Covid-19 and College Athletics

[jakejc795]

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?

One of the factors that's minimized during such debates is transmissibility, and the window during which individuals "shed" the virus. For instance, you might have six players whose "window" of transmissibility varies by a few days. Your question seems to imply they were all infected and will recover nearly simultaneously, but no report I have seen specified details when they were infected.

A guy could recover, but prior to that (or prior to testing positive, of course), he could infect a teammate who might never exhibit symptoms himself, but who also eventually tests postive; unfortunately, in the interim, he's also potentially infected additional people.

Plus, the report is that the "football players affected," (seemingly those who'd been "in close contact" with the six COVID-positive players) were quarantined, not the entire team and staff, so they could be back to square one even after the six players clear quarantine if a "non-affected" player and/or staff is exposed while practices/team activities are suspended.

Scenarios 3 and 4 here provide examples germane to this discussion.

[MontanaRabbit]

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?

Not sure if this is a serious question, but the reason should be obvious. If you have positive tests from players on the team there are likely others that are asymptomatic and haven't tested positive yet and are carrying the virus. Because of an erratic incubation period with this particular virus you can seem perfectly fine but still transmit it. A perfect case in point is the Miami Marlins. 18 players tested positive and this if from a "non-contact" sport.

Unless teams are restricted to a bubble we won't be seeing football this fall I'm afraid.

[jakejc795]

Not sure if this is a serious question, but the reason should be obvious. If you have positive tests from players on the team there are likely others that are asymptomatic and haven't tested positive yet and are carrying the virus. Because of an erratic incubation period with this particular virus you can seem perfectly fine but still transmit it. A perfect case in point is the Miami Marlins. 18 players tested positive and this if from a "non-contact" sport.

Unless teams are restricted to a bubble we won't be seeing football this fall I'm afraid.

Dick Bremer mentioned during recent Twins game that the Marlins players' cases purportedly stemmed from at least some players choosing to go to a nightclub, so your point regarding a "bubble" is pertinent here in that CFB's bubble would need to protect players, staff, etc. from anyone who could potentially frequent such locations and/or anyone choosing not to abide by medical professionals' guidelines

The tenor of your post seems to appreciate the near impossibility of this, and for those arguing we should "just play the games," it minimizes how a situation like the Sycamores could affect multiple teams. If we consider that current testing lag could allow at least two days (generally closer to 3-5 at best) to elapse, then they could've had their opponent on Sat. affected, and they wouldn't have been able to play the next two scheduled games, had this happened during season. Then, any close "game" contacts from the hypothetical Sat. team could also potentially need to at least self isolate for 10-14 days, thereby affecting their next 1-2 games.

For those saying "well, the season hasn't started," we should also consider students haven't fully returned to campus, and classes haven't started, both of which are expected to lead to increased COVID incidence on campus and only disrupt things further.

[bigticket1]

Dick Bremer mentioned during recent Twins game that the Marlins players' cases purportedly stemmed from at least some players choosing to go to a nightclub, so your point regarding a "bubble" is pertinent here in that CFB's bubble would need to protect players, staff, etc. from anyone who could potentially frequent such locations and/or anyone choosing not to abide by medical professionals' guidelines

The tenor of your post seems to appreciate the near impossibility of this, and for those arguing we should "just play the games," it minimizes how a situation like the Sycamores could affect multiple teams. If we consider that current testing lag could allow at least two days (generally closer to 3-5 at best) to elapse, then they could've had their opponent on Sat. affected, and they wouldn't have been able to play the next two scheduled games, had this happened during season. Then, any close "game" contacts from the hypothetical Sat. team could also potentially need to at least self isolate for 10-14 days, thereby affecting their next 1-2 games.

For those saying "well, the season hasn't started," we should also consider students haven't fully returned to campus, and classes haven't started, both of which are expected to lead in increased COVID incidence on campus and only disrupt things further.

The report that came out in the last few days about the summer camp in Georgia doesn't make me optimistic about the whole college environment. Approx. 500 campers and staff all tested negative within 14 days of the start of the camp. They ended up testing about 350, with 275 testing positive. Hopefully things won't blow up to that extent, but dorms, classrooms and dining centers certainly are similiar situations.

[Justwin]

IMO if we are going to wait for 0% positive tests or a reliable tested vaccine we can just cancel everything for possibly years to come. Serious question here....are all positive tests necessarily a bad thing? The way to beat a virus is to build immunity to it so it can't be spread. It seems to me we are picking certain groups to test very often while the rest of the population is ignored. Why isn't every large business or corperation testing its employees daily? I'm sure many have a different opinion which I respect but. One thing for sure is I would not want to be the guy in charge of trying to keep a bunch of college age kids (or many adults) quarantined in a bubble for very long. Good luck with that.

