Val Ackerman press conference

[Chief00]

When I heard Gov Lamont say yesterday the cloth mask would not only protect you from giving it to others but would also protect you - I thought wow. How could a guy who apparently wants to run all aspects of our lives be so incompetent and clueless when it comes to science. There’s no data or scientific research that I know of to support his words or actions.

COMMENTARY: Masks-for-all for COVID-19 not based on sound data

www.cidrap.umn.edu

 

[Chief00]

You're lacking the context to make any sort of judgments based on that 66% number. Do you know the % that are sheltering at home? Is it more than 66%? Are people sheltering at home disproportionately more likely to be hospitalized if infected because those that are not are essential employees and almost by default of a more healthy working age?

Are you suggesting people at home sleep outside in tents? People will always be in close contact in the home. Social distancing is not designed to lower the rate of hospitalizations from in-home spread. It is designed to slow the TOTAL rate of transmission by decreasing the vector points of spread.

It has been incontrovertibly successful in that regard.

it was a comprehensive study. Of course every individual has their personal story, but what don’t you understand about public health being driven by Big Data and not the TV tear jerker news story of someone in their 30’s dying antidote?
And yes kids would be much better off playing basketball in the park than sitting in high rise apartments with the air concentrated with COVID-19 virus. Time to get past the failed CT/NY policies of quarantining people in nursing homes to infect one another creating incubators of death. That policy had beyond tragic consequences.

 

[Chief00]

Opening up the country smartly & sports are really very separate issues.

If a business can operate safely with precautions taken they will open and the public & employees will decide how and when to participate.

The problem with close contact sports like basketball is that it's impossible to physically distance so once pros and colleges start playing again it's inevitable that players will catch the virus until we have a vaccine. Unless every player in let's say the Big East is completely isolated from the rest of the student body how do they not come in contact with Covid 19?

It's impossible that schools will not have cases, it's inevitable. I see college sports in a much more precarious position than pro sports because at least the pro teams can hypothetically isolate from the outside world in certain spots as TV only events. College kids have to be on campus around thousands of other students and basketball / football are very high contact sports.

So unless they decide to accept that college players will be infected and hopefully nobody dies I am not seeing a real path without a vaccine unless the virus just magically goes away. Tell me I'm wrong please.

The kids may get the virus but they will be fine. Built the herd immunity - over time that will be to everyone’s benefit. In a year or two put the vaccine layer over it and we will be in pretty good shape along with various other treatments developed.

 

[Hi-Low]

The kids may get the virus but they will be fine. Built the herd immunity - over time that will be to everyone’s benefit. In a year or two put the vaccine layer over it and we will be in pretty good shape along with various other treatments developed.

if "herd immunity" is the path society in general is going to embark on then we will need to accept many more deaths. This is by most accounts 7x deadlier than the flu so deaths are bound to increase to much higher levels.

I'm not of the belief everyone should stay home until a vaccine but we need to be smart not reckless. College sports and people gathering in arenas for sports & concerts are activities probably at the very bottom on the essential scale.

Pro sports as TV only events seems more realistic and palatable. If college basketball can find a realistic TV only path then great just not sure colleges will be so accepting of players contracting virus, remember they aren't being paid they are students.

 

[ucp990411]

It Is not about cases getting to 0, it’s about being able to manage the cases that pop up. Texas is a free for all right now. They are tracking nothing and opening everything. I know people that have been in restaurants at full capacity, inside, not on the patio. So now you have two distinct groups...people that are comfortable in that environment and those who are not. I know many people in the middle that are saying that they would start to go out if they felt any measures were in place, but there are not so they are staying home. There is no contact tracing and barely quarantine. I know people that tested positive and still were going out. They said they felt ok so didn’t think it was a big deal. Time will tell how it plays out. I am hopeful, but not overly optimistic.

Tested positive and still going out? Not a big deal? Very considerate of them. They feel ok? 95,000 Americans have died, tell me you are joking.

