Covid-19 and College Athletics

[bigticket1]

Interesting to compare how Patty Viverito's tone has evolved from late June through yesterday. She specifically mentioned yesterday having less optimism than two weeks ago.

She has been consistent in mentioning a "national testing standard," particularly once the season were to begin. Of course, costs associated with such a standard generally follow [with her again consistently estimating aggregate costs exceeding $300-400k (given current testing regimens, with hopes that adaptation can result in less expensive protocols)]

With no big TV contracts, FCS schools are in kind of a Catch-22 type situation. If you don't play, you have no income, but expenses are greatly reduced. If you play before limited or no crowds, your income is greatly reduced, but you basically have all your expenses plus the added costs of testing. Hard to predict which scenario would be tougher on the budget. Especially with no extra income from the Nebraska game.

[filbert]

I just typed in a fairly long essay that upon reflection is bouncing along the "politics' borderline. So I'll pass.

"Question authority." (ancient truism)

"Everything You Know Is Wrong!" (Firesign Theater--don't eat the blue moss!)

[jakejc795]

With no big TV contracts, FCS schools are in kind of a Catch-22 type situation. If you don't play, you have no income, but expenses are greatly reduced. If you play before limited or no crowds, your income is greatly reduced, but you basically have all your expenses plus the added costs of testing. Hard to predict which scenario would be tougher on the budget. Especially with no extra income from the Nebraska game.

The first interview mentioned broadcast implications and the contract with ESPN with opportunity for increased advertising on that platform.

[West-River_Jack]

The fatality rate for COVID-19 in the age group of college students/athletes is not much different than the fatality rate of the same age group for influenza.



These decisions are being driven by panic and by PR concerns.

Your statement about the fatality rate of Covid-19 vs influenza may be true, but is it relevant? With influenza we have a vaccine which protects many against the disease and may limit its severity for others. The vaccine is mandatory for many of us because of where we work. It protects me in two major ways. It affords me the probability of some genuine immunity. It isn't perfect. I have been vaccinated every year since the mid to late 1980s, but have been diagnosed with influenza twice. The second major way it protects me is by decreasing the number of influenza positive people with whom I share the same air, decreasing my exposure. The same is not true for Covid-19. We have no vaccine e to protect us.

Just today there is an item in the news about a 30 year old man in San Antonio who went to a Covid party. As he lay in the hospital, seriously ill from the disease, he said to his nurse, "I think I made a mistake. I thought it was a hoax, but it's not." He died a short time later. This was reported on Fox News.

If the powers that control sporting events, school attendance, and other events see their gatherings as potential Covid parties, i think we will see cacellations.

How long will it last? To steal an answer from somewhere on the internet. Don't ask me. I'm a health care professional and a scientist, not a politician!

[bigticket1]

Your statement about the fatality rate of Covid-19 vs influenza may be true, but is it relevant? With influenza we have a vaccine which protects many against the disease and may limit its severity for others. The vaccine is mandatory for many of us because of where we work. It protects me in two major ways. It affords me the probability of some genuine immunity. It isn't perfect. I have been vaccinated every year since the mid to late 1980s, but have been diagnosed with influenza twice. The second major way it protects me is by decreasing the number of influenza positive people with whom I share the same air, decreasing my exposure. The same is not true for Covid-19. We have no vaccine e to protect us.

Just today there is an item in the news about a 30 year old man in San Antonio who went to a Covid party. As he lay in the hospital, seriously ill from the disease, he said to his nurse, "I think I made a mistake. I thought it was a hoax, but it's not." He died a short time later. This was reported on Fox News.

If the powers that control sporting events, school attendance, and other events see their gatherings as potential Covid parties, i think we will see cacellations.

How long will it last? To steal an answer from somewhere on the internet. Don't ask me. I'm a health care professional and a scientist, not a politician!

Young people may show few if any symptoms, but that doesn't mean that there won't be longer term affects. I heard a doctor say in an interview that when young people that weren't sick are given x-rays, that there is often lung damage found.

[filbert]

Your statement about the fatality rate of Covid-19 vs influenza may be true, but is it relevant? With influenza we have a vaccine which protects many against the disease and may limit its severity for others. The vaccine is mandatory for many of us because of where we work. It protects me in two major ways. It affords me the probability of some genuine immunity. It isn't perfect. I have been vaccinated every year since the mid to late 1980s, but have been diagnosed with influenza twice. The second major way it protects me is by decreasing the number of influenza positive people with whom I share the same air, decreasing my exposure. The same is not true for Covid-19. We have no vaccine e to protect us.

Just today there is an item in the news about a 30 year old man in San Antonio who went to a Covid party. As he lay in the hospital, seriously ill from the disease, he said to his nurse, "I think I made a mistake. I thought it was a hoax, but it's not." He died a short time later. This was reported on Fox News.

If the powers that control sporting events, school attendance, and other events see their gatherings as potential Covid parties, i think we will see cacellations.

How long will it last? To steal an answer from somewhere on the internet. Don't ask me. I'm a health care professional and a scientist, not a politician!

Yes, it's relevant. Much more relevant than the currently emphasized "cases" which is overly dependent on the number of tests being performed.

Influenza, even with a reasonably effective vaccine, kills from 30,000 to 60,000 people in the US every year. Add, probably, at least an order of magnitude to those totals if we did not have a vaccine.

