[BostonCard]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...at-age-20/

Note it is not clear whether the death was caused by COVID-19 or just a coincidence:

Stephens' father, Jamain Stephens Sr., told Sports Illustrated that the family is "not sure of the truth." Stephens had reportedly informed friends that he'd tested positive for COVID-19 just one week before his death.

It is also worth noting that it doesn't appear like he even got COVID by playing football, since the conference suspended all competition for the fall semester back in July.

This will be something to keep track of.

BC

[BostonCard]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...at-age-20/

Note it is not clear whether the death was caused by COVID-19 or just a coincidence:

Stephens' father, Jamain Stephens Sr., told Sports Illustrated that the family is "not sure of the truth." Stephens had reportedly informed friends that he'd tested positive for COVID-19 just one week before his death.

It is also worth noting that it doesn't appear like he even got COVID by playing football, since the conference suspended all competition for the fall semester back in July.

This will be something to keep track of.

BC

[lex24]

BC:

While this is tragic, I’m unclear why it’s something that is important to monitor. First, we have no idea of the cause of death.  Second as football was cancelled at his school it has nothing to do with that.  Third, it’s unclear if he was on campus. This looks to me more like a “story” that got put out before any real information was known.

[lex24]

BC:

While this is tragic, I’m unclear why it’s something that is important to monitor. First, we have no idea of the cause of death.  Second as football was cancelled at his school it has nothing to do with that.  Third, it’s unclear if he was on campus. This looks to me more like a “story” that got put out before any real information was known.

[BostonCard]

BC:

While this is tragic, I’m unclear why it’s something that is important to monitor. First, we have no idea of the cause of death.  Second as football was cancelled at his school it has nothing to do with that.  Third, it’s unclear if he was on campus. This looks to me more like a “story” that got put out before any real information was known.

It may well be nothing, and if the cause of death is unrelated to COVID-19, then it will have been tragic, but not important.  But if he did, in fact, die of COVID-19, it might change the calculus somewhat for continuing to hold athletic events.  One of the reasons that athletics have resumed is the presumption that even if athletes get COVID-19, they are very unlikely to die from it.  That's probably true even if this death winds up being related to COVID-19, but it will dispel the myth of invincibility and it will remind us all that if we place athletes at risk of transmission from COVID-19 by participation in events that may result in transmission, then we are going to be placing a small fraction of them at risk of death.  That risk may be small enough that it is still worth carrying on... but it is not zero.

BC

[BostonCard]

BC:

While this is tragic, I’m unclear why it’s something that is important to monitor. First, we have no idea of the cause of death.  Second as football was cancelled at his school it has nothing to do with that.  Third, it’s unclear if he was on campus. This looks to me more like a “story” that got put out before any real information was known.

It may well be nothing, and if the cause of death is unrelated to COVID-19, then it will have been tragic, but not important.  But if he did, in fact, die of COVID-19, it might change the calculus somewhat for continuing to hold athletic events.  One of the reasons that athletics have resumed is the presumption that even if athletes get COVID-19, they are very unlikely to die from it.  That's probably true even if this death winds up being related to COVID-19, but it will dispel the myth of invincibility and it will remind us all that if we place athletes at risk of transmission from COVID-19 by participation in events that may result in transmission, then we are going to be placing a small fraction of them at risk of death.  That risk may be small enough that it is still worth carrying on... but it is not zero.

BC

[Mick]

BC:

While this is tragic, I’m unclear why it’s something that is important to monitor. First, we have no idea of the cause of death.  Second as football was cancelled at his school it has nothing to do with that.  Third, it’s unclear if he was on campus. This looks to me more like a “story” that got put out before any real information was known.

It may well be nothing, and if the cause of death is unrelated to COVID-19, then it will have been tragic, but not important.  But if he did, in fact, die of COVID-19, it might change the calculus somewhat for continuing to hold athletic events.  One of the reasons that athletics have resumed is the presumption that even if athletes get COVID-19, they are very unlikely to die from it.  That's probably true even if this death winds up being related to COVID-19, but it will dispel the myth of invincibility and it will remind us all that if we place athletes at risk of transmission from COVID-19 by participation in events that may result in transmission, then we are going to be placing a small fraction of them at risk of death.  That risk may be small enough that it is still worth carrying on... but it is not zero.

