Concern growing for 2020 college football season

[Joneslab]

Actually--other than out west/PAC12-- the players are the ones arguing loudest to let them play. Majority are willing to accept the risk to do what they love. And to throw some science into the argument CNN is the propaganda machine pushing how dangerous the virus is while Foxnews is the propaganda machine arguing it is not. So using CNN's numbers you divide # of deaths by # of positive tests and get that 3.5% of those who test positive die. Then the same channel says we are underestimating the # of people who actually have the virus by 10 to 24 times. Picking a # halfway between this guess you divide 3.5 by 17 to get a fatality rate of 0.2% of those who get infected. Can certainly see how it's conceivable the virus is more contagious/more easily transmissed but possible is in fact not more deadly than the flu and much less dangerous than pneumonia.

The main reason it's more dangerous than the flu is that there are still a lot of things about it that are being studied. One of those things is how it can damage the heart and the potential impact it has on a person's circulatory system.

[Joneslab]

Our governor and his wife felt sick the other day, they were tested and knew the results that same day, so it is possible to know earlier than 2 weeks.

There are some rapid tests available but I don't think they're in large supply. Politicians get them, athletes probably get them, I would imagine frontline workers get them who work in COVID wards. I've read that the problem with these tests is that they're likely antigen tests, which are notoriously sketchy.

[40bill]

The two week or longer wait time is a major issue right now. Supposedly you are supposed to quarantine until you get results. I doubt that happens consistently. Then you have scenarios where you sit two to three weeks and get a negative, as well as those that go about their normal routine UNTIL the test comes in....so there's a spread factor there.
AND...the more testing we do (which is really a strong point) the farther behind these labs get with result.

[Chaz]

I got the nasal swab test yesterday morning at 8:40 and had the results by 6 last night. Negative.
Is the heart deal that you are so worried about for the football players life threatening or just
a condition where you now have a condition you have to deal with?

[Joneslab]

I got the nasal swab test yesterday morning at 8:40 and had the results by 6 last night. Negative.
Is the heart deal that you are so worried about for the football players life threatening or just
a condition where you now have a condition you have to deal with?

Not sure. I’ve just seen stuff about it in a couple of articles. But anytime you’re talking about someone’s heart, particularly a young otherwise healthy person, it’s cause for concern.

I believe a Major League pitcher was shut down because of the same condition.

[Jload]

I love the game of football, played it in high school and college, love to watch it , especially at the college level. That said, we know very little about this virus, the world scientific community is all over the map, on transmission, effects and especially long term effects it might cause. Could someone explain to me rationally why we need to expose these young men to risks we don’t even understand ? It’s a game, it’s entertainment, it’s not vital to our national interest, it’s not a war we need to win for survival. WHY take the risk, why not cancel the season until we have a better understanding of what is really going on. I have my own opinions about what’s really going on here and I have voiced them. Most people’s response to this problem is based on emotion, I fail to understand how anyone who looks at this issue rationally can justify the risk. Are we so vapid and bored with our lives that we can’t dispense with a game for a few months till we have better facts. Are our young people’s lives that unimportant to us.

[Spiritof96]

I love the game of football, played it in high school and college, love to watch it , especially at the college level. That said, we know very little about this virus, the world scientific community is all over the map, on transmission, effects and especially long term effects it might cause. Could someone explain to me rationally why we need to expose these young men to risks we don’t even understand ? It’s a game, it’s entertainment, it’s not vital to our national interest, it’s not a war we need to win for survival. WHY take the risk, why not cancel the season until we have a better understanding of what is really going on. I have my own opinions about what’s really going on here and I have voiced them. Most people’s response to this problem is based on emotion, I fail to understand how anyone who looks at this issue rationally can justify the risk. Are we so vapid and bored with our lives that we can’t dispense with a game for a few months till we have better facts. Are our young people’s lives that unimportant to us.

A. "We" are doing no such thing. They (the players) are adults and allowed to make choices. You don't seem to care about their individual choice but as a human, free on the earth, they still have it last I checked. It is certainly the case that those who don't want to play, will not jeopardize their scholarship standing.

B. We understand it pretty well. As has been stated (which you don't seem to care about) the likelihood of a person in this demographic experiencing lasting harm from C19 is statistically practically zero. Well over 99% recovery rate.

C. Almost every person on scholarship or working for an athletic department depends on football revenue to exist. That's at least 500 students per power 5 schools and thousands of fulltime staff.

D. Most power 5 programs have a bond debt (or several) to pay on their new or upgraded facilities (across all sports). That also is largely dependent on football revenue. If a state school defaults on a payment it could affect the debt rating of the entire state.

[Joneslab]

I'm sure they understand it a lot better than they did at the beginning, but there are still some pretty shocking plot twists with this virus.

The cruelest thing about it seems to be that it really messes some people up and completely spares others. I think that's the little-understood part. Read a story just the other day about a youngish man having to have his toes amputated after a stint with it.

The lingering heart, blood, circulatory issues are the parts that seem to be most mystifying.