UPIA1968
PhD Student
Posts: 1121
Loc: Cornwall, PA
Reg: 11-20-06
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10-24-20 09:22 AM - Post#315350
In response to LocalTiger
The prohibition of Penn Basketball is based on a set of generic assumptions, the same assumptions that have been used to justify a host of limitations on American social interactions. They are:
1. All Americans are at grave risks of death from the COVID virus.
2. Interactions, such as basketball practice increase that risk.
3. Even if a person survives his or her infection from the virus they become a risk to the rest of us.
Let’s examine those generalizations in the specifics of Ivy League basketball.
1- Ivy League basketball players are at grave risks of death from the COVID virus. The facts show that young, healthy people are not at grave risk of death from the COVID virus. The virus has killed less than .00007% of Americans in that category. Check that number if you like. You will find a very small result whatever source and assumptions you use. Ivy League basketball players are not at a grave risk of death from the COVID virus.
2- Basketball participation increase the risk of grave health effects from the COVID virus. Despite the suspension of the program, the players are still are playing pickup basketball, interacting with their friends, going to the store, living with their families, and kissing their significant others. In addition, participation in well-supervised basketball practice, with access to good medical care, should reduce the risk of infection and serious health effects. Ivy League basketball participation does not increase a grave risk of death to its participants. It is more likely to reduce that risk.
3- Ivy League basketball players are a risk to the rest of us. Ivy League basketball players already interact with us regularly. If anything, the lives of Division One athletes reduces their contact with the rest of us, given the time in practice, film study and simple exhaustion. Moreover, participation in an organized program will include regular testing. For the first time, then, the athlete will know if they are a transmission risk and will be given proper counseling on what to do until they are no longer a risk to others. Ivy League basketball will decrease the risk of its players infecting the rest of us
What have I missed here? Yes, the COVID contagion is a troubling event requiring a significant response from our health care system and targeted management of interactions according to the specific risks of those interactions. Giving free tickets to retirement village residents to the Palestra would be foolish. Cancelling the entire basketball season because a player might visit one of those facilities is equally foolish. Actually, this discussion should be about the larger limitations on the University. There are many aspects of Penn life and academics that are shut down. This same logic applies to them.
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