There’s tension between my view that it’s wrong for colleges to ask unpaid athletes to take the field during the novel coronavirus pandemic and my anxiety about what fewer football games means for a sportswriter in SEC country. For Zachary Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University, the quandary is squaring his love of sports with his expert opinion that it may be too risky for games to be played.
“I do wear two hats, sports fan and public-health professional,” Binney said Tuesday. “I was always an epidemiologist focused on sports. I never in a million years foresaw them colliding in this way.
“It’s a struggle wanting sports to come back and recognizing what the risks are, and feeling compelled as a public-health professional to go against my interests as a sports fan.”
That dichotomy is what I found relatable about Binney’s nuanced, informative blog post with the title: “Covid-19: How Can Sports Come Back?” When Binney updated the post May 27, he still felt generally optimistic about football being played safely in the fall. Fans in stadiums are out of the question, but there could be games without them.
That was before several states reported spikes in COVID-19 infection rates. Now Binney said he’s “more pessimistic” that football can be played in the fall. And he’s calling for college football programs to suspend their so-called voluntary workouts after reports of several COVID-19 infections among athletes at multiple schools.
“A month ago, it was not clear if they were up to the task” of keeping athletes safe, Binney said. “Now it’s clear that even some of the major, well-resourced programs aren’t up to the task.”
USA Today wrote that at least 34 NCAA Division I schools have reported positive COVID-19 cases for athletes who returned for workouts. Outbreaks forced Kansas State, Boise State and Houston to shut down workouts. Boise State shut down its entire campus until at least next week.
LSU has isolated at least 30 athletes who were either infected by COVID-19 or were in contact with infected people. Seven other SEC schools reported positive tests: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State and Tennessee. Clemson announced 23 positive tests, including 21 football players. Texas said 13 athletes tested positive.
“That’s enough evidence to say too many schools are not providing a safe enough environment,” Binney said. “It’s not worth it to me, especially if the only reason they are coming back to campus is for athletics.”
There likely are more COVID-19 cases than disclosed among college athletes. The Associated Press reported more than half of the 66 FBS programs that responded to its inquiry said they will not publicly release the number of positive tests for athletes. The list includes Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State.
No public disclosure by schools means less scrutiny of their ability to keep athletes safe. Student privacy isn’t a legitimate argument against it. The number of positive tests can be announced without including names or even specific sports.
The schools reporting positive tests say that many of them happened during initial screening when athletes returned to campus. They say positive tests at the outset of workouts sets a baseline for further testing and precautions. But LSU didn’t test its athletes when they came back.
Shelly Mullenix, LSU’s senior associate athletic trainer, told Sports Illustrated that the program’s surge in COVID-19 cases isn’t related to the lack of initial testing. Mullenix said some athletes had gathered at off-campus bars. State officials said more than 100 people who went to those establishments tested positive for the virus.
Said Binney: “If the only reason they are back on campus is because you wanted them there, you are responsible for any outbreak. Not just in the weight room or athletic facility, but any outbreak based on what students might foreseeable do.”
It is foreseeable that college athletes will go to bars or other social gatherings with other students and members of the general public. That’s why what happened at LSU could be a preview for the fall. Sports programs may be able to create a relatively safe environment for athletes, but what happens when they are outside of that zone?
The “bubble” model that MLS and NBA are planning won’t work for college athletes. They can’t be quarantined for weeks at one site away from the outside world. In their case that includes students, faculty, staff and support workers on campus.