BC

I wonder where COVID will rank as a cause of death among college students?  Alcohol, injuries, suicide, cancer.  I seem to recall that there were 1,800 alcohol related deaths and about 1,000 suicides annually.  large numbers for sure, but there are 18 million college students at any one time.

[Mick]

BC:

While this is tragic, I’m unclear why it’s something that is important to monitor. First, we have no idea of the cause of death.  Second as football was cancelled at his school it has nothing to do with that.  Third, it’s unclear if he was on campus. This looks to me more like a “story” that got put out before any real information was known.

It may well be nothing, and if the cause of death is unrelated to COVID-19, then it will have been tragic, but not important.  But if he did, in fact, die of COVID-19, it might change the calculus somewhat for continuing to hold athletic events.  One of the reasons that athletics have resumed is the presumption that even if athletes get COVID-19, they are very unlikely to die from it.  That's probably true even if this death winds up being related to COVID-19, but it will dispel the myth of invincibility and it will remind us all that if we place athletes at risk of transmission from COVID-19 by participation in events that may result in transmission, then we are going to be placing a small fraction of them at risk of death.  That risk may be small enough that it is still worth carrying on... but it is not zero.

BC

I wonder where COVID will rank as a cause of death among college students?  Alcohol, injuries, suicide, cancer.  I seem to recall that there were 1,800 alcohol related deaths and about 1,000 suicides annually.  large numbers for sure, but there are 18 million college students at any one time.

[BostonCard]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

[BostonCard]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

[lex24]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

[lex24]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

[BostonCard]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

Just indicative that while the vast majority of young, otherwise healthy individuals will completely recover (if they even get sick), that number is not zero, and we should not assume that young college aged kids are indestructible.

Besides, I had assumed we'd all gotten numb at the fact that we just crossed the 200,000 deaths number.  As Joseph Stalin was alleged to have said, "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

BC

[BostonCard]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

Just indicative that while the vast majority of young, otherwise healthy individuals will completely recover (if they even get sick), that number is not zero, and we should not assume that young college aged kids are indestructible.

Besides, I had assumed we'd all gotten numb at the fact that we just crossed the 200,000 deaths number.  As Joseph Stalin was alleged to have said, "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

BC

[teejers1]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

+1.

And guys, doesn't anyone else think the headline and thrust of the article borders on misleading?
Is there anyone who says this young man died (a) because he contracted Covid, and/or (b) contracted Covid and/or perished due to football-related activities?  Yet the clear thrust of the article, the so called "worst fear," is that college football player dies of Covid.

Look, that may be the case, but nothing in that article states that with any authoritative specificity.  At least as I read the article.  It mentions blood clot (which I assume was cause of death); and it mentions enlarged heart, which is noted as a common side-effect of Covid.  But it doesn't put Covid into cause of death in any specific way that I saw.

And this goes back to another discussion we had here:  does this young man's death end up on the US stats of Covid deaths?  If so, I respectfully suggest that this does not meet the threshold we were told here that only cases where death certificates ID cause of death as Covid end up in that pile.  (I still disagree that such is what happens in CA, or SCC specifically).

But putting all that aside, this is tragic, for sure.

[teejers1]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

+1.

And guys, doesn't anyone else think the headline and thrust of the article borders on misleading?
Is there anyone who says this young man died (a) because he contracted Covid, and/or (b) contracted Covid and/or perished due to football-related activities?  Yet the clear thrust of the article, the so called "worst fear," is that college football player dies of Covid.

Look, that may be the case, but nothing in that article states that with any authoritative specificity.  At least as I read the article.  It mentions blood clot (which I assume was cause of death); and it mentions enlarged heart, which is noted as a common side-effect of Covid.  But it doesn't put Covid into cause of death in any specific way that I saw.

And this goes back to another discussion we had here:  does this young man's death end up on the US stats of Covid deaths?  If so, I respectfully suggest that this does not meet the threshold we were told here that only cases where death certificates ID cause of death as Covid end up in that pile.  (I still disagree that such is what happens in CA, or SCC specifically).

But putting all that aside, this is tragic, for sure.

[BostonCard]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

+1.

And guys, doesn't anyone else think the headline and thrust of the article borders on misleading?
Is there anyone who says this young man died (a) because he contracted Covid, and/or (b) contracted Covid and/or perished due to football-related activities?  Yet the clear thrust of the article, the so called "worst fear," is that college football player dies of Covid.

