What are people's feelings about health versus athletic competition?
We know that Cal played multiple games at Stanford because there was too much smoke at their facility. Some WBB games were cancelled.
What about the WBB first weekend of NCAA tournament (Mar 20-21)? Should Stanford consider trying to host the games elsewhere, out of the immediate area, say Fresno, or continue to play in Santa Clara County, with the COVID-19 infections here. Or perhaps to forego their option to host. Might other teams choose to forfeit rather than play in a county with a growing number of infectious cases of a high CFR disease (for the health of their players and fans)? Would it be fair for Stanford to say that the games will be played at Stanford but with no audience, even though that means that the opponents will be housed & eat near Stanford for multiple days.
How quickly would such a decision need to be made? Making it before the selections are announced would minimize impact. If not, it would have to be made within a day of that. Otherwise, the only other option would be to close the stadium to fans at the last day.
At this point, Santa Clara County has had 9 cases of COVID-19. If we use the doubling every 7 days, that would be on the order of 36 cases by game day. (I do NOT believe that rate applies. There are too many variables here to trust that number, but it might give the order of magnitude).
I will point out that, generally, the disease should not be deadly to the players. Player's parents will be in low risk groups. Some coaches may be in the high risk categories. Certainly a lot of fans will be. But, if the players get sick, they would start showing symptoms just about the time of Regionals. If players don't know they are sick, and play, then the other teams players may get sick before the Final Four.
My vote would be to err on the side of caution and see if Fresno(?) is available for hosting. I hope Stanford is considering this. I also hope Stanford players stay healthy but that Stanford will take every precaution to prevent any possibly sick player from infecting others.
I forgot about Men's Swimming & Diving Pac-12 championships in Seattle this week. I suppose the news of the outbreak there was too late to change that. It is also a relatively low attendance event.
We know that Cal played multiple games at Stanford because there was too much smoke at their facility. Some WBB games were cancelled.
What about the WBB first weekend of NCAA tournament (Mar 20-21)? Should Stanford consider trying to host the games elsewhere, out of the immediate area, say Fresno, or continue to play in Santa Clara County, with the COVID-19 infections here. Or perhaps to forego their option to host. Might other teams choose to forfeit rather than play in a county with a growing number of infectious cases of a high CFR disease (for the health of their players and fans)? Would it be fair for Stanford to say that the games will be played at Stanford but with no audience, even though that means that the opponents will be housed & eat near Stanford for multiple days.
How quickly would such a decision need to be made? Making it before the selections are announced would minimize impact. If not, it would have to be made within a day of that. Otherwise, the only other option would be to close the stadium to fans at the last day.
At this point, Santa Clara County has had 9 cases of COVID-19. If we use the doubling every 7 days, that would be on the order of 36 cases by game day. (I do NOT believe that rate applies. There are too many variables here to trust that number, but it might give the order of magnitude).
I will point out that, generally, the disease should not be deadly to the players. Player's parents will be in low risk groups. Some coaches may be in the high risk categories. Certainly a lot of fans will be. But, if the players get sick, they would start showing symptoms just about the time of Regionals. If players don't know they are sick, and play, then the other teams players may get sick before the Final Four.
My vote would be to err on the side of caution and see if Fresno(?) is available for hosting. I hope Stanford is considering this. I also hope Stanford players stay healthy but that Stanford will take every precaution to prevent any possibly sick player from infecting others.
I forgot about Men's Swimming & Diving Pac-12 championships in Seattle this week. I suppose the news of the outbreak there was too late to change that. It is also a relatively low attendance event.