Will the Coming Season be Different Because of COVID-19?

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Originally Posted by AtlantaDan

Oh so it is just your opinion on this being overblown with no backup from any recognized experts?

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I am sure that many, many qualified experts are in the "use common sense, take reasonable precautions" group, but how much do you see that reported on, almost zero.

To me, this is clearly the tangible manifestation of a decades-long process, specifically the total death of professionalism among the media. Too many people who are not content with faithfully reporting the facts; they want to be influencers and will bend the standards further and further in order to do so, regardless of consequences. And this is the culmination of that process.

Hopefully it also represents a breaking point, where people begin to look around and go, "Holy SHIT!" because what is being presented to them matches up less and less with what is clearly obvious just by looking around on their own. A lot of this goes for reporting on politics as well, but I digress.

A year from now, this will be looked back on as a national embarrassment.

Coronavirus - not scary.

Reaction to coronavirus - absolutely terrifying.

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Originally Posted by tom444

All the money has already been put down and it's all on my side. And I should add, unfortunately.

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All that's on your side is the stupid money. You want to join the mass hysteria, that's your business, but don't call yourself smart over it, please

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Originally Posted by steelreserve

All that's on your side is the stupid money. You want to join the mass hysteria, that's your business, but don't call yourself smart over it, please

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Assuming the tournament you are going to next week is not cancelled, props for manning up and being willing to get the virus when you attend.

Good luck to any of your friends and family who may be elderly or otherwise more at risk who you see after your return.

:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by 43Hitman

No shit. As if people dying doesn't matter. Lives are lives and when they are lost they effect someone, so some sensitivity would a good thing right now SR. Don't be that douche on internet forums.

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Haha... Have you not met Steelreserve before? :D
Not a dig at SR, mind you... but this is his shtick. He's "that guy" and it's generally hilarious. I guess this is one of the times where the joke didn't land. :noidea:

While I'm not totally insensitive to the danger this poses to the people at risk, I'm also aware that SR is correct, statistically speaking. Unfortunately, there's a lot more to it than simple raw totals. There's exponential growth, logistic curves, r-nots, etc. A very small outbreak can quickly turn into a disaster if not taken seriously. Unfortunately, irrational overreactions can also turn into a disaster.

My best advice is to 1) follow the recommendations you have been given by the CDC, 2) to gather the basic necessities you need to go a month or two before the hoarders clean out the shelves, and 3) do not panic.
If you are nervous about this, I suggest not paying attention to the media. They're hyping it up for ratings. Stay cool, find out what you need to do, and then do it. It'll be over in a few months and your life will go back to normal.

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Originally Posted by AtlantaDan

Assuming the tournament you are going to next week is not cancelled, props for manning up and being willing to get the virus when you attend.

Good luck to any of your friends and family who may be elderly or otherwise more at risk who you see after your return.

:thumbsup:

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Considering that my risk for contracting the virus is statistically almost identical whether I go to a large event or stay home - that is to say, near zero - I am confident that is the right move.

Tell you what, if I go there and then get sick and die, I owe you a Coke.

This whole thing is blown waaaayyyy out of proportion. It's a flu bug.... there are dozens of flu bugs out there. Are they (it) dangerous? Sure. Take the standard, normal precautions and GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE! This is killing the economy, for no good reason, other than the media is hyping it to death.

I work in the trade show industry. My company has had 12 shows cancelled in the last week and a half because of this asinine fear of a flu bug. Businesses are being destroyed and worker's lives are being destroyed because of the media's need to sensationalize something... anything.

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Originally Posted by steelreserve

All that's on your side is the stupid money. You want to join the mass hysteria, that's your business, but don't call yourself smart over it, please

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Utter nonsense. I haven't purposed panic or hysteria. Admitting we have a very serious problem isn't being hysterical, it's being smart. You can't address a problem until you admit you have it.

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Originally Posted by GoSlash27

Haha... Have you not met Steelreserve before? :D
Not a dig at SR, mind you... but this is his shtick. He's "that guy" and it's generally hilarious. I guess this is one of the times where the joke didn't land. :noidea:

While I'm not totally insensitive to the danger this poses to the people at risk, I'm also aware that SR is correct, statistically speaking. Unfortunately, there's a lot more to it than simple raw totals. There's exponential growth, logistic curves, r-nots, etc. A very small outbreak can quickly turn into a disaster if not taken seriously. Unfortunately, irrational overreactions can also turn into a disaster.

My best advice is to 1) follow the recommendations you have been given by the CDC, 2) to gather the basic necessities you need to go a month or two before the hoarders clean out the shelves, and 3) do not panic.
If you are nervous about this, I suggest not paying attention to the media. They're hyping it up for ratings. Stay cool, find out what you need to do, and then do it. It'll be over in a few months and your life will go back to normal.