 

[Vuce]

Colleges will probably go where the data takes them. The chart below is updated up to May 4th from the Mass Dept. of Public Health. Shows COVID death rate per 100k. If you are below age 70 it’s not that bad. If you are below age 30 it’s nothing. As you can see on the right the AVERAGE age of COVID deaths here in Massachusetts is 82. So it is overwhelmingly affecting older folks. They need to social distance/quarantine much more than others. The stats up here show dying from the virus is very much based on your age vs catching it and recovering. Maybe things will change over next month or so but I do think the trend reflected by the Dept of Health chart will continue to show the same results in this state because it’s been consistent since this started. Schools and colleges could reopen with this trend but that’s only if it were kids going. As we all know you need food service, custodial service, police, educators, etc Many layers to this. Oh, and every dorm room at UConn still has kids stuff in it from this past semester so there’s that too. Ok so Val Ackerman had a presser?

 

[StllH8L8ner]

How do students take tests with online learning? Do they have a certain time limit to answer questions, etc? I guess my question is, wouldn't everyone just cheat or would grades be more weighted toward project work and writing essays during the semester?

Only reason I ask is because I think the game has changed for at least the next school year unless there is miraculously a vaccine sometime soon. Not saying schools will be closed but a large number of students may opt for an online year.

 

[pepband99]

The kids may get the virus but they will be fine. Built the herd immunity - over time that will be to everyone’s benefit. In a year or two put the vaccine layer over it and we will be in pretty good shape along with various other treatments developed.

Uh, no.


The only thing I've learned definitively about this virus:
Anyone who is talking definitively is doing it out of their keyster.

 

[superjohn]

Uh, no.


The only thing I've learned definitively about this virus:
Anyone who is talking definitively is doing it out of their keyster.

Less kids die from it than the flu.

 

[pepband99]

Less kids die from it than the flu.

strawman.
Call me when the majority of the population has had it / tested for it. Then, you can take your victory lap.

South Korea had a better initial response, reopened, and is now doubling back.

 

[superjohn]

if "herd immunity" is the path society in general is going to embark on then we will need to accept many more deaths. This is by most accounts 7x deadlier than the flu so deaths are bound to increase to much higher levels.

I'm not of the belief everyone should stay home until a vaccine but we need to be smart not reckless. College sports and people gathering in arenas for sports & concerts are activities probably at the very bottom on the essential scale.

Pro sports as TV only events seems more realistic and palatable. If college basketball can find a realistic TV only path then great just not sure colleges will be so accepting of players contracting virus, remember they aren't being paid they are students.

Of course a lot more people will die but at this point we're just delaying the inevitable. Don't act like idiots when you go out but we have to go out and start living our lives with some sort of normalcy again. We can't cancel sports forever, restaurants forever, human interaction forever...

 

[superjohn]

strawman.
Call me when the majority of the population has had it / tested for it. Then, you can take your victory lap.

South Korea had a better initial response, reopened, and is now doubling back.

You don't know what a strawman is.

There are numbers for this.

 

[QDOG5]

No one on the Boneyard has any idea whether college bball will be played this year. We can and will discuss it ad nauseum but it's not like we are arguing a starting lineup or a wonky jumper. Covid and gut feelings don't mix. The advantage for winter sports is simply time. Luckily, the Boneyard Center for Disease Control and Making the 2020-21 basketball season happen is open 24/7.

 

[Marat]

How do students take tests with online learning? Do they have a certain time limit to answer questions, etc? I guess my question is, wouldn't everyone just cheat or would grades be more weighted toward project work and writing essays during the semester?

Only reason I ask is because I think the game has changed for at least the next school year unless there is miraculously a vaccine sometime soon. Not saying schools will be closed but a large number of students may opt for an online year.

Online cheating probes underway at Georgia Tech, Boston University

Investigations into whether students cheated during at-home online exams amid the coronavirus pandemic are underway at colleges in two states, according to reports. Probes were ongoing this week at…

nypost.com

 

[pepband99]

You don't know what a strawman is.

There are numbers for this.

This virus is not the flu. We don't have medication confirmed like it, for the flu. We don't have decades of epidemiology on it, like the flu.

Mentioning a data point on the flu against a virus we have no knowledge on is the dictionary definition of a strawman.

 

[huskyfan224]

This is so stupid

 

[superjohn]

This virus is not the flu. We don't have medication confirmed like it, for the flu. We don't have decades of epidemiology on it, like the flu.

Mentioning a data point on the flu against a virus we have no knowledge on is the dictionary definition of a strawman.

Of course it's not the flu. I only brought the flu up in the context of children because it kills more children than this virus does.

