The question no one is asking...

[NE8Fan]

I will be the first to admit that I was wrong about this football season and thinking it wouldnt happen.  Things seem to be going better than expected with minimal teams having to shut down a couple weeks.  
 

My question is this,  assuming we make it to week 10 (which I now am confident we will), and Team A beats Team B in first round of Sectional.  On the following Monday, Team B has a significant player test positive for COVID.  Is Team As season over just like that?

[olinecoach]

46 minutes ago, NE8Fan said:

I will be the first to admit that I was wrong about this football season and thinking it wouldnt happen.  Things seem to be going better than expected with minimal teams having to shut down a couple weeks.  
 

My question is this,  assuming we make it to week 10 (which I now am confident we will), and Team A beats Team B in first round of Sectional.  On the following Monday, Team B has a significant player test positive for COVID.  Is Team As season over just like that?

Contact tracing is king. It all depends on your county health dept and what they deem necessary for a quarantine. Their may be some additional IHSAA guidance come tournament time, but their hands are tied by local health depts. just as much as schools are.

[coachkj]

We've talked a lot about it within our staff. There is no teeth to anything the health departments say.  We should just ignore it.

[itiswhatitis]

They will probably cancel the rest of the tournament just like they did in basketball last spring.  Of course to make it "fair", they will give everyone a participation trophy and a juice box.

[Thor77]

9 minutes ago, coachkj said:

We've talked a lot about it within our staff. There is no teeth to anything the health departments say.  We should just ignore it.

That’s a thought I had. What’s the doctor gonna do, sit in the middle of the field and protest? 

[gonzoron]

OOB

[JustRules]

I would expect contact tracing would be minimal with opponents unless you have oline/dline. You don't have a lot of sustained close contact with someone else other than there. Everything else is in very small bursts for seconds at a time. When we watch the Hudl video an entire game sometimes only has 20-30 minutes of actual activity. It's reasonable to think two players didn't have 15 minutes of close proximity. But I'm not a medical expert so I defer to those who are. Just tell me when and where my game is and I'll be there.

[Purdue Pete]

47 minutes ago, JustRules said:

I would expect contact tracing would be minimal with opponents unless you have oline/dline. You don't have a lot of sustained close contact with someone else other than there. Everything else is in very small bursts for seconds at a time. When we watch the Hudl video an entire game sometimes only has 20-30 minutes of actual activity. It's reasonable to think two players didn't have 15 minutes of close proximity. But I'm not a medical expert so I defer to those who are. Just tell me when and where my game is and I'll be there.

Tell that to Angola.  1 Dekalb player tested positive after playing in that game and 46 Angola players were put in quarantine (no idea how 1 guy was in close contact with 46 opposing players but they did it.... referenced game tapes).  Schools will do whatever the co health dept says to avoid liability.  I expect a handful of schools will see their season end in the playoffs due to covid.  

[BDGiant93]

2 hours ago, itiswhatitis said:

They will probably cancel the rest of the tournament just like they did in basketball last spring.  Of course to make it "fair", they will give everyone a participation trophy and a juice box.

You realize people may have died because they attended a basketball Sectional, right?

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/04/18/coronavirus-indiana-lawrence-central-basketball-sectional-10/5145870002/

Edited September 10, 2020 by BDGiant93

[Irishman]

5 minutes ago, BDGiant93 said:

You realize people may have died because they attended a basketball Sectional, right?

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/04/18/coronavirus-indiana-lawrence-central-basketball-sectional-10/5145870002/

It is also an apples and oranges comparison. The basketball tournament has multiple teams playing at the same site on the same nights, so crowds coming from multiple communities along with teams made it necessary to cancel. Plus, we knew very little at that time. We now know in football the steps necessary to minimize the impact as much as possible. Only one game a night and with smaller crowds outside is a lot different than neutral site gyms with multiple teams and multiple sets of fans. 

[BDGiant93]

2 minutes ago, Irishman said:

It is also an apples and oranges comparison. The basketball tournament has multiple teams playing at the same site on the same nights, so crowds coming from multiple communities along with teams made it necessary to cancel. Plus, we knew very little at that time. We now know in football the steps necessary to minimize the impact as much as possible. Only one game a night and with smaller crowds outside is a lot different than neutral site gyms with multiple teams and multiple sets of fans. 

Right, but the response was directly to itiswhatitis who seemed to belittle the decision, in my opinion, of the IHSAA to cancel the tournament. It trivialized, in my view, a very serious situation. I'm sure now where we are that different decisions would be made regarding fan attendance, etc. I would also assume the IHSAA would give every opportunity for the game to be played safely if possible.

[Irishman]

8 minutes ago, BDGiant93 said:

Right, but the response was directly to itiswhatitis who seemed to belittle the decision, in my opinion, of the IHSAA to cancel the tournament. It trivialized, in my view, a very serious situation. I'm sure now where we are that different decisions would be made regarding fan attendance, etc. I would also assume the IHSAA would give every opportunity for the game to be played safely if possible.

Yep...I agree...just wanted to further your point. 

[2017statechamps]

43 minutes ago, BDGiant93 said:

You realize people may have died because they attended a basketball Sectional, right?

