Football canceling spring trip over coronavirus concerns
If they win something this year (good!) the somehow do more practice instead of showing these kids the world horde will be taking so many victory laps (bad!).
February 24th, 2020 at 6:33 PM ^
Seems like I should add I would take this good/bad trade.
February 24th, 2020 at 6:37 PM ^
Makes sense. Just not worth the risk.
February 24th, 2020 at 7:28 PM ^
The amount of elevated risk is minuscule.
The risk of being able to reenter the country, on the other hand, is non-minuscule, because apparently the people who make those decisions don't understand risk analysis.
By the time this trip would have been taken, there won't be any place in the world that is "safe," and people will realize that it's not nearly as dangerous as it's being made out to be.
February 24th, 2020 at 8:35 PM ^
Agreed. This is one stupendous mass hysteria. The FP is reporting that, I believe internationally, there have been 79,000 cases with 2,000 deaths. In the US, for the 2019-20 regular old flu season, so far there have been over 200,000 cases and approaching 15,000 deaths. The things folks latch on to and lose their minds over are simply incredible-one would think that everyone is a Michigan fan-HA!!!
February 24th, 2020 at 8:53 PM ^
Mass hysteria by whom?
February 24th, 2020 at 10:30 PM ^
By the masses...and plenty of MGobloggers….just keep reading...plenty of hysteria-many believe this is a most prudent move.
February 24th, 2020 at 10:11 PM ^
Social media is running with it. Every time I look at Twitter or Facebook I see a new video of suited up Chinese dudes hog-tying some poor guy and throwing him in a quarantine truck. Then they spray all the shit down with some fog stuff.
February 24th, 2020 at 10:27 PM ^
That's just for normal re-education purposes, not coronavirus.
February 24th, 2020 at 10:24 PM ^
Yes and no. For one, there have been 79,000 cases even though there have been a lot of serious efforts to keep it contained (although you'd think part of that influences the spread of the flu). But it seems it's highly contagious. And also there's a big fear that it could mutate. As bad as the flu is, it seems it's really just always roughly the same. I could be off-base here, but that's my reading of things.
February 25th, 2020 at 11:07 AM ^
According to the CDC, there have been 29 million cases of the flu in the United States this flu season, quite a bit more than the 200,000 to which you referred. So far, that seems to indicate that the new corona virus has a much higher mortality rate, by at least a magnitude, than the flu. It makes sense to be cautious.
February 25th, 2020 at 1:46 PM ^
Agreed.
There is a lot of irresponsible, uninformed commentary out there, from all corners.
The folks displaying a barely concealed sense of glee this could be, "the big one, " are disturbing.
Protip: The apocalypse is only fun when you're watching it in a Hollywood blockbuster. It is not something any of us should wish for or ever want to live through.
February 25th, 2020 at 2:35 PM ^
The flu is widespread. The coronavirus is contained. If it becomes widespread you could 20-30x deaths than the flu based on mortality rate alone.
February 26th, 2020 at 4:54 PM ^
I think you need to see it from a different perspective. The traditional flu kills roughly 0.1% of the people it infects. The coronavirus kills at an approximate rate of 1%. That's a factor of ten, and about the equivalent of the 1918 Spanish Flu.
If the coronavirus infects on average the same number of people worldwide as the flu does (30m-50m), then that's 300k-500k deaths. And that's with developed countries that have vaccinations against the flu in place. We have no protection against the coronavirus yet.
So belittle it now, but this could very well turn into a nightmare.
February 24th, 2020 at 8:51 PM ^
Says the guy on the internets
February 24th, 2020 at 9:01 PM ^
Honestly, it's a big PR/liability risk to go to East Asia right now, fair or not. I can't blame them here.
February 25th, 2020 at 5:51 AM ^
Nah, there are multiple serious risks. The virus itself could have spread much more widely in just a short period. The virus itself is not extremely deadly, especially for healthy young people, but much more so than the normal flu. Regardless, there is no way in hell UM wants to deal with the possibility of bringing that back to the states and, as you say, there is the potential for a reentry or quarantine issue. Anyway, not knowing the trajectory of the near-pandemic, it's possible they end up in a place where local authorities have shut public attractions down, defeating the purpose of the trip.
