Unit2Sucks said:
LunchTime said:
AunBear89 said:
Golden One said:
Oski87 said:
GivemTheAxe said:
Once again in all seriousness i would like to begin a discussion about the COVID Pandemic and the impact that it might have on the upcoming season from the perspective of fans and the teams.
I respectfully request that the posters please try to avoid the political flame wars of past threads that easily lead the discussion into the political arena.
From the fans perspective, I wonder whether Cal and possibly the other PAC12 schools will impose any restrictions on the fans in attendance. With the current onslaught of the D-variant, it appears that people and politicians, employers and institutions in many states (even those that previously had been strongly against them) are looking more favorably (or less negatively) towards mask requirements, vaccinations and vaccination requirement than they were just one month ago, Heck, even Alabama (the college football team, not the State) is leading the charge on vaccinations.
Question 1. In this new more vigilant atmosphere is it likely that Cal and/or the PAC-12 might impose additional restrictions on the fans whether that takes the form of proof of vaccinations, vaccination-only sections, mask mandates, social distancing, restrictions on refreshments (you know those food and drink stations are just made to be super-spreader locations) same for the long lines for the toilets and porta-potties).
Question 2. In view of the new D-variant spike and the response of the NFL. Is it likely that the PAC12 will adopt a rule similar to that of the NFL? If one team cannot field sufficient players for the game, that team will be deemed to forfeit that game.
Question 3. are there any other aspects of the current spike that might adversely affect the fans or the games?
There are no restrictions right now on outdoor events - even in the Bay Area - including mask wearing. That is with the renewed wariness about Delta. I think that vaccination changes the game completely. I am not sure what the COVID protocol is for the school - for example, do vaccinated kids have to be tested, do the contact trace vaccinated kids, etc. It would be interesting to see what the PAC 12 medical group comes up with in terms of who is available, what sort of protocols they have and when all that will be played out. But clearly at this point the team is essentially maskless together and there are not a lot of issues. I do not think that there will be any sort of wholesale elimination of entire position groups because one person had a positive COVID test, for example.
My guess is that if the entire team is vaccinated, then there will not be any restrictions on them regardless of any single player getting COVID. And since the University is requiring vaccinations to be in person, then they all will be fine.
How does one get vaccinated any other way than "in person". Has someone figured out a way to give vaccinations remotely? Via Zoom?
The university is requiring vaccination for in person instruction, so one can safely assume all players will be vaccinated.
Do you have any evidence of that?
There is considerable overlap between the groups that play football and the groups not getting vaccinated.
Last I heard, from a reliable source, vaccinating players across D1 wasn't going particularly well, but that was months ago, before the campus mandates. It should go without saying that players don't have to attend class in person to stay eligible.
Not sure what "groups" precisely you are talking about but D-1 football players don't have any difficulty accessing medical care or obtaining vaccines.
According to the commissioner, 8 of the 12 Pac football programs are at 80%+ and 4 of those are at 90%+. We will see if that number increases before the first game. I would suspect that Cal is one of the 8 and hopefully one of the 4 but that's just speculation for now.
There are four specific groups I was thinking about.
1. All groups seem to have around 20% that are not willing to get vaccinated with this vaccine and roughly 20% who dont make it a priority. (maybe solved with the threat of forfeit?)
2. POC (specifically black people) are the least vaccinated group in the country (access will soften this greatly, but not completely, as the cause is not all access related)
3. Young people (Much less likely to get vaccinated - again, because it isnt a priority and maybe softened with the threats of forfeit)
4. People in the "big football" region (specifically the south has MUCH higher numbers of unvaccinated than the rest of the country)
I asked for evidence, because, like your evidence shows, "so one can safely assume all players will be vaccinated" is not something we can safely assume.
I asked the question before OlMiss (iirc) announced 100% vaccination. Alabama has 90% last I heard. As you point out; 8 of 12 Pac12 teams have 80% and only 4 are over 90%. D1 athletes, despite not having "any difficulty" are still not "all vaccinated."
Maybe universities are giving those groups a better shot at getting vaccinated, but aside from OlMiss, I havent seen any evidence that would suggest that "one can safely assume all players will be vaccinated."
I think its fair when someone says "we can safely assume" something like 100% vaccination where they are getting their evidence from, when the null points the other way.
