Rumor: Strong Chance Michigan High School Contact Sports Start Back Up
Mates,
For those of us in Michigan it's been a big deal about whether or not contact sports would be re-opened. They were shut down for 2 weeks in November... and never started back up. At 1:30 Gov Whitmer is supposedly going to announce that they are 'on' again subject to some precautions.
Contact sports would include hockey, baseball, basketball and wrestling. AFAIK volleyball has been continuing on since it wasn't a 'contact' sport. I also wonder if this would have some tangential impact on U of M's current shut-down.
NOT MEANT to generate any form of political in-fighting on the list so PLEASE have the self-control to avoid that. Thank you.
XM
February 4th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
It will be announced that sports can resume during a 1:30 PM press conference today.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
Sorry, I think I missed something. Didn't Ron Bellamy and Donovan Edwards just win the state championship in football a few weeks ago? So at least some contact sports were already back up, right?
How does that work?
February 4th, 2021 at 11:07 AM ^
Winter contact sports were on hold until Feb 21
February 4th, 2021 at 11:09 AM ^
That makes sense. Thanks.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
Does it ?
February 4th, 2021 at 11:08 AM ^
only the last few football playoff games were allowed. all others have been in moth balls since november, including sports like hoops that had already started up.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:24 AM ^
Right. I was just going to post the same thing! I know I saw some high school TACKLE (e.g., contact) football games being played on Fox Sports Detroit over the past few weeks.!
I really don't understand 732,145,092 different things as regards CoronaVirus response. I guess this one makes 732,145,093.
If you're going to ban contact high school sports, go all or nothing. These carve-out exemptions makes leadership look less credible.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:35 AM ^
They tried that but then people like you whined and pouted about how it wasn't fair.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:37 AM ^
you need to read a bit better:
NOT MEANT to generate any form of political in-fighting on the list so please have the self-control to avoid that.
February 4th, 2021 at 1:55 PM ^
I think you meant to direct this comment to NittanyFan...
February 4th, 2021 at 6:35 PM ^
That is an unfair comment. I never mentioned politics in my comment, and you know it.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:46 AM ^
I am a "if the rules are going to be for thee, they also need to be for me" sort of guy. ALL or NOTHING.
I never supported a carve-out for one contact sport (football) while others remained sidelined.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:44 PM ^
The conversation around this topic is both alarmingly ignorant and biased, on both sides. Football ran after the pause because antigen testing occurred 3 times a week. If the state would have supported the costs of antigen testing (anywhere from 10-15 million dollars for the winter season) it could have started up as wanted. The MHSAA favors football over sports like hockey and cheer with Bball a distant second. Uyl has a bias too. MHSAA could not afford that bill and the governor and politicians could not agree to free money to fund it so there was a stalemate. Politics again are in play and I am interested if there was a back door agreement to fund the antigen testing that made football as successful as it was. Keep in mind, about 10% of all playoff games were forfeited due to COVID. Expect that and then some with the sports involved regardless.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^
Football isn't a contact sport.
February 4th, 2021 at 11:07 AM ^
Will the basketball season get extended longer into the year to allow for more games to be played?
February 4th, 2021 at 11:10 AM ^
good question and they're probably figuring that out. my guess is that they will start up immediately, meaning games this weekend or maybe by monday.. there's only so much time you can delay these things before the other sports get pushed out too far. for instance, tough to have a baseball team when half the kids are playing hoops still.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:10 PM ^
The rumor I'm hearing from an AD friend is a shortened winter season followed by a delayed start to spring sports (likely after spring break).
February 4th, 2021 at 11:38 AM ^
Although I know there is a debate about this as being a sport or not in some circles, don't forget cheer- my daughter is so ready for competition season to start.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:30 PM ^
i'd say that's a lot like a combo of gymnastics and trampoline....yeesh
February 4th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
Politician [X] reverses unpopular policy [Y]. News at 11.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:37 PM ^
It's better than strong. It's being announced today.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
Let the kids play. What we are doing to them right now makes very little common sense based on what we have learned.
There will be several new strains Covid every year. Lets pray immunity grows and the virus weakens. We do need to learn to live with this and the costs can’t be more than our actions warrant.
February 4th, 2021 at 12:59 PM ^
The science would suggest young people have a very small probability of ill effects from COVID. Though we do not know to what degree they can spread the virus to the older population. The elderly just need to hunker down until they can get vaccinated. If the 65 and older group can all get vaccinated this will sharply reduce hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID.
February 4th, 2021 at 1:18 PM ^
Cases are in a fairly precipitous decline, and deaths usually follow. Too early to tell there, they may have at least topped out (I hope).
