Will There Be a 2020 Football Season?

[suh_fan93]

No, but I appreciate the straw man. 

I said masks are important. I said COVID is serious. I don't understand where we took a fork in the road as a society and became terrified of illness. 

I think the fear is very very real.  As of today we are nearing 140 thousand dead because of Covid-19 and the general public for the most part only found about the virus in March unless you were reading very random news articles.  I think a lot of people who have not been touched personally by this virus take a much much different point of view.  

This thing kills and has killed American's and will continue to take more until people fully realize what they are dealing with which it's obvious that too many people out there are not taking this seriously which is appalling to me.

Sorry.  This is probably taking a turn to the Covid thread.  Back to the point I honestly don't think we'll have a season this year but am still very hopeful.  With everything that this virus has caused and due to the seriousness of it I am fine if I have to wait until the spring.  

 

[teachercd]

Sadly, we are about to see a small trial version of herd immunity once school starts.

Keep these kids away from each other, getting them to have masks on all day...it is a nightmare.  

Then all of a sudden after the last bell it is magically okay to go practice without masks.  

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

People die. It is a fact of life. I'm not sure if it is social media (I think it is) or what the cause might be, but we have become a society terrified of illness. Not just death, people are scared of being sick. And that's not a healthy way to live. Has medicine advanced too far that we're so entitled we feel shouldn't ever be exposed to a runny nose? 

I think you know the runny nose analogy doesn't work. We've always lived with colds and flu as a fact of life -- but not so much death. Until the pandemic, most Americans didn't even know the flu killed 30,000 - 60,000 a year. COVID-19 is not a runny nose.

Still, Americans are definitely a pampered nation, and generally isolated from a lot of traditional human suffering. But interestingly enough, countries with a lot more traditional suffering are taking COVID-19 a lot more seriously than we are. India, Asia, sub-Sarahan Africa all have more experience with epidemics and pandemics and annual killers like malaria. So when the coronavirus showed up, most countries weren't skeptical, suspicious, timid, or stubborn. They sucked it up and sacrificed. 

Americans aren't getting soft. We're getting stupid.

 

[Husker03]

Unfortunately it's not that simple.  Negative on Friday doesn't mean you didn't contract the virus on Wednesday or Thursday.  The incubation period is thought to be in the 2-5 day range and possibly up to 10 IIRC.  To make matters worse, people are also thought to be contagious a day or two prior to developing symptoms.

But that's where the masks and face shields come into play. Between negative Friday tests and masks and faceshields, I would think that football field would be about the safest place in the city for a kid to be outside of his/her own apartment in isolation. 

 

[Hilltop]

If positive cases are continuing to reach record highs, why is the death rate continuing to drop?  Something just doesn't line up.  Data like this makes me very optimistic about a season-   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/07102020/nchs-mortality-report.html  If this trend continues, what would the justification be for cancelling?

 

[funhusker]

If positive cases are continuing to reach record highs, why is the death rate continuing to drop?  Something just doesn't line up.  Data like this makes me very optimistic about a season-   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/07102020/nchs-mortality-report.html  If this trend continues, what would the justification be for cancelling?

Doctors have made advances in treating the virus, so hopefully a well supplied hospital that's not overrun will be able to save more lives than they were 3 months ago.  But it is also important to remember that the "death rate" numbers lag about 3-5 weeks behind the positive test rates.  The deaths we are seeing today were most likely positive tests about 4 weeks ago, that's when we thought we were in pretty good shape and things would be opened up by July 1.

 

[Hilltop]

Good points funhusker.  Time will tell I guess but have to like the trend.  

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

I think Jamie Pollard's letter is a must read on the subject. Priority one is the health and wellbeing of the student athletes, and the best interests of the student athletes. The money made from football/basketball helps the university: feed, house, provide medical care, provide mental health services, provide academic help. Without that revenue, it will directly effect athletes access to those necessities. Could Covid negatively effect the health and wellbeing of the student athletes - absolutely. Could not playing sports negatively effect the health and wellbeing of the students athletes - absolutely. Another reason the conf only schedule makes more sense. Everything needs to be under complete control for the health of the student athletes. Having South Dakota St come down, and not knowing their testing protocols or if they all ate at a Dennys the morning of the game - that's an unnecessary risk - with very little reward. Minnesota comes to town, we know the players have been tested under B1G guidelines. Meals provided by a certain company at a certain hotel. Transportation provided under B1G guidelines. Risk is much more controlled.

