LSU a wake-up for state of Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. – It ain’t over, until it’s over.
The late Yankees catcher great Yogi Berra was not talking about COVID-19 when he said that in the summer of 1973. He was talking baseball as the manager of the Mets, who proved him prophetic as they rallied from 121⁄2 games out of first in the National League East in July to win the division and later advance to the World Series.
Too bad Berra is not around for a public service message where he could repeat perhaps the most famous of his multitude of Yogi-isms.
Someone needs to get that message across concerning the coronavirus pandemic that, yes, it’s still a pandemic.
“People keep talking about a second wave,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the preeminent authority on COVID-19, told The Wall Street Journal two weeks ago. “We’re still in a first wave,” said Fauci. Maybe another bit of news on Saturday will get Louisianans – and everyone hopefully – to wake up and put on their masks and stop pretending it’s over, or acting out over some sense of rebellion that is more juvenile than courageous.
At least 30 LSU football players have recently been quarantined because they tested positive for COVID-19 or have had contact with someone who did.
They are all young and in great shape, so they likely will be done with the virus in a couple of days if they have not already gotten over it. But maybe the fact that COVID-19 has now hit home in Louisiana at that most sacred part of the house – LSU Football – people will get it that it is not over.
“The reality is every Louisianan needs to do a gut check on whether he or she has been slacking off on taking proper precautions,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said on Thursday as the first wave rolled onward in Louisiana.
There were another 870 new cases and 20 deaths reported in the state on Saturday.
LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said on ESPN’s Paul Finebaum Show on Friday that people going to LSU football games at Tiger Stadium this fall might be required to wear a mask.
“This isn’t a political statement,” said Woodward. His comments echoed that of Fauci, who said this about his job:
“You stay completely apolitical and non-ideological. I’m a scientist, and I’m a physician. And that’s it.”
When Woodward wears a mask, he thinks of his elders.
“This is a health statement,” he said. “We’re trying to save lives here. I think about my parents. I think about elderly folks and people with immune systems that are compromised. We have to do these things to curtail this pandemic.”
In an interview last week with USA TODAY-Louisiana, LSU associate athletic director for health and wellness Shelly Mullenix said she expected to see several LSU football players test positive for COVID-19.
“Sure, there will be some, maybe many. It’s a pandemic,” she said as players were being tested. “We’re prepared for every scenario. We want to keep our community healthy, not just us.”
LSU is not unique in the rash of COVID-19 cases. At Clemson, 21 football players tested positive. Kansas State had 14 test positive, while Texas had 13.
The first wave continues. It ain’t over, until it’s over. True. But forget that. We’re not even at halftime yet.