February 24th, 2020 at 6:39 PM ^
Smart move by Michigan. I would ban all incoming flights into the U.S from countries that are having outbreaks if I could.
February 24th, 2020 at 7:32 PM ^
You mean, including the US and Canada?
What about connecting passengers? Or does walking through an airport magically sanitize somebody?
Are you going to try to shut down the longest undefended land border in the world?
The way to fight this virus is the same as the way to fight the common cold (another coronavirus). Wash your hands frequently, and be courteous enough to cover yourself when you cough and sneeze. We don't need flight bans or any of the ridiculous measures that have already been taken.
February 24th, 2020 at 7:40 PM ^
You do not seem to be too intelligent.
Prepare for the sequel BB..
February 24th, 2020 at 7:50 PM ^
The voting reaction to this conversation proves that even the Michigan fan base is full of absolute fucking morons. I don't know that I'm all that surprised that more people than not think it's a good idea to shut off flights and close borders.
February 24th, 2020 at 9:00 PM ^
Borders has been closed for many years now
February 24th, 2020 at 10:00 PM ^
Didn’t expect to find a reference to Borders Books in this thread. This place never ceases to amaze.
February 24th, 2020 at 9:36 PM ^
Consider that the travel restrictions being put in place are based on research and data collection from each country's respective public health authorities. The general public will be advised to practice the same precautions as with other corona viruses for one simple reason: there is nothing else the general public CAN do aside from inciting panic.
While I agree that simple sanitary precautions can help tremendously, the common cold is not a direct parallel to COVID-19. One huge difference between the two lies in the difference between pathogenicity and virulence. It is true that both are corona viruses, but the relative threat of the common cold pales in comparison to that of COVID-19. Many people catch the common cold, despite practicing sound precautionary measures.
By all means, cover you mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze; wash your hands regularly; disinfect common contact surfaces regularly; refrain from touching your mouth, nose, and ears as much as possible; and avoid close contact (within 6 ft) with visibly sick persons. But do not discount the medical significance of these strategic travel restrictions.
February 24th, 2020 at 10:04 PM ^
Epidemiologist MPH here (for what that's worth), this is the first correct take in the thread so far. Why I expected better hawt-takes about coronavirus than about basketball here I don't know but thank you Maize and Blue AF for restoring my faith a bit haha.
February 24th, 2020 at 11:30 PM ^
Familar with UMH Infection Prevention and ditto your comments WestBrew.
February 24th, 2020 at 10:06 PM ^
The travel restrictions have been put in place in direct opposition to the recommendations by the WHO. They serve to do little except incite a fear of outsiders. You can't put the genie back in the bottle, and focusing on travel restrictions as if they are some panacea leads to the worst possible outcome: people "feel safe" and therefore stop taking those basic safety precautions, which, as you point out, are all that anybody can actually do.
February 24th, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^
So travel restrictions simultaneously incite panic, make people feel safe, and do nothing. Got it.
February 24th, 2020 at 10:33 PM ^
LOL, that's fair. :)
Effect on public health: negligible. A virus with an unknown incubation period, believed to be at least a week, and which can be spread asymptomatically, simply cannot be stopped by a travel restriction.
Effect on the public: mostly bifurcated. The fears of some members of the public will be assuaged, because "they" have the virus and "they" aren't "here." Others will panic, because "they" have the virus and will come "here" and kill "us."
At the end of the day, washing your hands will help more than any travel restriction ever could.
February 24th, 2020 at 11:31 PM ^
I understand what you're getting at for sure. There are costs/benefits to different types of interventions. Washing hands is basically no cost, some benefit, and one of the few things we have control over ourselves. Self imposed travel restriction (like the team is doing) is another measure. Nationally enforced travel restrictions have a whole different set of difficult considerations.
All countermeasures have to be weighed based on their costs and their potential to delay and reduce transmission, aka save lives. There's a great thread on this here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1231425805898657795.html
February 24th, 2020 at 10:35 PM ^
"Consider that the travel restrictions being put in place are based on research and data collection from each country's respective public health authorities."
You seriously think travel bans in all or even most countries aren't political decisions but are just instituted according to the public health authorities? Come on. I assure you that is not what's going on in Korea now.
