Dan Wolken of USA Today says it’s time for the NCAA to make the right call and cancel the NCAA Tournament due to coronavirus.
Here’s an excerpt of Wolken’s thoughts:
Here’s the problem with the COVID-19 situation. We don’t know how many people have it or are going to get it, but we know it is spreading in the U.S. While the vast majority of people who get it will recover or suffer only mild symptoms, they can easily spread it to vulnerable groups who are more at-risk of serious illness or death.
For that reason, businesses are restricting employees from travel. Schools in some communities that have had cases are sending kids home, and colleges are taking their classes online. This isn’t about panic. Given the lack of treatment or vaccine, the only best answer doctors have given us for slowing this thing down is fewer person-to-person interactions, especially in places where we know there are cases.
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Day by day, it is clear this is how every sector of society is going to operate in the short term. It is what we’re dealing with right now as a country. The idea that sports would somehow be an exception to that is arrogant at minimum and dangerous at worst.
The NCAA Tournament is an event where thousands of college students from 68 schools — band members, cheerleaders, athletes — and tens of thousands of fans leave their towns and hop around the country to watch games in arenas where fans are elbow-to-elbow before returning home and interacting with their communities.
Given what we know, and especially what we don’t, that setup becomes increasingly risky, selfish and counterproductive to a society that may only be beginning to come to terms with the bigger picture. Again, depending on who you are, the problem with COVID-19 isn’t necessarily that you might get it, it’s who might get it from you.
But even if the NCAA decides to play games without fans, is that enough of a line being drawn? How risky is it really to put these amateur college athletes from various parts of the country on the court to play against one another without testing every single participant? Given the testing capacity right now, is that even going to be possible by Thursday?
And, God forbid, what happens if a player or coach who was on the court with a bunch of other players and coaches tests positive? In a tournament that takes place over three consecutive weeks, is that really a roll of the dice the NCAA wants to take?