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I know his shtick, and usually I find it humorous, I just don't think this is the time or place for it.

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Originally Posted by AtlantaDan

Assuming the tournament you are going to next week is not cancelled, props for manning up and being willing to get the virus when you attend.

Good luck to any of your friends and family who may be elderly or otherwise more at risk who you see after your return.

:thumbsup:

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This^^^

We're all in this together.

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Originally Posted by silver & black

This whole thing is blown waaaayyyy out of proportion. It's a flu bug.... there are dozens of flu bugs out there. Are they (it) dangerous? Sure. Take the standard, normal precautions and GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE! This is killing the economy, for no good reason, other than the media is hyping it to death.

I work in the trade show industry. My company has had 12 shows cancelled in the last week and a half because of this asinine fear of a flu bug. Businesses are being destroyed and worker's lives are being destroyed because of the media's need to sensationalize something... anything.

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Not to mention, what are most people really going to do to lower their risk profile for this in any meaningful way? "Oh, I won't go out for dinner this week. I'll cancel that trip I had planned. I'm being smart!"

Well ... really? Do you have kids? Do they go to school? Well, unless school is canceled, you already have a HUGE exposure profile of probably thousands of people. If you have kids in more than one school, you are already exposed to basically half your town.

Do you get the mail from your mailbox? Guess what, the mailman put his hands on thousands of other people's mail, and the post office brings in mail from all over the world. Do you eat food? Even if you keep your distance from everyone else at the store, there's no telling who's been to the same store as you and gotten germs all over everything. You were probably in the same store as thousands of people who have traveled all over the country.

If you lead any semblance of a normal life, really your best (probably only) hope for avoiding infection is that it really isn't that contagious or deadly. So far, that seems to be bearing itself out pretty reliably.

If there was any real danger - like, a REAL pandemic - none of this half-assed bullshit would be doing anything to prevent its spread. Cancel a bunch of high-profile stuff but leave the 99% of routine low-level daily exposure - congratulations, you won the internet comments section. Didn't actually accomplish anything. Roger Goodell and his concussion experts would be proud of the way you handled things. You would have to totally change your way of life to have any meaningful effect.

Like, if I go to an Asian market and some guy starts coughing blood all over me ... well, I'll try to avoid situations like that, I guess, but otherwise, just be realistic for God's sake.

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Originally Posted by steelreserve

Not to mention, what are most people really going to do to lower their risk profile for this in any meaningful way? "Oh, I won't go out for dinner this week. I'll cancel that trip I had planned. I'm being smart!"

Well ... really? Do you have kids? Do they go to school? Well, unless school is canceled, you already have a HUGE exposure profile of probably thousands of people. If you have kids in more than one school, you are already exposed to basically half your town.

Do you get the mail from your mailbox? Guess what, the mailman put his hands on thousands of other people's mail, and the post office brings in mail from all over the world. Do you eat food? Even if you keep your distance from everyone else at the store, there's no telling who's been to the same store as you and gotten germs all over everything. You were probably in the same store as thousands of people who have traveled all over the country.

If you lead any semblance of a normal life, really your best (probably only) hope for avoiding infection is that it really isn't that contagious or deadly. So far, that seems to be bearing itself out pretty reliably.

If there was any real danger - like, a REAL pandemic - none of this half-assed bullshit would be doing anything to prevent its spread. Cancel a bunch of high-profile stuff but leave the 99% of routine low-level daily exposure - congratulations, you won the internet comments section. Didn't actually accomplish anything. Roger Goodell and his concussion experts would be proud of the way you handled things. You would have to totally change your way of life to have any meaningful effect.

Like, if I go to an Asian market and some guy starts coughing blood all over me ... well, I'll try to avoid situations like that, I guess, but otherwise, just be realistic for God's sake.

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Nailed it.

Either the current reaction is a wild over reaction room or a ludicrously irresponsible under reaction. I do not know which. But it is conclusively not a properly calibrated one.

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Originally Posted by Mojouw

Nailed it.

Either the current reaction is a wild over reaction room or a ludicrously irresponsible under reaction. I do not know which. But it is conclusively not a properly calibrated one.

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As far as I can tell, the most worrisome effect of the virus is that it apparently makes everyone poop 40 times as much, including people who don't have the virus at all.

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Originally Posted by steelreserve

As far as I can tell, the most worrisome effect of the virus is that it apparently makes everyone poop 40 times as much, including people who don't have the virus at all.

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Most people are full of shit...

You guys that are freaking out about this............... Not judging, but......................... I think you are scared over ....not much.