Pollard Letter:

https://cyclonefanatic.com/2020/07/jamie-pollard-pens-letter-to-fans-detailing-financial-ramifications-in-event-fall-sports-are-canceled/

 

[Hilltop]

I think Jamie Pollard's letter is a must read on the subject.....

Pollard Letter:

https://cyclonefanatic.com/2020/07/jamie-pollard-pens-letter-to-fans-detailing-financial-ramifications-in-event-fall-sports-are-canceled/

That was a very good read and makes a lot of sense. 

Going further, I believe that college sports impacts on society are far reaching.  I would even say that they have a positive effect on health for our greater population.  Happy people are healthier.  

https://www.livescience.com/42712-happier-people-healthier-aging.html#:~:text=Being healthy can make a,daily activities as they age.

The stresses involved with Covid for our general population sure don't help societies overall health and are likely contributing to the death rate increases in 2020.  

 

[Decoy73]

But that's where the masks and face shields come into play. Between negative Friday tests and masks and faceshields, I would think that football field would be about the safest place in the city for a kid to be outside of his/her own apartment in isolation. 

If the players keep a safe distance from each other at all times, then yes I agree 100%.  But as soon as the tackling, Dog piling, spitting, yelling and heavy breathing start, then that theory all goes out the window.  Don’t be fooled into thinking those fancy face shields will take care of the problem.  Viruses are very small and can “float “ in the air for a while. 
Sports like football and basketball are a huge problem.   This thread title should be changed to “Will there be a 2021 football season?”  IMO.  

 

[Undone]

I'm quite encouraged by reading through some of these posts this morning and hearing people talking about how better treatment strategies positively impact death rates and severity of COVID. 

Because we're pretty close to entering the stage of this whole thing where it becomes pretty obvious that it could easily be a thing that sticks around and is sort of like the flu. Now I'm not saying it's time for high fives at all; we don't know for sure whether either of these things are true.

But I think things are headed in a better direction at least.

As far as football goes...I just hope we can have a full season next year.

 

[Toe]

If positive cases are continuing to reach record highs, why is the death rate continuing to drop?  Something just doesn't line up. 

Worth a read: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/why-covid-death-rate-down/613945/

 

[Undone]

If positive cases are continuing to reach record highs, why is the death rate continuing to drop?  Something just doesn't line up.

Sure it does. Imagine a scenario where we didn't realize how many people were actually COVID-positive but we DID know exactly how many people died from it; the math is simple. The denominator in the math equation is now considerably bigger, making the ratio drop.

 

[krc1995]

Sadly, we are about to see a small trial version of herd immunity once school starts.

Keep these kids away from each other, getting them to have masks on all day...it is a nightmare.  

Then all of a sudden after the last bell it is magically okay to go practice without masks.  

As of right now we’re opening with masks. Of course that’s subject to change.  Most fall high school sports have been delayed- except swimming abs volleyball

how are we going to high school kids to wear mask?  We can’t even get them to wear their uniforms rights?  We have a high school in a poor district with 1700+ students.  Not sure what the penalty will be- arrest? 
 

Sorry, saw your post and used it as an opportunity to rant. 

 

[RedDenver]

If positive cases are continuing to reach record highs, why is the death rate continuing to drop?  Something just doesn't line up.  Data like this makes me very optimistic about a season-   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/07102020/nchs-mortality-report.html  If this trend continues, what would the justification be for cancelling?

Others have already mentioned that the deaths lag the cases by several weeks. There is an uptick in the daily death rate over the past week that suggests the death rate is going back up. Note that the data in this image is a few days old and I don't see a more current image I can paste here, but you can check the updated data at this site: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/