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2020/04/18/coronavirus-indiana-lawrence-central-basketball-sectional-10/5145870002/

Not belittling the situation at hand, but you do realize people died because they decided to get in a vehicle and drive and got hit by another vehicle or had a single accident fatality.  Are we supposed to just stop driving all of a sudden?  

[dmizers3]

3 hours ago, coachkj said:

We've talked a lot about it within our staff. There is no teeth to anything the health departments say.  We should just ignore it.

I would hope a coaching staff would put players safety above all else.

[vicvinegar]

1 hour ago, dmizers3 said:

I would hope a coaching staff would put players safety above all else.

I feel like coaches do. The two players I know that have contracted it, said it was nothing more than a common cold. Science shows it's not a serious threat to that age group. 

[Football Fanatic]

I agree. The kids I know who have gotten it all experienced minimal, short-lived symptoms. One kid told me he woke up with a sore throat then was completely fine the next day. Another kid told me he woke up with a stuffy nose and headache then was completely fine the next day. There are numerous things on a daily basis that pose a greater threat to kids than this virus.

[itiswhatitis]

1 hour ago, BDGiant93 said:

Right, but the response was directly to itiswhatitis who seemed to belittle the decision, in my opinion, of the IHSAA to cancel the tournament. It trivialized, in my view, a very serious situation. I'm sure now where we are that different decisions would be made regarding fan attendance, etc. I would also assume the IHSAA would give every opportunity for the game to be played safely if possible.

And my response was to NE8fan and their question of what would they do if they got to week 10 and had positives.  I only reminded them of what happened during the basketball tournament.  At the end of sectionals they cancelled the rest of the tournament. I was NOT belittling the dangers of this virus.  Let me make that perfectly clear.  The crack about participation trophies was said in jest and with sarcasm towards the ISHAA.   In fact, my opinion was they should never have had a season until this thing got fixed and we get back to normal.  If that meant no season, so be it.  Better safe, than sorry.

[olinecoach]

5 hours ago, coachkj said:

We've talked a lot about it within our staff. There is no teeth to anything the health departments say.  We should just ignore it.

Health dept is a government entity as is a public school. (Private schools are out of my realm of knowledge) Ignoring a rule, mandate, order from your local government is a good way to get the whole school in trouble as well as lose a coaching staff immediately. Not saying I agree with everything that our local health dept did/does, but unfortunately the ball is in their hands for the time being.  

[PHJIrish]

IMO, there's no such thing as too safe!

[NPFan]

12 minutes ago, PHJIrish said:

IMO, there's no such thing as too safe!

 

[PHJIrish]

7 hours ago, NPFan said:

 

That's me!

7 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

Ever hear of the Law of Diminishing Returns and the concept of Risk/Benefit?

No but I've heard of being careful when folks are getting sick and dying.

[Wedgebuster]

I'm up here in Michigan with all of our own "interesting" ways of dealing with this virus.  Can someone tell me what the definition of a "Covid Contact" is in athletics.  The line from the governor's office up here is that in regular everyday life its "15 minutes of being within 6 feet or less".  

Well that literally never happens in a football game, even if you add up all the time of O and D-line contact in a game its not 15 minutes.  Yet your seeing entire programs shutdown over 1-2 cases.  Contact tracing......I get it, but what is their metric for a "contact"?  

 

 

[BDGiant93]

23 hours ago, itiswhatitis said:

I was NOT belittling the dangers of this virus.  Let me make that perfectly clear.  The crack about participation trophies was said in jest and with sarcasm towards the ISHAA.   In fact, my opinion was they should never have had a season until this thing got fixed and we get back to normal.  If that meant no season, so be it.  Better safe, than sorry.

Sorry. I guess I misunderstood your intention. Of course, that happens sometimes on message boards. I apologize.

[itiswhatitis]

Just now, BDGiant93 said:

Sorry. I guess I misunderstood your intention. Of course, that happens sometimes on message boards. I apologize.

It's all good, BD.  Just wanted you to know I wasn't making light of the pandemic.  No need to apolgize, just wanted to "clear the air"with you.  We're good.

[BDGiant93]

23 hours ago, Football Fanatic said:

I agree. The kids I know who have gotten it all experienced minimal, short-lived symptoms. One kid told me he woke up with a sore throat then was completely fine the next day. Another kid told me he woke up with a stuffy nose and headache then was completely fine the next day. There are numerous things on a daily basis that pose a greater threat to kids than this virus.

But we don't know what the long term effects of the virus are. The virus never goes away. It never leaves the body. When you have chickenpox as a child, the virus stays in your body. Later, it can become shingles. We are essentially 9 or 10 months into this virus. Plus, the virus doesn't stop trying to achieve a new host just because it stays as a mild case.

On 9/10/2020 at 11:31 AM, 2017statechamps said:

Not belittling the situation at hand, but you do realize people died because they decided to get in a vehicle and drive and got hit by another vehicle or had a single accident fatality.  Are we supposed to just stop driving all of a sudden?  

Nope. When viruses are vehicles, then your comparison will hold up.