Testing Times


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For any number of reasons, sports has been under a very large microscope in the state where I live. I know for a fact that a lot of it is political, but I am sure there are other reasons as well.

Most specifically high school athletics have been under a lot of scrutiny.

Many people don't like the Governor of Michigan. Personally, I think she is doing the best job she can with the unprecedented circumstances she has been placed in. I am of the opinion the pandemic is not a hoax. It is very real and I know any number of people who have had it or lost someone because of it.

Last Spring, pretty much everything was shut down in our state as well as many other states. Summer came and went with no sports being played due to restrictions put in place by the state health department (not the governor). To be fair, there were some states that allowed rec sports to be played. We travelled down to Ohio to watch my nieces play softball.

This fall things were still pretty locked down. A parent group (made up mostly of republicans if I had to guess) started a petition and movement to have kids play sports. After perfect example of "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", the state government finally started allowing sports to be played.

Then, what do you know, the number of cases starts rising rapidly until Michigan is now one of the largest growth areas for Covid. Schools are moving to remote instruction right and left.

Sports are still going though. We have moved to a plan where students need to be tested about once every week or once every other week to be able to play. That has brought up a whole new controversy. Apparently there are "studies" which show that one of the chemicals used in the nose swabs for testing is a known carcinogen.

I don't know the validity of this, but I feel like the entire state and sports as a whole has been put in a catch 22 situation. There is no compromise, no middle ground. People are so focused on being right or wrong or political allegiances and meanwhile people are dying.

Do you think high school sports should be suspended or allowed to continue until things are under control?



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Catch 22 to be honest as the whole lock down thing has been politically motivated and for all the wrong reasons. I would not want my kids playing right now to be honest and depends on the circumstances. There is no common sense yet we could have all been cleared months ago if everyone had listened. Look at New Zealand who are Covid free but kept a ban on international travel which allowed them to carry on as normal.

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yeah, I think that is pretty smart. If it were up to me I would shut them down too. At least until things clear up. But here we are with the highest numbers in the country again.

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Very interesting question. I also live in Michigan and I was recently told at least two of my colleagues caught Covid, along with their spouse, from their kids. Luckily I believe they're all fine now, but apparently one of them was hospitalized for more than a couple of weeks. Turns out in both cases, the kids were infected while playing high school soccer (different high schools). I haven't seen any reliable data yet (granted I didn't specifically look for it), but it'd be very interesting to try and track cases spreading from the high school sports events. In any case, I agree with you, absolute Catch 22 situation. I don't have kids myself, so of course I would lean on suspending high school sports, but I definitely understand how parents could think differently.

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Yeah, I don't have kids either, but working in the school district I am around them all the time. I think the smarter play is to just push everything but I know that people would be up in arms about that. I honestly think some people would die if they didn't have something to complain about. I am glad your colleagues are okay.

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Covid pandemic greatly affected the world. We can see its effect to all aspects of our lives. If the reason for the suspension high school sports is the covid, I guess its just right. But if they can implement a good measures to secure the players, why not.

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I don't think they can though. That is the big deal.

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Apparently there are "studies" which show that one of the chemicals used in the nose swabs for testing is a known carcinogen.

Jesus, that's alarming. Would you mind sharing a link to the studies or even any newspaper articles about it. My 3 sons and my wife have all had Covid tests, some multiple times. I've luckily dodged the bullet, but I'd like to hear more about this.

The whole pandemic is an endless cycle of worry being pumped by the world's media. People need to get vaccinated so that we can get back to some level of normal. If you are anti-vax, that's fine, but in my opinion you should not be allowed to fly, dine inside restaurants etc until the pandemic is under control.

That brings me to your question around sports, i think we need to understand the balance here between the pandemic, the benefits of sports (exercise, comraderie, fresh air) and common sense. So ban all indoor sports and have strict rules for outdoors. Training only for now, with sanitiser available and keep kids in set pods each week and maintain as much distance as possible.

Just my thoughts, you might not agree, as is your right 😁

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Nah, sounds pretty reasonable to me. The problem is those contact sports. Soccer I never would have guessed is such a contact sport, but that seems to really be spreading it.

Check this out:

https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-afs:Content:10038432007

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Thanks - just more scare mongering so. People using a fact about something and misrepresenting it out of context.

I could see the risks if matches were allowed. Goal celebrations with hugs and close contacts is one. Another is people gobbing onto the ground and others standing on it and coming into contact with the pathogen that way....

That's why I think training only and no competitive matches in team sportsbuntil things calm down.

The likes of tennis, golf etc should be allowed to return competitively however.

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