Frost on football this fall

[Elwood von Kiowa]

I'd vote to set the capacity at 50% and fill it up like a checkerboard (each family group is not next to or directly in front or behind any other family group) and require masks. I think that would resolve most of the worries of a superspread event. There would be some risk still of course but significantly less in my opinion.

If they limited Memorial Stadium capacity to 50%, it would be just enough so people's butt cheeks wouldn't be touching. Not exactly social distancing...

 

[HuSkaBob]

If they limited Memorial Stadium capacity to 50%, it would be just enough so people's butt cheeks wouldn't be touching. Not exactly social distancing...

I don't think the outside part is a particularly dangerous activity, other than people removing their masks to shout. Getting into the stadium through "choke points" in the North and South stands, the ancient (and awesome) ramps up to the top of the West stands, the bathrooms (especially in the lower bowl (lol)) are the areas of concern. The median age of a ticket holder last time I checked was in the 50's, which isn't going to help either. It's not impossible, but it's not easy.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

I hope that's the case. One of my concerns is if there are other factors at play we don't yet know about or know enough about. How do we know there won't be long term organ damage or other permanent effects from this virus? At this point we don't know.

Because there aren't those effects with other coronaviruses.

Don't turn COVID into the Godzilla Saharan Dust storm.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

The odds of “or worse” are far longer than Frost’s Huskers winning the national championship this year. Flu is significantly more lethal to 20-somethings than COVID. Vaccine or not, COVID is here to stay. We can pare back living and wait until “when”, or we can resume our lives.

And a legitimate vaccine may be years away.

Get on livin', or get on dyin'.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

In general I am with you on this ... but whether it is at NU or Tennessee or Clemson ... some 20-year old athlete is invariably going to get seriously sick because of COVID ... the "odds" of that happening are good:

Younger Adults Are Increasingly Testing Positive For The Coronavirus

In parts of the country, more people in their 20s and 30s are testing positive for the coronavirus. Experts say this is likely due to more testing and less adherence to distancing and mask guidelines.

www.npr.org

That means ... some athlete somewhere is going to contract COVID and get seriously ill. If that happens does that mean football SHOULD close down .. probably not, but could it or will it shut down? Probably yes.

They play a dangerous sport.

You and I are at a 1 in 100 lifetime risk of dying in a car crash.

Risk is inherent with life, and I'm done with not living life.

 

[gardenjam]

You mean like long term brain damage from playing football?

No, some people continue to have breathing issues months after infection. And on rare occasions having to have lung transplants like a 20 year old otherwise healthy individual did in Chicago or another guy I saw in the news today may have to have.. I think i also remember reading how some have to be on dialysis for kidney damage. Other issues include liver, neurological and psychological.

I'm not trying to be a Debbie downer. Just some issues being seen. So who knows what will happen to who? It's a "novel" virus which means little about it is known and we're still learning.

 

[gardenjam]

Because there aren't those effects with other coronaviruses.

Don't turn COVID into the Godzilla Saharan Dust storm.

With all due respect doc, it's a "novel" coronavirus

 

[Farmer Jake]

Just watching news stories, I have heard of people not having any organ problems before Covid-19. After coming out of ICU with Covid-19, they have diminished heart, lung, liver, and kidney functions. Still too much we don't know about Covid-19, like who is affected and why this person is affected, and someone else never has any symptoms. The unknowns of Covid-19 is what is screwing with everyone just living their lives like it was in the good old days of last year.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

These marches and protests are not on whim's. They are organized, communicated out in advance and publicized to encourage attendance.

They didn’t start that way. Also, they aren’t organized by any city, state, or government organization. Again, what are you going to do to stop that? Nothing, less violence. A football game is an organized event, or a concert, or any other area where masses of people gather. That’s preventable.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

So terribly wrong and shows your lack of understanding of the disease. I don't think anyone who has become infected with Covid-19 has "wanted" to get it, yet thousands have been infected. It is not preventable, it is here and it will infect people.

Oh, I’ve been been paying attention. Trust me. And it is preventable, if you keep yourself out of compromising situations, and wash your damn hands constantly. I never said anyone wanted to get it, but if you go someplace where there is a mass of people you are just asking for it.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

Oh boy, again, i don' think you understand the issues you speak of here. Many, if not most, of the protests were indeed organized! What else would you call social media pleas to the masses to show up at "X" and exercise your right to protest? They might as well have sold tickets!

Again, you can’t stop social media. NEVER suggested otherwise. The only way to stop that, is with violence, and that would add more fuel to the fire. There isn’t much you can do about it. A football game, or any other place where large masses of people gather for a planned, money paying enterprise, you can do some thing about that. I sure hope that no one close to you gets very sick with it. I’ve already lost a 54-year-old brother-in-law who was in perfect health. Good luck to you and your family.

 

[Scott in NY]

It's very plausable she could get it from anyone in the store that hasn't even been to a game. Going to a game doesn't have any more bearing than catching it from somewhere else.

I disagree. Sitting around with a group of 90,000 other people is like a petri dish. Why do you suppose large gatherings are discouraged during this pandemic?

 

[Scott in NY]

If college athletes were going to get it, be hospitalized, and even tragically die from football season, then why haven't they already? This thing is and has made the rounds and I am yet to see of a college athlete anywhere getting hospitalized. Yet if we play football then college athletes are suddenly going to start becoming ill?

I would love to see a stat on how many college athletes have gotten seriously ill with it, and if the answer is none, then why would they suddenly start?

Which high contact college sports have been happening since March? Maybe this has something to do with why there hasn't been a big issue yet? Didn't football teams only recently get back together?

 

[Scott in NY]

To what degree and what extent should that happen?

Lets just lock everyone up in their houses until 2021 and a vaccine is developed. Let's tank the economy. Let's not worry about the emotional, social and mental impact of young kids who need education, food and resources the school system provides.

Could we all be a little bit better? Sure ... wearing masks, limit gatherings ... but at some point in time life has to get on. Remember when all this started we all were told the COVID is like the flu ... its not a matter of if but rather when we are going to get it. Flatten the curve was the mantra.

Nonsense. Just like everything else in life, ther IS a middle ground somewhere. Where is it? Who knows, that's above my pay grade.

And as I like to remind people, economies ALWAYS bounce back. Dead people don't.

 

[Scott in NY]

So the traffic accidents which also kill or harm someone you love dearly should be reason to abolish driving, yet people continue to drive every day. Death of someone close to you is always sad, but many people seem to have the feeling that people only die from Covid-19 and without the virus, we would all live forever.

I hate it when people use the "car crashes and heart attacks and regular flu blah blah blah" excuses. You realize (as you point out) those things happen anyway and covid deaths are in ADDITION to all that, right? So we just keep adding on ways to die that can (somewhat) be mitigated?

In 2019 there were not 130K+ covid deaths in the US. This year there will be, and likely a lot more.