dont mean to be disrespectful to VQ/Brent, but this article is pretty insightful. I know its big business, and there are lots of folks pushing for it to happen, some return to 'normalcy', but if the numbers arent working, and people arent doing as they are supposed to do - this is not gonna happen.
Pre-Season Workouts Provide Frightening Preview for Colleges
2020-07-02 13:56:43.158 GMT
By Laine Higgins and Melissa Korn
(Dow Jones) -- In recent weeks, universities across the country have conducted
an unplanned experiment on whether students can return to campus this fall,
using football players and other athletes reporting for voluntary workouts as
guinea pigs.
It hasn't gone very well.
The University of Texas at Austin had 13 student-athletes test positive for
Covid-19. At Louisiana State University, 30 players -- about a quarter of the
football team -- went into quarantine after some of them hit local bars. And
the University of South Carolina reported 79 new cases among students in a
recent eight-day stretch, but won't say whether athletes have been infected.
The troubling results show how challenging it will be to bring tens of
thousands of young adults together for the resumption of classes in a few
weeks. Many players who tested positive for the virus showed no symptoms. And
in numerous cases, students ignored pleas from administrators to avoid crowds,
contributing to a rise in positive tests.
"Students are going to be returning to parties, there are going to be all
sorts of things," said Dr. Carlos Del Rio, an infectious disease expert at
Emory University School of Medicine. "As long as those things happen you can
do whatever you want to test people, but people are going to get infected."
Del Rio serves on the NCAA's Covid-19 advisory panel and his input helped
convince NCAA leaders to cancel March Madness. "We're going to need to do a
lot of education about the importance of remaining negative."
According to Dr. Kyle Goerl, the director of student health and team physician
at Kansas State University and chair of the Big 12 Conference's medical
advisory committee, colleges are not much different from meatpacking plants.
"These are individuals that live close to one another, they interact tightly
on a daily basis," he said. "We knew we had to do our best to keep it out
because if it got in it was going to move fast."
That's what happened at Kansas State, where football players began returning
for voluntary workouts on June 15. Prior to entering team facilities, athletes
were required to self-isolate for 14 days and receive a negative result on
what's known as a PCR test, which involves a doctor sticking a swab up the
nasal cavity. An initial round of 89 PCR tests yielded zero infected Wildcats.
"I was pretty fired up, we had zero at first," said athletic director Gene
Taylor. "Sure enough they [the athletes]...kind of forgot that they needed to
wear a mask when they were hanging out with their buddies."
Players had gathered in small groups over the first weekend back. A handful
met for a round of videogames. Another group drove to a player's lake house.
But some of the players that socialized over the weekend hadn't gotten the
results back from the PCR tests they took on Friday, June 12.
By June 19 there were 14 cases, with 50 more players potentially exposed to
infected individuals. Taylor shut down workouts that Saturday, calling a pause
until July 5. Suddenly, the global pandemic became very tangible to dozens of
young men in northeast Kansas.
"You have to treat yourself as positive until you hear that you're negative.
This is ultimately a human behavior issue," said Goerl. He worries that it's
going to take players seeing a teammate or coach get really sick for that to
hit home.
The situation illustrates a common wrinkle with coronavirus testing: PCR tests
don't illuminate whether an individual has been exposed to the virus in the
time since their sample was collected.
"Testing just tells you if in that moment that guy is negative, but doesn't
tell you what's going to happen that evening," said Del Rio.
Complicating matters is the lack of universal testing standards from the NCAA
or even within major conferences. In early May, the NCAA released a broad set
of best practices, stressing frequent testing and ample space for self
isolation. Those are suggestions, not rules, and universities have largely
forged ahead with their own plans.
The University of Houston only required returning athletes to undergo a
physical exam -- no coronavirus testing or self-isolation. Six did show
symptoms and later tested positive, and the school shut down workouts on June
12 as a result. A spokeswoman said that the athletes' Covid-19 results "are
informative but also carry unique circumstances that do not apply to
university as a whole."
The athletics department said it will now require repetitive Covid-19 testing
as a component of on-campus workouts.
But repetitive testing for all won't be the norm when other students return to
campus in August. The school plans to utilize health screenings, temperature
checks and self-assessments, and will urge those with Covid-19 symptoms to see
their primary care physicians.
"Broad-based testing of our students and employees at the scale that would be
required to make it an effective mitigation strategy is cost prohibitive, and
it's inconceivable that the university could test all new entrants to campus,"
spokeswoman Shawn Lindsey said.
She noted that the school is still two months from the scheduled start of
classes, and has time to evolve its plans "as we get new information that is
actionable."
Some public health officials have questioned the approach some schools are
taking, as they focus on antibody testing. LSU officials said they chose to do
antibody tests because they questioned the reliability of swab tests. North
Texas administered swab tests only to those who tested positive for
coronavirus antibodies, a strategy deemed "less invasive," per a spokesperson.
Del Rio said that notion is not valid, explaining that antibody tests reveal
past infections but cannot mitigate existing ones.
"Antibody testing would not be of any use, really," he said. "At this point
you need to do PCR testing."
Both LSU and North Texas had outbreaks. Almost a quarter of the team went into
quarantine at LSU after a handful of players contracted the virus on a trip to
Baton Rouge nightclubs. North Texas changed its testing protocols to
administer swab tests to all athletes and athletic department personnel after
finding three positive cases in Denton.
