Will COVID-19 be the needle that finally bursts the sports bubble?

Don't know what to think of this count of 13 Longhorns testing positive.
In general, a cohort of 100 or so people tested by mandate should have a lower positive % than the population at large, which largely tests voluntarily and only after feeling sick and fearing they need to know. Right?
On the other hand, the college football population might be different than your average cohort of 100 because of hometowns, etc.
Would love to know what large universities are saying internally about what they anticipate their case counts will be once they start up again in August.

 

I wonder if we’ll see high schools announcing positive tests in athletes? Or will school districts keep that info locked down?

Schools here are now running practices. Even as positivity rates are climbing. Odds have to have a kid testing positive somewhere in the state.

 

Texas has had about two dozen schools in the past 10 days announce either athletes or coaches have tested positive and they were shutting down workouts for two weeks

 

They may not have a choice under HIPPA.

 

What will be interesting, too, is if they actually do start the season and stick to the guidelines laid out by the state activities association. A positive test calls for a 14-day quarantine not only for the person testing positive, but anyone they came into contact with -- so basically, the entire team if not the entire school.
So if a player tests positive, you could wind up with a team having to forfeit two or three games while the quarantine plays out. It seems a given that somebody will either cover up a positive test; ignore the guidelines entirely and falsify the data; or wind up having their season sunk by some sophomore lineman who showed up to practice with a slight fever.

 

Covering up positive tests -- but not faces -- will be the norm in many locales. If the quarantine policies are as strict as you say, there's no way a team can play.

 

We have four high schools in town, two public and two private, that have started practice over the last two weeks. I've done stories on them as they started and noted what I've seen.

The first private school didn't necessarily have a "fuck it" attitude, but the coach admitted how hard it is to police everything. He had several kids drinking from a hose during a water break, for example, even though they'd been told not to. The second private school was a little better, but the coach admitted there was a lot of learning as they went. They also had to work out in the gym because the field was too wet.

The two public schools seemed to be the best. Each kid at both schools had individual water jugs, they checked temperatures when kids arrived, they were doing everything outside, one coach hustled to retrieve some kids who wandered into the field house during a water break, and I saw another spraying down some weight plates that they had brought out for a drill.
They still weren't exactly socially distanced, though. They were broken into groups, but were relatively close to each other and close to 100 people came together for a quick huddle at the end.

The smaller schools are going to have the hardest time, simply because they don't have the manpower to police everything. Some schools might only have two coaches to watch over 30 or 40 players. Our bigger schools have 10 coaches for 80 or 90 players. It's like the larger debate going on, where you have the theory of what you're supposed to do and the reality of what actually works and is feasible to do. Some of the guidelines are unrealistic, if not impossible, to maintain. I suspect everyone is on their toes right now to do everything right, but that standards will inevitably slacken as we go along.

 

And Dr. Fauci thought he had it rough when he face-palmed in the Lord's presence. Now he's wondering if we can play footbawwwl. I hope he has really good personal security. The mere expression of this possibility may be enough to get him whacked.

Coronavirus: Hard to see NFL, college football played as usual in 2020

 

Exposure is a term with a lot of meanings and contexts in this whole deal. Is the school with two coaches supervising dozens of players at special risk for litigation in the event of a serious illness or worse?