Also...
https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/31/as-far-right-calls-for-china-travel-ban-health-experts-warn-coronavirus-response-would-suffer/
Public health experts have warned that travel bans are not effective at stemming the spread of a virus and can make responding to an outbreak more challenging.
“From a public health perspective, there is limited effectiveness. And then there are a host of other reasons why they can actually be counterproductive,” said Catherine Worsnop, who studies international cooperation during global health emergencies at the University of Maryland.
The World Health Organization, which declared the outbreak a global health emergency this week, has recommended against any travel or trade restrictions in response to the outbreak.
February 24th, 2020 at 11:01 PM ^
While I agree with you, I do feel compelled to point out that news from 3 1/2 weeks ago is badly out of date at this point. That said, I believe the WHO still argues against travel restrictions, especially long-term ones.
The bigger reason that they won't work, of course, is that nobody will follow them. Ban flights from "infected areas" (most of the world, at this point), and people will fly elsewhere and lie. You don't want to encourage people to hide a dangerous illness from public health officials, but that's exactly what travel bans will do.
February 25th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
Those of you downvoting this should probably take a look at the CDC map. There are confirmed cases in the US, Canada, most of Western Europe, most of Asia, and Australia. The virus that you're trying to stop by banning flights is already here.
February 26th, 2020 at 1:07 AM ^
How is it badly out of date if it's still their position? I had read it recently, but I didn't remember where, so I just searched for something quickly online to actually use a source.
February 24th, 2020 at 8:35 PM ^
Border?
February 24th, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
Take them to Columbus so they can appreciate what the rivalry means.
I never cared about it until after I had to spend 1/3 of each 12 hour Atlanta-Ann Arbor driving through that crap hole. By the time I graduated I was convinced that the world would be better without Ohio.
February 24th, 2020 at 7:03 PM ^
Why would they go to Columbus when they're trying to avoid diseases
February 24th, 2020 at 7:13 PM ^
You do realize that man has harnessed the power of flight?
February 24th, 2020 at 7:33 PM ^
Ironically, thanks to a couple of guys from Ohio
February 24th, 2020 at 8:01 PM ^
Yeah, because they couldn't get out of there fast enough.
February 24th, 2020 at 8:20 PM ^
Yeah but we stole their bike shop and put it in Greenfield Village.
February 24th, 2020 at 8:41 PM ^
Crazy tangent alert. A little over a decade ago I was there (in the bike shop at Greenfield village) listening to one of the olde timey dudes give his little talk and this older lady keeps adding little bits here and there. I’m like, “this lady is pretty rando” but then she works into the conversation Orville’s personality traits and playing at his house because... she was a niece of his. So either she was quite the con (which would be a pretty random thing to lie about) or I got to visit the Wright brothers bike shop and listen to their relative talk about them.
February 24th, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
Either way, it’s a great story!
February 24th, 2020 at 11:29 PM ^
You do realize that some people don't have the money to fly themselves and their family back and forth while attending school full time?
February 24th, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
Now we can beat the Buckeyes!
/s
February 24th, 2020 at 6:41 PM ^
Meh, if it does mean they'll win more, I'll take it
February 24th, 2020 at 6:41 PM ^
Aw shit, lots of people going to have to revise their arguments on why to come to Michigan.
February 24th, 2020 at 6:42 PM ^
Disappointing, but understandable
Hope to see them resume this tradition in the coming years. It's a good example of how Michigan isn't just a place to play football, but a place to broaden your horizons and gain experiences you wouldn't anywhere else
February 24th, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
I think you just described college. They don’t need to go anywhere else to have the experiences you just described, especially being in Ann Arbor. Although our one minimally successful recruiting tool is now gone.
February 24th, 2020 at 7:15 PM ^
So Ann Arbor equals anything else you can experience in the world?
I love AA and all, but that’s a bit much.
February 24th, 2020 at 8:17 PM ^
Didn't some OSU coach/administrator say recently that they never would do a trip like Michigan does because the kids have "everything they could ever need or do in Columbus?"
What a ridiculous statement and I'm proud that even with the incredible campus we have, the football program recognizes that they have the resources to give their students an experience they could never have at any other school when they could easily say that staying in Ann Arbor is "good enough." THAT'S the Michigan difference: striving for more and continuously innovating even when we could be satisfied with what we already have.