"A novel coronavirus is all new to us as well, so knowing the exact right
steps is extremely challenging," said Goerl. "We are writing the playbook as
we go here."
Pre-Season Workouts Provide Frightening Preview for Colleges
2020-07-02 13:56:43.158 GMT
By Laine Higgins and Melissa Korn
(Dow Jones) -- In recent weeks, universities across the country have conducted
an unplanned experiment on whether students can return to campus this fall,
using football players and other athletes reporting for voluntary workouts as
guinea pigs.
It hasn't gone very well.
The University of Texas at Austin had 13 student-athletes test positive for
Covid-19. At Louisiana State University, 30 players -- about a quarter of the
football team -- went into quarantine after some of them hit local bars. And
the University of South Carolina reported 79 new cases among students in a
recent eight-day stretch, but won't say whether athletes have been infected.
The troubling results show how challenging it will be to bring tens of
thousands of young adults together for the resumption of classes in a few
weeks. Many players who tested positive for the virus showed no symptoms. And
in numerous cases, students ignored pleas from administrators to avoid crowds,
contributing to a rise in positive tests.
"Students are going to be returning to parties, there are going to be all
sorts of things," said Dr. Carlos Del Rio, an infectious disease expert at
Emory University School of Medicine. "As long as those things happen you can
do whatever you want to test people, but people are going to get infected."
Del Rio serves on the NCAA's Covid-19 advisory panel and his input helped
convince NCAA leaders to cancel March Madness. "We're going to need to do a
lot of education about the importance of remaining negative."
According to Dr. Kyle Goerl, the director of student health and team physician
at Kansas State University and chair of the Big 12 Conference's medical
advisory committee, colleges are not much different from meatpacking plants.
"These are individuals that live close to one another, they interact tightly
on a daily basis," he said. "We knew we had to do our best to keep it out
because if it got in it was going to move fast."
That's what happened at Kansas State, where football players began returning
for voluntary workouts on June 15. Prior to entering team facilities, athletes
were required to self-isolate for 14 days and receive a negative result on
what's known as a PCR test, which involves a doctor sticking a swab up the
nasal cavity. An initial round of 89 PCR tests yielded zero infected Wildcats.
"I was pretty fired up, we had zero at first," said athletic director Gene
Taylor. "Sure enough they [the athletes]...kind of forgot that they needed to
wear a mask when they were hanging out with their buddies."
Players had gathered in small groups over the first weekend back. A handful
met for a round of videogames. Another group drove to a player's lake house.
But some of the players that socialized over the weekend hadn't gotten the
results back from the PCR tests they took on Friday, June 12.
By June 19 there were 14 cases, with 50 more players potentially exposed to
infected individuals. Taylor shut down workouts that Saturday, calling a pause
until July 5. Suddenly, the global pandemic became very tangible to dozens of
young men in northeast Kansas.
"You have to treat yourself as positive until you hear that you're negative.
This is ultimately a human behavior issue," said Goerl. He worries that it's
going to take players seeing a teammate or coach get really sick for that to
hit home.
The situation illustrates a common wrinkle with coronavirus testing: PCR tests
don't illuminate whether an individual has been exposed to the virus in the
time since their sample was collected.
"Testing just tells you if in that moment that guy is negative, but doesn't
tell you what's going to happen that evening," said Del Rio.
Complicating matters is the lack of universal testing standards from the NCAA
or even within major conferences. In early May, the NCAA released a broad set
of best practices, stressing frequent testing and ample space for self
isolation. Those are suggestions, not rules, and universities have largely
forged ahead with their own plans.
The University of Houston only required returning athletes to undergo a
physical exam -- no coronavirus testing or self-isolation. Six did show
symptoms and later tested positive, and the school shut down workouts on June
12 as a result. A spokeswoman said that the athletes' Covid-19 results "are
informative but also carry unique circumstances that do not apply to
university as a whole."
The athletics department said it will now require repetitive Covid-19 testing
as a component of on-campus workouts.
But repetitive testing for all won't be the norm when other students return to
campus in August. The school plans to utilize health screenings, temperature
checks and self-assessments, and will urge those with Covid-19 symptoms to see
their primary care physicians.
"Broad-based testing of our students and employees at the scale that would be
required to make it an effective mitigation strategy is cost prohibitive, and
it's inconceivable that the university could test all new entrants to campus,"
spokeswoman Shawn Lindsey said.
She noted that the school is still two months from the scheduled start of
classes, and has time to evolve its plans "as we get new information that is
actionable."
Some public health officials have questioned the approach some schools are
taking, as they focus on antibody testing. LSU officials said they chose to do
antibody tests because they questioned the reliability of swab tests. North
Texas administered swab tests only to those who tested positive for
coronavirus antibodies, a strategy deemed "less invasive," per a spokesperson.
Del Rio said that notion is not valid, explaining that antibody tests reveal
past infections but cannot mitigate existing ones.
"Antibody testing would not be of any use, really," he said. "At this point
you need to do PCR testing."
Both LSU and North Texas had outbreaks. Almost a quarter of the team went into
quarantine at LSU after a handful of players contracted the virus on a trip to
Baton Rouge nightclubs. North Texas changed its testing protocols to
administer swab tests to all athletes and athletic department personnel after
finding three positive cases in Denton.
"A novel coronavirus is all new to us as well, so knowing the exact right
steps is extremely challenging," said Goerl. "We are writing the playbook as
we go here."