Look, that may be the case, but nothing in that article states that with any authoritative specificity.  At least as I read the article.  It mentions blood clot (which I assume was cause of death); and it mentions enlarged heart, which is noted as a common side-effect of Covid.  But it doesn't put Covid into cause of death in any specific way that I saw.

And this goes back to another discussion we had here:  does this young man's death end up on the US stats of Covid deaths?  If so, I respectfully suggest that this does not meet the threshold we were told here that only cases where death certificates ID cause of death as Covid end up in that pile.  (I still disagree that such is what happens in CA, or SCC specifically).

But putting all that aside, this is tragic, for sure.

Blood clots are a well-known complication of COVID-19, and would be highly unusual in a young, otherwise healthy football player, unless he had been immobilized for a while due to surgery, was fighting some types of cancer, or had a rare genetic predisposition.  I believe he would not have had the blood clot or died, but for having had COVID-19, so I think this ought to count as a COVID-19 death, unless his cause of death is being mischaracterized.

BC

PS, I found 935 papers when searching "thrombosis AND COVID-19" on PubMed.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=th...s+covid-19

[BostonCard]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

+1.

And guys, doesn't anyone else think the headline and thrust of the article borders on misleading?
Is there anyone who says this young man died (a) because he contracted Covid, and/or (b) contracted Covid and/or perished due to football-related activities?  Yet the clear thrust of the article, the so called "worst fear," is that college football player dies of Covid.

Look, that may be the case, but nothing in that article states that with any authoritative specificity.  At least as I read the article.  It mentions blood clot (which I assume was cause of death); and it mentions enlarged heart, which is noted as a common side-effect of Covid.  But it doesn't put Covid into cause of death in any specific way that I saw.

And this goes back to another discussion we had here:  does this young man's death end up on the US stats of Covid deaths?  If so, I respectfully suggest that this does not meet the threshold we were told here that only cases where death certificates ID cause of death as Covid end up in that pile.  (I still disagree that such is what happens in CA, or SCC specifically).

But putting all that aside, this is tragic, for sure.

Blood clots are a well-known complication of COVID-19, and would be highly unusual in a young, otherwise healthy football player, unless he had been immobilized for a while due to surgery, was fighting some types of cancer, or had a rare genetic predisposition.  I believe he would not have had the blood clot or died, but for having had COVID-19, so I think this ought to count as a COVID-19 death, unless his cause of death is being mischaracterized.

BC

PS, I found 935 papers when searching "thrombosis AND COVID-19" on PubMed.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=th...s+covid-19

[teejers1]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

+1.

And guys, doesn't anyone else think the headline and thrust of the article borders on misleading?
Is there anyone who says this young man died (a) because he contracted Covid, and/or (b) contracted Covid and/or perished due to football-related activities?  Yet the clear thrust of the article, the so called "worst fear," is that college football player dies of Covid.

Look, that may be the case, but nothing in that article states that with any authoritative specificity.  At least as I read the article.  It mentions blood clot (which I assume was cause of death); and it mentions enlarged heart, which is noted as a common side-effect of Covid.  But it doesn't put Covid into cause of death in any specific way that I saw.

And this goes back to another discussion we had here:  does this young man's death end up on the US stats of Covid deaths?  If so, I respectfully suggest that this does not meet the threshold we were told here that only cases where death certificates ID cause of death as Covid end up in that pile.  (I still disagree that such is what happens in CA, or SCC specifically).

But putting all that aside, this is tragic, for sure.

Blood clots are a well-known complication of COVID-19, and would be highly unusual in a young, otherwise healthy football player, unless he had been immobilized for a while due to surgery, was fighting some types of cancer, or had a rare genetic predisposition.  I believe he would not have had the blood clot or died, but for having had COVID-19, so I think this ought to count as a COVID-19 death, unless his cause of death is being mischaracterized.

BC

PS, I found 935 papers when searching "thrombosis AND COVID-19" on PubMed.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=th...s+covid-19

It's curious that the article does not have a quote from a doctor to this effect, especially given the thrust of the article.  
But assuming you're right about Covid being the cause of death, we have a young man who died of Covid who had at least one comorbidity (but again, I'm no doctor - that's just from viewing the video).  Tragic.  But hardly definitive when it comes to disqualifying football for college or pro-aged men. 

And again, I say this while feeling 100% ambivalent about whether the Pac plays (with or without Stanford).  I just am looking for facts and balance in the Covid reporting world and not an agenda.  But I'm more jaundiced than most when it comes to that topic.  [It's similar to my reaction when reading newspaper accounts that quote from a police report - as if what is in a police report is some indication of what actually happened . . . ].  Again, jaundiced.