Of course we have knowledge on this. We have 5 months of #'s.

 

[BlueDogs]

So keep them unemployed until it blows by? Okay. Tell that to the families who are unable to pay a month's rent and are unable to put food on the table for their children. It's easy for those who are able to work from home or those who have big bucks in the bank to say, but for those folks it's impossible to internalize what those who aren't as fortunate are going through. If I had a family to support I'd much rather get the virus than be unable to feed my family.

The economic damage already done is much worse than most realize. Every week it compounds. We are going to be in serious long term systemic trouble for years to come. I don’t know what we do but when seems to be exactly wrong is the austerity spending posture some states (eh hem, CT) are taking. Instead of pumping money into the local economy with shovel ready projects to sustain local businesses, they are tightening spending. Stupid.

 

[JimHurley]

There is a lot of real estate between zero cases and what we have now. Harm is a general term right now. I guess it depends on who you are asking and what their situation is. Every person has their own perspective and individual circumstance. Thats what makes this disaster so devastatingly unique. One size does not fit all. Unfortunate and acceptable losses seem like statistics on tv until it hits close to home and yourself or someone you care about is in trouble. I know people people dealing with this as I type this and economic statistics mean jack to them.

You are right. But it’s a mistake to ignore economic statistics because those statistics are showing us how many lives this economic collapse will take. The state of the economy will also result in many deaths due to homelessness, suicide, starvation, etc. These are useful statistics whether people care about them or not.

if "herd immunity" is the path society in general is going to embark on then we will need to accept many more deaths. This is by most accounts 7x deadlier than the flu so deaths are bound to increase to much higher levels.

I'm not of the belief everyone should stay home until a vaccine but we need to be smart not reckless. College sports and people gathering in arenas for sports & concerts are activities probably at the very bottom on the essential scale.

Pro sports as TV only events seems more realistic and palatable. If college basketball can find a realistic TV only path then great just not sure colleges will be so accepting of players contracting virus, remember they aren't being paid they are students.

We will never know it’s actual death rate because those who are asymptomatic are not getting tested. A recent study from Stanford found that the actual infection rate could be 50-80 times higher than the confirmed number of cases. If that’s the case, the death rate is FAR lower than what we believe and the percent of people who have the virus even showing symptoms is low.

 

[Hi-Low]

[QUOTE="JimHurley, post: 3544050, member: 6008"
We will never know it’s actual death rate because those who are asymptomatic are not getting tested. A recent study from Stanford found that the actual infection rate could be 50-80 times higher than the confirmed number of cases. If that’s the case, the death rate is FAR lower than what we believe and the percent of people who have the virus even showing symptoms is low.
[/QUOTE]

No we don't know the actual death rate, if you look at the current stats in the US it's about 6%. Of course nobody believes it's that high but most countries do not believe the infection rate is 50 times higher than we know, that would mean it's more benign than the flu. A factor of 10 times higher is probably more realistic.

The number most seem to settle for death rate is between .4 to .9 % but whatever it is it's much worse than the .1% of typical flu. Also the US has a lots of unhealthy people, might also be why our deaths are so high.

Also now we have this Covid related illness that is putting kids in the hospital and maybe takes longer to develop. The truth is we don't know much about the virus except you probably don't want it if you can avoid it.

 

[huskymedic]

>> Ackerman said decisions on fall sports are going to have to be made by the end June or early July, leaving time to readjust schedules for sports that begin in late August. Decisions on winter sports would have to be made around Sept. 1. The conference’s presidents are adamant that campuses must be open for all students before sports resume.

Big East commissioner Val Ackerman says sports will resume when conference campuses are ‘back in business’. “We need to know that our campuses are open,” Ackerman said. “The fate of every sport, including basketball, is going to hinge on whether our campuses are back in business – in person, not virtual. Some schools may have some hybrid there.

We have to have a better sense on what the medical protocols are going to be, and look for some guidance from our doctors and trainers on what they think needs to happen to have sports safely resume. And we need some guidance from the NCAA. If we have less than a full season, what does that mean in terms of our qualifications [for the postseason.]”<<

Return To Play Guidance Emerges For College Sports

>>On Friday, the American College Health Association announced the most sweeping guidance to date for returning to play for college sports. Included are modifications to facility, practice, personnel, emergency care and planning to assist in deciding if a college can safely bring back athletes and students to campus.

