVID death - most of this is just simple propoganda and untrue). We don't have a national plan (masks, etc.). We don't have adequate contact testing. We lack leadership and the discipline to implement a valid public health plan. If we continue to have 50 different plans with a lack of public support. We will be doing the same thing - this time next year. The USA has several options: Europe model - control the disease, then slowly open portions of the economy until positivity rates increase then implement more controls until it's more under control. Russian model - announce a vaccine and hope it works or many more die. Brazilian model - open more cemeteries China model - authoritarian controls to wipe our anyone that catches it. USA model - hope it goes away, but make bold predications while following the Brazilian model I don't come to BS for politics and I apologize to those that I offend, but I've had enough. I won't be continuing this conversation - but I invite GD to have the last word. He deserves that for all the hard work he's done for us on the RPI. Deepest respects for this work.
The first reason for confinement is to slow down the virus spread, so that the health system is not overwhelmed at a point where doctors have to "make choices". It unfortunately happened in Italy as they were it exploded first in Europe and were totally surprised by the stealth of this bloody nasty virus (so many asymptomatic carriers). Other European countries had two weeks to get a little bit more ready. And even their health system was overstressed (and staff exhausted). Except UK with its populist leader who also believed that the foreigners' virus will not impact its proud country and who had to back up quickly due to the high number of deaths. To also understand that luck played a lot: countries which did not experience super spreader events had more control and experienced less deaths. A typical example is the religious event in Mulhouse (France) where over 2'000 believers spread the virus across France, Switzerland, Belgium, French overseas territories….. And some were working in hospitals and nursing homes….. Also, CL games were key spreading events in Italy and Spain (Bergame, Valence,...). Without confinement, it would have been a bigger carnage. In Europe we did not have to hire refrigeration trucks for stocking corpses. Doctors did not have to "make choices". This virus is new, deadly and work by stealth. Until a vaccine or a cure is available (not before Q1 2021 at the best), we just have to understand our role in our community. Now in Europe, the virus is raising its ugly head again, as during Summer people did not respect the basic rules (distance, washing hands, masks,..) enjoying what they thought was a situation back to normal. Now, numbers of hospitalizations and of deaths are increasing a lot. And what is clear not only among the old ones. The average age of sick people is clearly lowering. Also a point to take into account: a lot of people who had mild symptoms or who have been cured are now experiencing long terms symptoms: indeed organs are impacted by the virus and do not recover fully (lungs, heart, brain, blood vessels, kidneys,...). So being super cautious, respecting for finally a short period in regards to our lives, is being a responsible citizen. Nothing more, nothing less. When I wear my mask, when I use gel, when I stay not too close to friends, I just think I will not be a link in the virus chain. All other thoughts are selfish. irresponsible and not mature. Stay safe, think about the older ones, the fragile ones. And be patient. Take care, Friends.
Poop: 'Athletic director Barry Alvarez said Wednesday that he didn't see Badgers volleyball, soccer and cross country teams returning to a fall schedule this year. Later Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Council voted to move those sports seasons to the second semester because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college athletics. "I think they'll stay that way," Alvarez said.'
I haven't been following the situation very closely, but per ESPN: Louisville v Wake Forest - playing today Clemson v North Carolina - postponed Navy v Syracuse - canceled
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/11/12/ivy-league-cancels-winter-sports/ To clarify, fall sports playing this spring have been cancelled, winter sports cancelled, and spring sports playing this spring are cancelled through Feb. only right now.
If it lasts long, all these student athletes will finish their eligibility with a Doctorate diploma. Muscles and brain
I know I had a list going, somewhere. I’ll dig it up. This is the third (that I remember) DII conference that’s cancelled. https://www.northeast10.org/general/2020-21/releases/20210113osh5yu What I remember in who’s cancelled: DI - Ivy, Big West (petition trying to play) DII - PSAC, Sunshine, NE10 DIII - Midwest Probably missing some.
On the plus side, James Madison has announced its (abbreviated) Spring 2021 schedule. Seven games (so far) plus the conference tournament: "JMU men’s soccer will look to make it three consecutive CAA championships this season, as head coach Paul Zazenski revealed the 2021 schedule Tuesday. The season begins mid-February and continues through early April. The Dukes play three nonconference opponents at the start of the season before shifting to CAA play. They play at defending national champion Georgetown Feb. 19, at George Mason Feb. 27 and welcome George Washington to Harrisonburg March 6. After 15 days off, JMU opens its conference schedule. The Dukes will play two matches at home and two games on the road, with contests at College of Charleston (March 27) and at William & Mary (April 2). The two home matches are versus Elon (March 21) and versus UNCW (April 9). The dates for the CAA Tournament will be released at a later date. As with all things regarding the pandemic, all games are subject to change in date, location and time." https://www.breezejmu.org/sports/jm...cle_fcf53360-55af-11eb-9d5c-5b1321475933.html