The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Programs already fumbling reopening
Epidemiologist/fan agrees: It’s not looking like it’s safe to play.
There’s tension between my view that it’s wrong for colleges to ask unpaid athletes to take the field during the novel coronavirus pandemic and my anxiety about what fewer football games means for a sportswriter in SEC country. For Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University, the quandary is squaring his love of sports with his expert opinion that it may be too risky for games to be played.
“I do wear two hats, sports fan and public-health professional,” Binney said Tuesday. “I was always an epidemiologist focused on sports. I never in a million years foresaw them colliding in this way.
“It’s a struggle wanting sports to come back and recognizing what the risks are, and feeling compelled as a public-health professional to go against my interests as a sports fan.”
That dichotomy is what I found relatable about Binney’s nuanced, informative blog post with the title: “Covid-19: How Can Sports Come Back?” When Binney updated the post May 27, he still felt generally optimistic about football being played safely in the fall. Fans in stadiums are out of the question, but there could be games without them.
That was before several states reported spikes in COVID-19 infection rates. Now Binney said he’s “more pessimistic” that football can be played in the fall. And he’s calling for college football programs to suspend their so-called voluntary workouts after reports of several COVID19 infections among athletes at multiple schools.
“A month ago, it was not clear if they were up to the task” of keeping athletes safe, Binney said. “Now it’s clear that even some of the major, well-resourced programs aren’t up to the task.”
USA Today wrote that at least 34 NCAA Division I schools have reported positive COVID