[teejers1]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/sport...74f24220a2

Looks like he did, in fact, die of a complication of COVID-19.

BC

An individual tragedy.  Indicative of nothing.

+1.

And guys, doesn't anyone else think the headline and thrust of the article borders on misleading?
Is there anyone who says this young man died (a) because he contracted Covid, and/or (b) contracted Covid and/or perished due to football-related activities?  Yet the clear thrust of the article, the so called "worst fear," is that college football player dies of Covid.

Look, that may be the case, but nothing in that article states that with any authoritative specificity.  At least as I read the article.  It mentions blood clot (which I assume was cause of death); and it mentions enlarged heart, which is noted as a common side-effect of Covid.  But it doesn't put Covid into cause of death in any specific way that I saw.

And this goes back to another discussion we had here:  does this young man's death end up on the US stats of Covid deaths?  If so, I respectfully suggest that this does not meet the threshold we were told here that only cases where death certificates ID cause of death as Covid end up in that pile.  (I still disagree that such is what happens in CA, or SCC specifically).

But putting all that aside, this is tragic, for sure.

Blood clots are a well-known complication of COVID-19, and would be highly unusual in a young, otherwise healthy football player, unless he had been immobilized for a while due to surgery, was fighting some types of cancer, or had a rare genetic predisposition.  I believe he would not have had the blood clot or died, but for having had COVID-19, so I think this ought to count as a COVID-19 death, unless his cause of death is being mischaracterized.

BC

PS, I found 935 papers when searching "thrombosis AND COVID-19" on PubMed.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=th...s+covid-19

It's curious that the article does not have a quote from a doctor to this effect, especially given the thrust of the article.  
But assuming you're right about Covid being the cause of death, we have a young man who died of Covid who had at least one comorbidity (but again, I'm no doctor - that's just from viewing the video).  Tragic.  But hardly definitive when it comes to disqualifying football for college or pro-aged men. 

And again, I say this while feeling 100% ambivalent about whether the Pac plays (with or without Stanford).  I just am looking for facts and balance in the Covid reporting world and not an agenda.  But I'm more jaundiced than most when it comes to that topic.  [It's similar to my reaction when reading newspaper accounts that quote from a police report - as if what is in a police report is some indication of what actually happened . . . ].  Again, jaundiced.

[OutsiderFan]

I don’t think the Covid issue comes into play with sports until there are mass outbreaks on teams. We’ve had proof bubbles work, with NBA and NHL. And for the most part we have seen MLB and NFL be able to avoid team outbreaks without bubbles, but being vigilant about risk mitigation, including mass testing.

Of course, as most of us predicted, college teams have had the most difficulty because they are on college campuses without MLB and NFL routines. To me, college football is on the precipice of not being able to control spread, and if it turns out USF players contracted Covid after playing Notre Dame, that’s really problematic. That said, the increased testing like the PAC-12 is now having, could help identify virus faster so isolation and tracing can mitigate spread. Keeping teams in small workout groups does this and is why health experts have suggested this approach.

The unfortunate loss of this D2 athlete doesn’t make me think everything must shutdown. I do remain concerned about myocarditis and other longer term issues that have nothing to do with virus spread within a sports playing context, and are instead about athlete health post Covid infection no matter where the virus was acquired.

[OutsiderFan]

I don’t think the Covid issue comes into play with sports until there are mass outbreaks on teams. We’ve had proof bubbles work, with NBA and NHL. And for the most part we have seen MLB and NFL be able to avoid team outbreaks without bubbles, but being vigilant about risk mitigation, including mass testing.

Of course, as most of us predicted, college teams have had the most difficulty because they are on college campuses without MLB and NFL routines. To me, college football is on the precipice of not being able to control spread, and if it turns out USF players contracted Covid after playing Notre Dame, that’s really problematic. That said, the increased testing like the PAC-12 is now having, could help identify virus faster so isolation and tracing can mitigate spread. Keeping teams in small workout groups does this and is why health experts have suggested this approach.

The unfortunate loss of this D2 athlete doesn’t make me think everything must shutdown. I do remain concerned about myocarditis and other longer term issues that have nothing to do with virus spread within a sports playing context, and are instead about athlete health post Covid infection no matter where the virus was acquired.