The Five Basics

• Immediately assemble an COVID-19 Action Team and Create an Action Plan. This should include a wide range of staff including Athletic Director, Head Athletic Trainer, Physician, Head Coach representative, Strength Coach representative, student health services representative, counseling services, representative, student-athlete, University emergency preparedness representative, others. Teams should immediately begin to draft an action plan for all scenarios.
• Ramp up education and training for sports medicine staff; include Basic Life Support, AED, and resuscitation training for potential COVID-19 patients. ACHA recommends action plans for the transport, assessment, and testing of student athletes or staff with potential COVID-19 illness.”
• Address the issues around both types of PPE: Personal Protective Equipment for all medical staff, custodial staff, (enough for daily/incident based exposures); and, Pre-Participation Examinations should no longer be done in large groups. Schools will need to decide whether to include COVID-19 testing for antigens and/or antibodies, and then decide if every athlete needs to be tested and how frequently. Also, medical staff should “carefully review each athlete for the presence of underlying health conditions that places the individual at higher risk for COVID-19” before allowing them to begin training.
• Assess the potential for COVID-19 transmission in each sport, considering whether a sport is: team vs individual; contact vs non-contact; major spectator vs non-spectator; has unavoidablephysical distancing practices in certain sports like soccer, basketball, wrestling, football. Discuss what to do in “ball transfer” sports like volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball/soccer. How will you manage the cleaning of shared equipment in sports like gymnastics and track and field? And, do you have the resources to consistently monitor social distancing of all participants, sideline personnel and other spectators at practices and games? How many staff can you devote to this and are you willing to take that responsibility on?
• Examine your entire facility—team meeting rooms, locker rooms, athletic training rooms, strength and conditioning rooms, academic meeting rooms and study areas, dining areas for physical spacing and smaller groups. How do you manage a team meeting for 35 in a room that seats 35?

Once you have devised strategies for these issues, it will be important, says ACHA, to merge those plans with other areas of campus. For example, what will you do with athletes who live together and one becomes exposed? If you begin to travel to away games, and an athlete or staff member gets sick on the road, where will you isolate them when you return home? Do they, in fact, return home?<<

 

[Magic32]

Think I must be in the wrong thread, I was looking for Val Ackerman press conference info

 

[UCTitleTown]

It's an STD now. Go out and hoard condoms before it's too late.

 

[JimHurley]

No we don't know the actual death rate, if you look at the current stats in the US it's about 6%. Of course nobody believes it's that high but most countries do not believe the infection rate is 50 times higher than we know, that would mean it's more benign than the flu. A factor of 10 times higher is probably more realistic.

The number most seem to settle for death rate is between .4 to .9 % but whatever it is it's much worse than the .1% of typical flu. Also the US has a lots of unhealthy people, might also be why our deaths are so high.

Also now we have this Covid related illness that is putting kids in the hospital and maybe takes longer to develop. The truth is we don't know much about the virus except you probably don't want it if you can avoid it.

Right. So if we’re talking about a .4 to .9% death rate, and the average age of death is higher than life expectancy, why is the whole country shut down? If you are older and/or have medical conditions, you should continue to isolate. Same for those who live with someone who is older and/or has medical conditions. It is a serious illness, but it’s also blown out of proportion and the response is exaggerated. Both can be true

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Opening up the country smartly & sports are really very separate issues.

If a business can operate safely with precautions taken they will open and the public & employees will decide how and when to participate.

The problem with close contact sports like basketball is that it's impossible to physically distance so once pros and colleges start playing again it's inevitable that players will catch the virus until we have a vaccine. Unless every player in let's say the Big East is completely isolated from the rest of the student body how do they not come in contact with Covid 19?

It's impossible that schools will not have cases, it's inevitable. I see college sports in a much more precarious position than pro sports because at least the pro teams can hypothetically isolate from the outside world in certain spots as TV only events. College kids have to be on campus around thousands of other students and basketball / football are very high contact sports.

So unless they decide to accept that college players will be infected and hopefully nobody dies I am not seeing a real path without a vaccine unless the virus just magically goes away. Tell me I'm wrong please.

How would that effect recruiting? You can play ball but not touch coeds. What’s the point of being a star athlete?