Alabama Institutes pre-Playoff Safety Measures

Might want to adjust your expectations.

I see no reason to lock this thread. Not talking about it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Get the team back with time to spare and hope for the best and good health is all that can be done

Or just uneducated. He's vaccinated and likely boosted.

People feel like that's a shield of armor when it isn't. I feel comfortable saying he didn't intend to put himself or anyone at risk, I just think there are a lot of people who get the booster and think "okay, now I'm good."

My concern since the OSU game is the spike in COVID that really started to pick up steam around that game. This team probably could've done more last year, I'm hopeful they've learned and will be more proactive this time around. Before that it was the flu that was sweeping campus and I was worried how that would impact the team.

Northwestern went through all of last season with no COVID cases. A lot of that is luck, but I got some insight into the protocol they had in place and I feel comfortable saying no one else in the country was doing what they were doing to keep the team COVID free. They won the B1G West and I believe they were up on OSU at halftime of the championship game, they beat the doors off of Auburn.

At the end of the day though, it comes down to the players. They can do everything imaginable in Schembechler Hall, but if guys go to parties or large gatherings at night or on the weekend...it doesn't matter.

One thing that Michigan needs to do, like yesterday, is go back to testing the entire team and staff every day. Warde has to step in, foot the bill, and make that happen. If someone pops, they can't come into the facilities.

However, my fear is were going in the opposite direction (across the country in football). Don't test because most guys won't show symptoms...just let them play through it. Don't do anything different at this point in the season than you did earlier. And that is horrifying on so many levels.

Someone in the AD or on his football administrative staff should have strongly advised him against doing that. Not sure what kind of guidance he received before taking that trip, but it wasn't a great idea. Hopefully, the program will follow Alabama's lead here and tighten up for the next two weeks.

Huge progress has been made to date but playing in the NC game would be significant and winning it would put the program in a different stratosphere.  You want OSU recruiting levels that’s how to get there. 

I think he means stop testing the vaccinated football players, not stop testing society-wide.

Otherwise, you're 100% right in saying that the consequence of throwing up your hands on testing entirely would be to hasten the virtual collapse of the health care system this winter in colder climates, which might happen anyway given what's happening now. That is unless you do the one unsavory thing that would stop it: stop admitting unvaccinated people showing Covid-like symptoms (and suggest they go home and get treated by Dr. Facebook). Like I said... unsavory. But it would keep the hospitals functioning.

Exactly right. I was supposed to have a major surgery which has been postponed indefinitely because there are no empty beds, secondary to another Covid explosion. The surgeon said not to expect a reschedule until February at the earliest.

Actually, a universal flu vaccine is on the way. Efficacy TBD: 

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/universal-influenza-vaccine-research

And--at the risk of stating the obvious--keeping a football team safe so that it can be at fullest strength for the program's biggest game in nearly a quarter century, a responsibility of the athletic department--is a different issue from 'what we're all going to have to learn to live with' or what protocols may evolve governing the new outbreak in the coming weeks and months. 

If one looks at flu data from 2010/12 through 2019/20 the lowest number of flu deaths in a year was 12,000 in 2011/12.  The highest, 61,000 occurred in 2017/18.

In each of the last two years, more than 380,000 people have died from Covid.   In other words there have been over 6 times as many deaths from Covid in each of the last two years compared to a recent bad flu year and more than 30 times as many deaths in a mild flu year.

This might explain some of the reason why Covid is treated differently than the flu.

While the NFL may be reducing testing requirements, they are amping up other
 

“Effective immediately, all clubs will implement preventative measures that have proven effective: masking regardless of vaccination status, remote or outdoor meetings, eliminating in-person meals, and no outside visitors while on team travel," the league said in a statement. "We will continue to strongly encourage the booster shots as the most effective protection. Finally, and based on expert advice, we will adjust the return-to-participation requirements for those who have recovered from COVID-19.”

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-updates-covid-19-protocols-to-allow-for-quicker-return-from-quarantine-for-v

Or their parents die and they blame themselves.

EDIT: For the assholes downvoting this, literally had this happen to a student.

Hopefully they at least take temperatures to ID players with symptoms. Outside of that, what do people expect? Players can self test if they have concerns.
Serious question: Does anyone expect or advocate for 100% testing and contact tracing like 2020? If so, we might as well shut it down now.