High school football debate rages on, and rage on it must
Governor correctly invited both sides to debate
High School Football Teams Have Become The Surprise Center Of Our Ongoing Debate On To Continue To Lift The Coronavirus Lockdown Imposed In March. The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, An Association Of School Districts That Brings Order and Uniformity To School Athletics, Wants To Play. The Department Of Public Health Opposes A Fall Season.
There are strong arguments against playing football. By any meaningful measure, the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a quality public education to children. Students across the state are facing extended periods of learning remotely, and if the coronavirus comes roaring back — helped along by necessarily close contact among football players — we will have a lot to answer for. The long-term consequences of that decision are more serious than the prospect of no high school football this year.
Gov. Ned Lamont could simply issue an executive order forbidding it, but that could do as much damage, maybe more. To stifle debate is to plunge a knife into the heart of democracy.
The progress in reducing the spread of the coronavirus in Connecticut is our collective achievement, reached through unity of purpose in a fractious era. Gov. Lamont has been governing with extraordinary powers granted him under a March declaration of emergency. Legislative leaders extended Lamont’s powers until Feb. 9 of next year. Our adherence to the governor’s emergency orders has been remarkable.
But acting in concert does not mean we have abandoned our differences. When
we reach February, the governor will have spent nearly half his time in office governing under emergency power. This is not healthy. A vibrant democracy requires a cacophony of voices. Silence should not be mistaken for perpetual consent.
And that’s why the governor did the right thing when he invited both sides of the football debate to the table.
On Wednesday, more than 1,000 students, parents and coaches gathered at the state Capitol to protest the decision not to play fall football. They appeared to be wearing masks, were calm, and made their case — models of dissent in a free society under duress.
Haddam-Killingworth junior Kevin Cavrell, who organized the event with two other students, pointed out that 35 other states are allowing some form of fall football, according to The Courant. That’s a lot of football teams practicing, traveling and playing. The proliferation of testing will allow us to know soon if the athletes supervised by adults transmit the coronavirus.
Lamont, in response to the protest, invited officials from CIAC and DPH to meet Friday.
The governor seems perplexed by the reaction to the ban. He is not alone.
A late-August spike in positive tests for the virus in Danbury caused school officials to postpone plans to resume classes with a hybrid schedule of in-school and online learning. Danbury leaders were right to act. The state’s transmission rate remains low, and only our prudent individual behavior will keep it that way.
Dread of a fall and winter second wave of paralyzing infections continues to drive our policies because there is still much we do not know about the virus. Medical experts continue to learn about the longterm damage of the virus on some who have recovered.
The immediate test for us, the public, is to adhere to our new safety habits of masks, hand washing and social distancing. If we remain steadfast, it ought to be a sufficient defense against increased social contact, cold weather and the traditional flu season. Lamont is right to try to keep our attention on those daily lifesaving tasks.
The debates over high school football and so many other sacrifices we’ve made during this pandemic continue — and they should. Connecticut has reduced the transmission of COVID-19 to levels that do not currently threaten the collapse of our health care system. Yet we remain the state with the fourth-highest per-capita death rate in the nation, a statistic that marks a staggering toll of sorrow, misery and death in this disorienting year.