There is zero guarantee we will EVER have an effective and widely available vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Yes, there is an enormous amount of research currently going on, but (from Wikipedia) "There are no vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections. Treatment is only supportive."

If public policy is being made on the assumption that a vaccine will soon be available at all, let alone widely available, then it is bad public policy. Period.

Long term, and even with a vaccine, the target is and always has been "herd immunity," where a sufficient number of people have an immunity to the virus to prevent any significant spread. I've seen estimates all over the map regarding what percentage of the population needs to have immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in order to provide herd immunity. Some say we've already achieved it. Others say the number is something like 60%. Nobody really knows.

Recall that the purpose of all the shutdowns in the first place was to "lower the curve" in order to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed by serious CoVID-19 cases. This has been achieved.

The head of the CDC has recently said that schools should be reopened: “It’s a critical public health initiative right now to get these schools reopened and to do it safely,”

College athletes are as a group probably about the least at-risk group there is, a combination of particularly healthy and young. Does this mean that some of them won't come down with CoVID-19? No.

And I think that a Covid party is a particularly stupid idea. Personally, I am in an at-risk group. I limit my exposure by limiting my trips out of the house and when I do, I'm pretty diligent about maintaning social distance. I have not seen conclusive evidence that masks--at least the basic nose- and mouth-coverings that most people wear, do very much good at all and I've seen some studies that seem to indicate that the opposite may in fact be true. I don't know if those studies have been, or will ever be replicated, so the question is IMHO still open. I'll wear masks where people want me to, however (and avoid those same people as much as is possible.)

[Nidaros]

Yes, it's relevant. Much more relevant than the currently emphasized "cases" which is overly dependent on the number of tests being performed.

Influenza, even with a reasonably effective vaccine, kills from 30,000 to 60,000 people in the US every year. Add, probably, at least an order of magnitude to those totals if we did not have a vaccine.

There is zero guarantee we will EVER have an effective and widely available vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Yes, there is an enormous amount of research currently going on, but (from Wikipedia) "There are no vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections. Treatment is only supportive."

If public policy is being made on the assumption that a vaccine will soon be available at all, let alone widely available, then it is bad public policy. Period.

Long term, and even with a vaccine, the target is and always has been "herd immunity," where a sufficient number of people have an immunity to the virus to prevent any significant spread. I've seen estimates all over the map regarding what percentage of the population needs to have immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in order to provide herd immunity. Some say we've already achieved it. Others say the number is something like 60%. Nobody really knows.

Recall that the purpose of all the shutdowns in the first place was to "lower the curve" in order to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed by serious CoVID-19 cases. This has been achieved.

The head of the CDC has recently said that schools should be reopened: “It’s a critical public health initiative right now to get these schools reopened and to do it safely,”

College athletes are as a group probably about the least at-risk group there is, a combination of particularly healthy and young. Does this mean that some of them won't come down with CoVID-19? No.

And I think that a Covid party is a particularly stupid idea. Personally, I am in an at-risk group. I limit my exposure by limiting my trips out of the house and when I do, I'm pretty diligent about maintaning social distance. I have not seen conclusive evidence that masks--at least the basic nose- and mouth-coverings that most people wear, do very much good at all and I've seen some studies that seem to indicate that the opposite may in fact be true. I don't know if those studies have been, or will ever be replicated, so the question is IMHO still open. I'll wear masks where people want me to, however (and avoid those same people as much as is possible.)

I have no reason to question the accuracy of your facts. They are not encouraging but very likely accurate. Going to a Covid party seems to a self inflected death wish without Charles Bronson pulling the trigger. If suicide is an option under consideration, this may be the way out. Not for me, I want to be around to see SDSU win a FCS National Championship. My big hope is a vaccine to cure COVID 19. It may happen and the person responsible for finding the vaccine will crowned Jonas Salk II.

[bigticket1]

Sounds like basketball season may not be normal, when (if) it happens. National JUCO is voting on a proposal this week. Practice would start on January 11th with games starting on the 22nd. 22 game maximum. National championships to start on April 19th.

[filbert]

State of Missouri is going to start offering virus tests without charge (if recommended by a physician).

[jakejc795]

Interesting data and visualizations, including FCS schools available here.

A couple potentially pertinent items -- Dr. Jedlicka is using data for towns/cities where universities are located, not team-specific test results (per notes here). Also, he apparently upgraded the Jacks from a C to a B earlier today, so they're essentially clustered with Bison, Panthers, 'Necks, and 'Yotes among MVFC teams. You can find those report cards on page 3 with Pioneer League rankings on pg. 4, if you're interested in Butler.

Butler's data are idiosyncratic in that it combines Indianapolis, Carmel, and Muncie, so it would be interesting to determine whether increased hospital and testing capacity may mask eventual underlying university-level trends even more than data like Jacks'.

[RabbitObsessed]

Edits.

[jakejc795]

Guess the Butler data need no longer be a primary concern with that game being canceled.

[filbert]

Lmao holy ****

May I help you?

[jakejc795]

Indiana State becomes reportedly the third Valley school to suspend football activities due to positive COVID tests

[Justwin]

Indiana State becomes reportedly the third Valley school to suspend football activities due to positive COVID tests

Explain to me if all football players,coaches and support personel are going to be in quarantine for 14 days what is the difference if they practice during that time?