As COVID numbers soar, should football continue?
Exactly a month has passed since Oklahoma changed its high school football playoff format to allow more teams more chances to play.
It was a move celebrated by many, including yours truly.
How could letting more kids play be bad?
But now, with the coronavirus spreading like wildfire all across the state and hospitals from the Panhandle to the Ouachita Mountains overflowing with the sick, another question comes to mind.
Why are we still playing high school football?
I realize this is a tough question to ask. It's even tougher to answer, frankly, and I don't claim to have the right answer. I'm not even sure I have a good answer. But as the football playoffs continue amid a very real, very serious health crisis, we must ask it.
“The spread in Oklahoma is exponential and unyielding.”
That came from the White House in its latest COVID19 report. No words are minced as impartial outsiders look at our state, see a tsunami building and try to warn us to do something before it's too late.
And yet, so much of life here continues as normal, even as doctors and nurses, men and women who have been on the front line of this battle but who have continually been ignored and disrespected by our inaction, plead with us. Wear masks. Wash hands. Keep your distance.
They beg, too, for us to avoid large gatherings.
The largest gatherings in many Oklahoma towns come under the Friday night lights.
Granted, high school football games are outside, where a mountain of evidence tells us the risk of spreading the virus is substantially lower than inside. That White House report released earlier in the week agreed that “athletics are not transmission risks,” but still, it recommended a suspension of sports in our state.
“Consider pausing extracurricular school activities … ,” it said, “as the surrounding activities are where transmission is occurring.”
We'll get to fans in the stands who might not be wearing masks or staying socially distanced in a minute.
But first, we need to acknowledge that the games and the teams themselves can be a transmission risk. We've seen it in college sports. We've seen in it professional sports.
Linda Thompson is an immunologist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, and while she isn't currently studying the coronavirus in sports, she scours and devours what research is available. She is also a sports nut, so she knows what is happening in that arena, too.
“One thing I think of is what's going on at the college level where they have pretty adequate testing,” she said. “You just look at the slate of games for last Saturday and how many were either canceled or postponed.”
That number ended up being 15 of the 69 FBS games scheduled.
One game in five had to be scuttled last week because of COVID.
“I find it hard to believe that the spread of COVID in high school football players is going to be much different than in college football players,” Thompson said. “I'm sure they have it. The thing is, most kids don't have symptoms. So, you have no idea if you have it or not.
“Probably most kids can get it without harm to themselves — most kids, not all kids, but most kids — but the problem is those kids then go home and give it to their parents.” Or grandparents. Or neighbors. That is community spread, dear friends.
Now, some might wonder if all of these questions should be applied to college or pro football, and I would say yes. As we know, the teams are testing multiple times a week, so virus spread within teams and between teams has been limited. The same is true between fans as stadium capacities have been slashed and masks have been mandated.
Is college or pro football completely and totally safe?
No.
But as Oklahoma City mayor David Holt said during a press conference Thursday afternoon, something like the Bedlam game on Saturday night should not cause wide-spread transmission of the virus.
“That's not a superspreader event,” Holt said. “Being outdoors, distanced and masked … it's not as safe as staying at your house, but a lot of people have given a lot of thought to doing large gatherings safely.
“It's about masking and distancing.”
Are those two things happening at high school football games? Are ticket sales being limited to allow fans to stay six feet apart? Are folks being told to leave if they aren't masked? Some places, yes. Most places, no. No one is forcing any school to do the right thing, so the ones that are should be commended. Same for the high school teams that have pulled themselves out of the playoffs because of COVID. This week alone, more than a dozen have said they wouldn't play, thereby ending their seasons.
Shawnee. Cache. Kiefer. Prague. Apache. Hominy. Okemah.
Wayne. Seiling. Weleetka. Keota. Bluejacket. Oaks.
Thank you for making what had to be an excruciating decision. You could've skirted protocols, ignoring quarantine rules and sidestepping contracttracing regulations. But you did the right thing.
I'm sure there are people in each of those towns and districts disagreeing with the decision, and they have lots of arguments at their disposal. There are mental, emotional and academic benefits for kids playing sports. There are financial benefits for schools taking in ticket and concession revenue from games. I absolutely understand. But I also understand the grave and unprecedented situation our state is facing. Not only are hospitals struggling to care for all the COVID patients, but they are also stretched beyond their limits when it comes to regular patients. That means if you get into a car accident, your care might not be as robust as it would've been before. If you have a heart attack, your recovery might be affected.
That isn't a scare tactic.
That is a reality.
So, I'll ask again: Why are we still playing high school football?