Will There Be a 2020 Football Season?

[Decoy73]

I’d love to tell people to quit their whining and just wear the damn mask around strangers.  Otherwise keep your selfish a$$ home.  This isn’t just about you.  Is that simple enough for people to understand?   Sadly, it probably isn’t.  On a broader scope this sort of selfish ignorance can help explain why we are where we are in this country in a lot of ways.    And why others are doing it much better.  

 

[knapplc]

*efficiency of various masks - a guy in his position had better be an expert in that field prior to any pandemic.

*asymptomatic carriers were well know at the time the recommendations against masks were initially made. 

*There were few changes in virus knowledge from his statements in March to April.

*Much of the droplet size, etc knowledge has been gained and released post his mask recommendation.

His decisions weren't based on science.  They were based on availability of face masks.  Once enough masks were available, or about to be available, his public stance changed.  Basically the general public was lied to in order to protect the inventory for health care workers imo.

How is this a problem that you're still complaining about four months later? If this really is the motive, is this not a very, very good motive?

Dr. Fauci is not the problem. He's likely to be our best hope of a solution. If we had listened to him, and only him, we'd have football this year.

 

[NoLongerN]

Reminder ... this thread is about "Will There Be a 2020 Football Season?"

 

[teachercd]

I don't think the biggest classes in Texas are doing football at the normal start dates.

 

[Hilltop]

How is this a problem that you're still complaining about four months later? If this really is the motive, is this not a very, very good motive?

Dr. Fauci is not the problem. He's likely to be our best hope of a solution. If we had listened to him, and only him, we'd have football this year.

I'm not personally complaining and actually don't blame Fauci.  The WHO and many others were doing the same things at the same time.  I think he was told what to say and when to say it to a degree.  I'm trying to illustrate why some people are still not on board.  Many people simply checked out after the conflicting messages and have a closed mind to anything, especially since out leaders at the local, state, and country levels can't seem to agree.  Until that changes, the sides will likely remain divided to some degree.   

 

[Hilltop]

Reminder ... this thread is about "Will There Be a 2020 Football Season?"

This has everything to do with football and is the reason the thread was started.  I tend to agree with many on here, there won't be football if people don't get on the same page.  Whether the masks work or not, people getting on board and being cautious will help our numbers now and possibly convince the powers that be that the boys can play.  I'm hopeful but not as convinced as I was a few weeks ago. 

 

[Cdog923]

I agree, as well. If only Fauci had told us in March to wear masks...

If only we knew then what we know now about the virus...

Wait, you're telling me that scientific and medical knowledge and advice evolve with the more we learn and know about a particular subject?

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I don't think the biggest classes in Texas are doing football at the normal start dates.

5A and 6A have pushed back their seasons 1 month, with the playoffs extending well into December and possibly January.

 

[NoLongerN]

Oddly enough there was already a thread (actually two) discussing the virus.  The virus discussion (absent football) has been moved to the non-P&R one.

This ^^^^

 

[kansas45]

Reminder ... this thread is about "Will There Be a 2020 Football Season?"

Oh that's easy to answer: No. 

But I believe this thread serves the important distinction of attempting to answer the question of "why there will not be a 2020 football season" OR "why there will be a 2020 football season." In order to answer that question, especially one in which there are so many variables, it is important to go back to what we learned in elementary school of the "who, what, when, where, why and how." 

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

*efficiency of various masks - a guy in his position had better be an expert in that field prior to any pandemic.

*asymptomatic carriers were well know at the time the recommendations against masks were initially made. 

*There were few changes in virus knowledge from his statements in March to April.

*Much of the droplet size, etc knowledge has been gained and released post his mask recommendation.

His decisions weren't based on science.  They were based on availability of face masks.  Once enough masks were available, or about to be available, his public stance changed.  Basically the general public was lied to in order to protect the inventory for health care workers imo.

Mask efficiency is based on droplet size, R0 of the virus, incubation of the virus...there is not blanket mask rule that applies to every pandemic that's ever happened. Asymptomatic carriers were not well known when Fauci spoke on March 8th, that's just false, it wasn't until end of March, beginning of April that Asymptomatic spread was becoming a widely believed theory. There were hundreds of studies that came out from March to April to try and understand the virus as that's when most countries started to feel the stress. Hell there was a big UNMC study released on 3/29 about droplet vs airborne iso in covid19 patients rooms, that's centered around droplet size.

Fauci's decision was based on many things, he couldn't say for sure masks we're helpful - it wasn't known as fact - he needed more information. He also realized people would horde masks (remember TP) and it would put healthcare workers at risk since there was a PPE shortage at the time. Once more PPE was available and more information was available, masks were recommended. I seriously think you are underestimating the amount of info that came out about this virus from the first week of March to the first week of April.

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

Oh that's easy to answer: No. 

But I believe this thread serves the important distinction of attempting to answer the question of "why there will not be a 2020 football season" OR "why there will be a 2020 football season." In order to answer that question, especially one in which there are so many variables, it is important to go back to what we learned in elementary school of the "who, what, when, where, why and how." 

^ This, it's impossible to talk about this topic without discussing the virus. If you want to bury your head in the sand, go to a thread about how tight AMart's t-shirt looked when he was in line at qdoba. There is going to virus talk in this thread - because guess what - the virus is the reason this thread exists. If there was no virus this would be a very short thread. 

 

[knapplc]

This is a smart move by the NCAA.  

 

[Hilltop]

This is a smart move by the NCAA.  

Is it also an acknowledgement by the NCAA that while it's inevitable some coaches will get sick, they will still allow football?  Kind of reads that way to me. 

 

[Rochelobe]

I am personally not convinced that masks are the end all strategy to end the virus but I am doing my part.  I think to really determine the effectiveness, we need everyone to wear them while keeping society open.  If everything has to be closed for them to work, I'm not on board.  We need our economy going... and we need football.        

I doubt Fauci feels it is an end all strategy either. 

Now that we have several months of data, there is evidence that wearing a mask lowers the chance of transmission. I think the thrust is as follows:

1. Wear masks: Wearing masks lowers the transmission rate, slowing the spread of the virus (but not stopping it all by itself). 

2. Increase testing: Increased testing should provide a more complete snapshot of how widespread the infection is, particularly the asymptomatic cases that apparently can spread the virus without ever being aware they have the virus.

3. Expanded testing processing:  Expanded processing lowers the amount of time people wait to get results after they are tested. 

Advantages of using all three in combination:

a. Slowing transmission rate allows for hospitals to "space out" the number of COVID patients they have at any given time, thus allowing them to provide better treatment, resulting in a (hopefully) lower rate of death. 

b. Slowing transmission rate with increased testing/expanded processing allows for a chance to get ahead to better identify potential hotspots prior to being fully realized. 

Thus, to me the logical steps at that time would be to use the combination of the three methods to more quickly identify those with the virus earlier in the process - and find the asymptomatic cases and quarantine them - instead of having to quarantine everyone.  However, those out and about in society should still use masks to slow the rate, so that the spread can be limited until we can turn around, say 30% or more tests per day in a given community (with much quicker turnaround times, hopefully only a day or so).

I think by doing that we would be able to slowly stamp it down (probably not out), and at least buy time for a vaccine.  At the same time, it allows for more opening of a communities businesses as the positive rate drops, and those that are positive are more quickly identified and quarantined.

Had we started implementing this in mid-April, we would most likely have a semi-normal college football season this fall - maybe with 20-40% attendance.

I just watched an Australian Rules Football match Saturday night (our time) that had fans in the stands.  Probably 15% attendance. I believe Australia implemented procedures similar to the ones I listed above.