Various NCAA Team Officials: We Cannot Play Basketball Under Current Contact Tracing Protocols"

[Drew]

Will College Football Change Its Contact Tracing Approach?

With no way to test out of quarantine after COVID exposure, some see the need for change. Science might say otherwise.

www.si.com

One-quarter of the way through the 2020 season, these stories are unfolding across college football, as the sport labors to hold a season amid a pandemic while adhering to protocols designed to protect the health and safety of the very same people, athletes and staff, who are frustrated by them.

As industry insiders predicted over the summer, one specific protocol has been more challenging than any other.

“The contract tracing is killing us,” says Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. “All the sudden the coaches are calling me. They tell me that one kid got it and 12 are out (for contact tracing), and none of the 12 even ever had it.”

A subjective process executed differently from school to school, contact tracing has resulted in dozens, if not hundreds, of college football players missing two weeks of activity—practices, games, you name it—for having been in close contact with a positive carrier of the virus. The current operating CDC guidelines define a high-risk contact as someone within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes without each party wearing a mask.

According to the CDC, and enforced by local health departments, high-risk contacts must quarantine for a mandatory 14 days.

The lengthy quarantine time is inconsistent among schools and is nine days longer than the NFL’s own protocol. The policy has created friction through the ranks of college athletics, from players to coaches and even to administrators.

 

[upstater]

Watch how coaches get the word out to players not to name their close contacts on the team.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Watch how coaches get the word out to players not to name their close contacts on the team.

You're implying that hasn't already been done.

 

[upstater]

You're implying that hasn't already been done.

Probably has--haven't been paying attention. People think you can game the virus, but you can't. It doesn't really care.

 

[auror]

If you can't play your sport because there's too many players and staff in quarantine, then you shouldn't be playing your sport during a pandemic.

 

[Jimdish255]

Not sure why you can't just test 5 days after contact then again a few days later. 2 negative tests during the peak period with no symptoms means it's very unlikely you are infected. Am I way off here?

 

[auror]

Not sure why you can't just test 5 days after contact then again a few days later. 2 negative tests during the peak period with no symptoms means it's very unlikely you are infected. Am I way off here?

Because you could be spreading by day 3 or 4 with no symptoms (yet). And some people take up to 14 days to show symptoms. The vast majority within 12 days, so you could probably do that if you wanted to be practical and still fairly safe.

Edit- Re-reading, if you're saying they are in quarantine during this time and using the 2 tests to clear and resume society, that's similar to how the NFL is doing it. They've broken up most transmission chains, but the Titans one did get pretty bad, although it seems the quarantine was not being strictly adhered to.

 

[upstater]

Not sure why you can't just test 5 days after contact then again a few days later. 2 negative tests during the peak period with no symptoms means it's very unlikely you are infected. Am I way off here?

European soccer leagues have been testing every single day between games after exposure, and it seems the infection for some players is showing up after the 7th day. So... they are having a very bad time with it. The Patriots also had 3 new players out yesterday more than a week after Newton tested positive. We can't know where they contracted it, but 7 days between games is not enough it seems. Consider the case of the Genoa soccer team. They played a team with multiple infections. They tested negative all week, not a single positive. Then after the game the next Sunday, 7 days later, they had 75% of the roster come down with positives, and they played Napoli that day! So of course Napoli had several positives the week after that. Napoli was forbidden from traveling to their away game by the provincial authorities, but the league decided to dock them a point and it awarded the opposing team a 3-0 victory.

 

[TheChamps990411]

European soccer leagues have been testing every single day between games after exposure, and it seems the infection for some players is showing up after the 7th day. So... they are having a very bad time with it. The Patriots also had 3 new players out yesterday more than a week after Newton tested positive. We can't know where they contracted it, but 7 days between games is not enough it seems. Consider the case of the Genoa soccer team. They played a team with multiple infections. They tested negative all week, not a single positive. Then after the game the next Sunday, 7 days later, they had 75% of the roster come down with positives, and they played Napoli that day! So of course Napoli had several positives the week after that. Napoli was forbidden from traveling to their away game by the provincial authorities, but the league decided to dock them a point and it awarded the opposing team a 3-0 victory.

This virus is a friggen nightmare.

 

[Drew]

 

[upstater]

What does he mean "continues to be"? This is invariable. It won't change.

 

[freescooter]

I think he means they are lobbying like crazy to get it reduced, either by the CDC, which seems unlikely, or by individual leagues, which isn’t. I can easily foresee the major conferences adopting some rule that doesn’t mandate full teams from quarantining for 2 weeks. Anything for a buck.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Better make sure it is a true positive.

 

[Austin316]

I selfishly find this all very annoying. I miss my hoops and normalcy.

 

[Watchdog]

Better make sure it is a true positive.

Funny how so few mention all the false positives or the virtually non-existent mortality among those under 45.

 

[navery12]

Funny how so few mention all the false positives or the virtually non-existent mortality among those under 45.

1. Everyone mentions the low mortality rate, it's the unknown long term effects for athletes in their late teens or early 20s that should concern them.
2. The false positives are being accounted for. Notice how in the story about Wisconsin's QB he wasn't out for 21 days until they confirmed it was an actual positive test by returning multiple positives

 

[gtcam]

Funny how so few mention all the false positives or the virtually non-existent mortality among those under 45.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it's a secret that the MSM choose not to share

 

[pj]

Watch how coaches get the word out to players not to name their close contacts on the team.

On the team? Our players are so focused on basketball they have no close contacts at all. That's why no one at the university need ever name a player as a contact.

 

[huskymedic]

2. The false positives are being accounted for. Notice how in the story about Wisconsin's QB he wasn't out for 21 days until they confirmed it was an actual positive test by returning multiple positives

They have a tendency to balance each other out (the false negatives don't get as much publicity):

 

[freescooter]

There is one test that is particularly unreliable but was initially favored by some people because it was quick and relatively cheap. Not sure if that is what Wiscy used. But here is the thing. A false positive might limit someone for a bit until a follow up test can be given to confirm. A false negative can wreak havoc on a team.