BlueRob

September 3rd, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^

In this example, it kind of is like the flu and a lot of other viruses for that matter... 

Here is a story about a Red Sox pitcher who got Covid.  https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/08/06/cardiologist-dr-jennifer-haythe-boston-red-sox-eduardo-rodriguez-covid-19-myocarditis/

While Rodriguez is expected to make a full recovery, the news of an athlete developing a heart condition due to COVID-19 was unsettling for many. Still, Columbia University cardiologist Dr. Jennifer Haythe points out that these types of complications have been seen before even in patients that get the flu.

“We know that for the most part the people who get very sick from COVID are older people. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that younger people can’t get very sick from COVID as we’re seeing and I saw with my own eyes. But, it’s less common and the flu can do the same thing,” said Dr. Haythe in an interview with CBS Local’s DJ Sixsmith. “I’ve seen young people need heart transplants from getting the flu. It’s not something we’ve never seen before. The stories are obviously frightening but I think we need to keep in perspective that in general, younger people without a lot of co-morbidities do okay and it’s generally our older relatives and family that we need to keep protected.”

 

Joined: 09/02/2020

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A_Maized

September 3rd, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^

Ehhh, a cold or the flu, both of them can cause myocarditis.  Fun fact, 3.1MM people were diagnosed with myocarditis in 2017   

  • Viruses. Many viruses are commonly associated with myocarditis, including the viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus); COVID-19; hepatitis B and C; parvovirus, which causes a mild rash, usually in children (fifth disease); and herpes simplex virus..

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Harlans Haze

September 3rd, 2020 at 3:48 PM ^

Yes, but how many of that 3.1 million were college-level athletes? The results of the study are alarming because the subject group is elite athletes. The fact that they display such a high rate of myocarditis should be frightening to the rest of the conferences. And, while many people can manage the symptoms of myocarditis, as an elite athlete, you wouldn't want to leave it up to chance when you step on the field of play (or practice). I'm not sure why the Big 10 didn't just make this info available from the beginning. It's impactful throughout society, especially athletics.

Joined: 11/26/2014

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mGrowOld

September 3rd, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^

Was literally about to post exact same thing. 

Pro-tip - when posting breaking news ALWAYS open a 2nd tab and check to see if somebody got there first before hitting "save".

Anyways, if this is true it certainly explains the B1G10's decision.  And the leagues continuing to play better get on their knees and pray to whatever God they hold holy that nobody gets infected.  Because if they do the lawsuits will be beyond crippling.

 

Joined: 10/04/2010

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bluebyyou

September 3rd, 2020 at 1:53 PM ^

Wouldn't you have to establish that the infection was caught from an infected party at the office at the time you were there and not from some other source?

Unless there is some easy to perform genetic test that can can determine the party from whom you caught the disease, the burden of proof might be tough to meet.

Joined: 09/07/2009

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Creedence Tapes

September 3rd, 2020 at 3:42 PM ^

So you are saying that if someone contacts an illness that can have long term consequences due to negligence on the part of an employer, it should be acceptable to let the employer off the hook because it is too hard to prove in court? It's incredible to me the amount of mental gymnastics required to justify this whole thing when the simple and morally correct thing to do would be to avoid negligent behavior to begin with. 

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bluebyyou

September 3rd, 2020 at 10:09 PM ^

I've been involved in lots of litigation over the years and you have to prove your case.  If I were representing the company, and having to work in a Covid-positive environment is not necessarily negligence I would attempt to show that while infection at the workplace is possible, there are other areas where the infection may have occurred, You have all sorts of first responders and HC workers that have gotten sick as a consequence of an airborne illness in the workplace simply by doing their jobs. I would track every detail of the plaintiff's travels via cell phone records, if his family had illness, etc. not because I am a bad guy but because my client would have a right to the best representation I could provide.  This would be a civil matter so preponderance of the evidence would be the bar I would have to overcome.   Barring genetic evidence, depending on the circumstances, I don't think this is a slam dunk case for someone contracting CV19.