However, I've been surprised how hard it is to get a free health department test here over the last week with my wife's school having an outbreak. (Non-teacher staff member, the worst kind, they see everyone).
I know it's pretty easy to get it paid by insurance, but not everyone has insurance. Not to mention I don't think the insurance companies are going to let you go 2-3 times just to be sure you aren't asymptomatic.
February 4th, 2021 at 1:59 PM ^
Please back up your assertions with studies. Please show me where, and how "cases are in a fairly precipitous decline". I will wait.
February 4th, 2021 at 2:18 PM ^
At least here in Washtenaw County, one of the key stats that most school districts used is positivity %, which has fallen steadily since start of the year. Right after the New Year, it peaked at 9.9% on 1/6 and a 7 day average of 8.8%. It has steadily decreased over the month, where we are now at a 7 day avg of 3.3%. I don't know if that would be considered "precipitous" but it's a solid drop, and well below several school district's goal of under 5% to keep in-school learning.
February 4th, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^
right from the DHHS/whitmer presser:
MDHHS had been closely monitoring three metrics for stabilization or declines over the past several weeks, and Michigan continues to see improvements. In recent days:
- Hospital capacity dedicated to COVID-19 patientshas been in10-week decline, withcurrent capacity at6.6% for beds with COVID-19 patients. Peaked at19.6% on Tuesday, Dec.4.
- Overall case rates:Currently at159cases per million after peaking at740cases per million on Saturday, Nov.14. Rate has been in solid decline for 24 days. Three MERC regions in the state are now below 150 cases per million people: the Detroit, Traverse City and Upper Peninsula regions.
- Positivity rate:currentlyat4.9%and declining.This is the first time positivity has been this low since mid-October
so peaked 2 and 2 1/2 months ago.
February 4th, 2021 at 2:38 PM ^
Well, not to mention all you have to do is go to cdc.gov and the covid tracker and look at the pretty graphs. Cases are way down in the US, Michigan and Tennessee over the last 30 days. The only places I care about.
This ain't rocket surgery man.
February 4th, 2021 at 3:30 PM ^
Behold, worldometers
February 4th, 2021 at 5:12 PM ^
I always figure any primary source I'm capable of looking up, so is everyone else. I assume the media is still making it sound like WW3 out there, as is their want.
My one concern with the case decline is, with 2021, did we make it harder to get tested? It's harder here. But is that because of less health department demand due to rapid testing at clinics?
Deaths haven't declined in any meaningful way yet, and they should start doing so right quick given most states have been vaccinating LTACs and Nursing Home patients for some time and I think the 75 and older cohorts are getting their second shots most places.
If deaths don't start showing a similar decline in February I might be concerned the case number data is getting real dirty.
February 4th, 2021 at 5:26 PM ^
You have a good point regarding vaccinated LTC folks and staff. I've also heard whispers of PCR sensitivity being reduced by about 10 cycles recently.
In my humble opinion, the vaccines are the key to crushing all variants of this thing, even if that means giving people boosters when they are developed. I'm getting my first dose of the Pfizer on Saturday because I'm a school teacher in Wayne County but I have already tested positive and recovered in the past in addition to being under the age of 35. My 62 and 61 year old parents, one of whom is an essential worker, still don't have the means to get a shot. I hope the roll out keeps rolling
February 4th, 2021 at 2:01 PM ^
Trying to figure out if this involves only high school sports, or all youth contact sports...
February 4th, 2021 at 2:37 PM ^
i think its for all ages. here is a link to an article about it:
https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/winter-high-school-contact-sports-to-resume-on-monday
February 4th, 2021 at 2:07 PM ^
I coach high school basketball in northeast Ohio. We pretty much started the season on time in November and have our tournaments coming up in a couple weeks. Just for reference, we are required to take each kids temperature every day when they come in and keep a log. Everybody has to wear a mask when they are on the sideline and not participating. Also each participant is allowed to have two immediate family members in the stands for home and away games. We've had teams drop in and out based on positive tests and contact tracing but I've been surprised how much of the season we've been able to get in. It hasn't been the easiest season but it's definitely doable.
February 5th, 2021 at 6:56 AM ^
I am also a HS basketball coach in NEO. The protocols we follow are very strict.
Unfortunately we have found that even though we are logging daily and kids are wearing masks - they just aren’t being honest with us in terms of having any symptoms.
We had a player show up to practice this week, tell us no to each question we ask. They get tested 12 hours later and are positive. Mom is a nurse, sends the kid to school and practice knowing they have symptoms. Now half of our program is in quarantine.
Where do you coach?