[jakejc795]

IMO if we are going to wait for 0% positive tests or a reliable tested vaccine we can just cancel everything for possibly years to come. Serious question here....are all positive tests necessarily a bad thing? The way to beat a virus is to build immunity to it so it can't be spread. It seems to me we are picking certain groups to test very often while the rest of the population is ignored. Why isn't every large business or corperation testing its employees daily? I'm sure many have a different opinion which I respect but. One thing for sure is I would not want to be the guy in charge of trying to keep a bunch of college age kids (or many adults) quarantined in a bubble for very long. Good luck with that.

Those (vaccine vs no vaccine and some positives vs no positive) are false binaries, as an alternative that is less frequently discussed, but probably more feasible, is more robust testing and tracing to expeditiously isolate positive cases and their close contacts

[MontanaRabbit]

IMO if we are going to wait for 0% positive tests or a reliable tested vaccine we can just cancel everything for possibly years to come. Serious question here....are all positive tests necessarily a bad thing? The way to beat a virus is to build immunity to it so it can't be spread. It seems to me we are picking certain groups to test very often while the rest of the population is ignored. Why isn't every large business or corperation testing its employees daily? I'm sure many have a different opinion which I respect but. One thing for sure is I would not want to be the guy in charge of trying to keep a bunch of college age kids (or many adults) quarantined in a bubble for very long. Good luck with that.

I think I mostly agree with you, but as a person in charge of a bunch of football players can you imagine what the backlash would be if some football players got Covid and died? The media would be on that narrative like white on rice.

They don't care to report on the thousands and thousands of people who have recovered because it doesn't generate clicks.

[jakejc795]

I think I mostly agree with you, but as a person in charge of a bunch of football players can you imagine what the backlash would be if some football players got Covid and died? The media would be on that narrative like white on rice.

They don't care to report on the thousands and thousands of people who have recovered because it doesn't generate clicks.

If only we could separate recovery from transmissibility. Again, regardless of that person's likelihood of recovery, s/he can infect others who might not recover or who may exhibit more severe symptoms or physiological damage.

Plus there's purportedly a more disturbing narrative in our region. If true, an undetermined number of CSU coaches are risking not only the health of players but also staff, faculty, and Ft. Collins' citizens by subverting contact tracing efforts.

Again, if true, one could reasonably foresee that coaches and admin. have an incentive to discourage potentially infected students from being tested, and were this to occur during the season, they'd be putting fellow conference foes at risk.

Hopefully CSU cleans house prior to the 2021 season when the Jacks are scheduled to play them.

[jakejc795]

A rather glaring omission from the list of "returning heavy hitters in the FCS" that are "out for the fall" in this article, particularly considering Illinois State and UNI being listed among Valley teams.

[jakejc795]

Sorry if I missed someone else posting this, but here's recent interview with Stig that some might find interesting.

In it, he and Lemonly co-founder/CEO (and Jacks fan) John Meyer discuss Stig's leadership practices/concepts, mentors, lessons learned, etc.

A couple football-specific items Stig mentions include possible Feb. 20 first "spring" home game (which I hadn't seen reported/mentioned elsewhere yet) and a preference that his eventual successor be coach who is on staff when Stig's tenure ends (which has been speculated by some on this forum)

[Nidaros]

I have known Stig for 33 years. I was introduced to him at a gathering celebrating the hiring of Mike Daly. John was a very loyal assistant. His moral convictions are needed in the coaching profession as there is a great temptation to take short cuts. Not on John’s watch. I too am impressed with his answer to the question”Who would you like to see as your replacement? For continuity an assistant is what SDSU needs. If we look at our northern neighbor, NDSU, they are not into big changes but rather improving on what works and finding the student athletes to execute the plays that work. We will not be able to follow that path if we bring in some wiss-bang that is determined to change everything. NDSU is smart enough to not bite on that one. I suspect Eric Eidness and Clint Briown are ate the top of this list.

[bigticket1]

COVID effects hit close to home as Minnesota announces that they are cutting men's tennis, men's gymnastics and men's track & field. Big Ten network $ apparently wasn't enough to keep everything afloat. I'm sure they probably have had to reduce advertising rates and have lost subscribers with no live events for 6 months, and nothing in sight for at least a couple more.

[jakejc795]

UNI's MBB team's season ended within a half hour of tip off due to positive Covid test for Panthers Tier I staff person.

Perhaps the crux of it all is the disconnect/miscommunication between St. Louis Board of Health officials at the tourney site and MVC Admin. regarding whose guidelines (CDC versus St. Louis Health Commissioner's) would be governing

[jakejc795]

William & Mary vs. JMU game on Sat. postponed (with rescheduling decision to occur at later date) due to Covid protocols in JMU program

[jakejc795]

Idaho at NAU scheduled for Sat. is also postponed (with rescheduling TBD). This one's less consequential than JMU given Idaho's "ORV" status.