Joined: 09/07/2009

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trustBlue

September 3rd, 2020 at 4:50 PM ^

You dont have establish the source with scientific certainly to meet a preponderance of evidence standard applicable in a civil case. Given how contagious COVID is, you probably only need to show evidence that there was infection/outbreak present in the workplace to establish that it was more likely than not that you contracted it there. 

The rest of the facts would matter - e.g. if you spent your weekend working at a kissing booth, the defense would be able to use that to rebut your claim, but if you spent eight hours a day at work and then went directly home, they are going to have a tough time trying to rebut causation.

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TrueBlue2003

September 3rd, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^

People will get infected just like all the many other players in sports leagues operating around the world.  And they'll test them for heart issues and hold them out while there is elevated risk.

And if they miss something and if something were to happen, it'll be interesting to see how the lawsuits do pan out. Myocarditis already is responsible for 3-5% of sports related deaths.  It's caused by most common viruses (common colds, etc.). There weren't previously lawsuits for those deaths so will there be now? I'm not familiar with negligence lawsuits so I have no idea.  Will be interesting.

But the Big Ten hasn't discovered something that no one else in the world knows.  They're just being the most cautious.

Joined: 01/05/2010

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bronxblue

September 3rd, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^

There have been lawsuits related to sudden death in athletes; the Pistons, for example, settled one last year after one of their G-league players died unexpectedly.  A simple Google search shows a couple more involving HS and even grade school-aged kids.  And usually the argument is that the coaches or staff pushed the athletes too hard and didn't respond properly to their stress.  Now, I'm not a plaintiff's attorney but considering some of the random claims made recently in order to open up the B1G voting results, my guess is you could file a lawsuit saying that a school knew COVID-19 exposed athletes to a heightened risk of such heart conditions and then didn't properly test/protect them from infection or post-infection injury.  Now, I'm not sure how successful those would be but then again you'd have a dead college athlete on one side of the case so my guess is a sympathetic jury might side with his or her family.

I would push back a bit about this type of danger being something the world generally knows.  If the past couple of months have taught me anything there are a lot of people in positions of authority who are either unintentionally dumb, cravenly negligent, or something in between.  I could absolutely see some presidents and ADs not really knowing/caring about the heart dangers.

 

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WolverBean

September 3rd, 2020 at 1:48 PM ^

Myocarditis is already known to be caused by most common viruses. A good question is, is the incidence of myocarditis in COVID19 cases unusually high?

A quick google search finds that in previous studies, the incidence of myocarditis in H1N1 patients is about 5%. But that number is biased by the fact that doctors generally only look for myocarditis if they have some reason to suspect its presence. There is some evidence the true rate may be closer to 15%. A second good question is, what fraction of these experience long term consequences? Individual studies tend to have small sample sizes, but the answer may be of order 1/3. (PDF warning:)

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.685.8394&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Assuming that the true incidence for H1N1 is closer to 15%, that seems to suggest the incidence of myocarditis with COVID19 is about double that of "the flu." Given the huge numbers of COVID19 infections in the USA right now even with some efforts to slow spread, that means there may be a LOT of myocarditis out there. And I think the Penn State doctor's point about the disproportionate impact of a small change in cardiopulmonary capacity may have for a Division 1 athlete is an important one. I can see why the B1G Presidents saw merit in taking a cautious approach.

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TrueBlue2003

September 3rd, 2020 at 5:04 PM ^

To your point, we really don't know how the indicence rate compares because we have no idea what the incidence rate is for myocarditis caused by other viruses.  To your point, we usually don't diagnose the disease because it's usually mild and has no symptoms and even when it is diagnosed, the cause is rarely known because we don't test for other viruses like we do with SARS-CoV2.

I can see why they went with a cautious approach, I guess.  But most other sports leagues around the world are not being as cautious.  They are probably being overly cautious, but their call.

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