Some of the local, to me, colleges that have closed and gone to online classes because they're really dumb and are panicking:

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A list of area colleges canceling classes, sending students home due to coronavirus fears

By Peter Bailey-Wells and Stephanie Purifoy Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent,Updated March 11, 2020, 43 minutes ago

https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpubl...Y252UZC53M.JPGPedestrians were reflected in a window of a store selling Harvard paraphernalia.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe StaffUniversities and colleges in New England and around the country have started to limit in-person classes, recall students from study-abroad programs, and restrict large gatherings amid the spread of the coronavirus illness Covid-19.

Amherst College (March 9)
All classes at Amherst will be canceled Thursday and Friday, and spring break will take place March 16 through March 22. After the break, classes will shift to being completely online so they can be fulfilled remotely, President Carolyn Martin said in a statement Monday.

Harvard University (March 10)
In a statement posted on the university website dedicated to Covid-19 issues, Harvard said that the shift to virtual classrooms for both graduate and undergraduate students will start Tuesday with a goal of it being fully in place by March 23, when spring break ends. Harvard urged students not to return to campus after spring break ends.

Smith College (March 10)
The last in-person classes at Smith will be held on Friday. The college will extend spring break to students until March 29 and online and alternative classes will start the following day.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (March 10)
MIT is moving all classes online and expecting undergraduate students to move out of their dormitories. The university said a recent visit to campus by a recruiter who had contracted the virus illustrated the risks — and the need for more aggressive precautionary measures.
Olin College of Engineering (March 10)
Olin announced that it is moving to virtual instruction for all courses until further notice and students should not plan to return to campus after spring break.

Tufts University (March 10)
Beginning March 25, when students return from an extended spring break, classes will be conducted virtually for the remainder of the semester. Students are asked to depart from campus residence halls by Monday, March 16, but those who are unable to return to their homes due to travel restrictions or other “significant constraints” will be allowed to remain in dorms.

Mount Holyoke College (March 10)
Spring break will be extended for two weeks for the campus and “alternate modes of instruction” will begin after spring break, the school said in an announcement. No in-person classes will be held after Friday, March 13.
All students will be asked to move out of on-campus housing by Saturday, March 14, though exceptions will be made for those with “extenuating circumstances,” the school said.

University of Massachusetts system (March 11)
University of Massachusetts President Martin Meehan will announce on Wednesday that the system will move to virtual classes and instruct students not to return to campus after spring break in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, according to sources close to the administration.
All five campuses of the state’s public university, which includes nearly 75,000 undergraduate and graduate students, will stop offering in-person instruction.



Wheaton College (March 11)
Wheaton will hold virtual classes beginning Monday, March 23, and students are expected to leave campus by Sunday, March 22,. by 5 p.m.
Classes will be remote and student operations will be suspended for the remainder of the spring semester, the school said in an announcementWednesday.

Boston University (March 11)
BU announced Wednesday it would move all classes online an students who are away for spring break are advised not to return to campus after break ends Sunday — but residence and dining halls will remain open for those who need to remain on campus because of particular challenges, according to BU’s leadership.
Officials plan to “revisit the situation and update the community” around April 1, the school said in its announcement.


Berklee College of Music (March 11)
At the end of the week, Berklee will halt in-person classes

Brandeis University (March 11)
Classes with more than 100 students will move online at Brandeis beginning Monday, March 16, and classes of all sizes will follow and become online-only by Friday, March 20, Brandeis announced Wednesday.
President Ron Liebowitz said in his announcement Wednesday that students will be allowed to remain in campus residence halls on a case-by-case basis but that undergraduates are asked to move out of their housing by March 25.


Boston College (March 11)
Starting Thursday, Boston College will not hold any on-campus classes and on March 19 will transition to online education, remaining that way through the rest of the spring semester, the university announced Wednesday.
Students are required to leave BC residence halls by Sunday, March 15, though exceptions will be made for those with travel restrictions or other obligations.

Williams College (March 11)
Williams will end in-person classes on Friday, March 13, and begin spring break a week early, on March 14, the college announced Wednesday.
Students will be required to leave campus by Tuesday, March 17, and online-only classes will begin on April 6, the school’s first day back from spring break. Students with extenuating circumstances will be allowed to remain on the Williams campus, the school said in its announcement.

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Originally Posted by 43Hitman

I know his shtick, and usually I find it humorous, I just don't think this is the time or place for it.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Fz9WF4U_c

I have a weird sense of humor; there's pretty much no such thing as a wrong "time or place". But that's just me. In fact... The more people are freaking out or despondent, the more I think it's *exactly* the right time and place.

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Originally Posted by silver & black

You guys that are freaking out about this............... Not judging, but......................... I think you are scared over ....not much.

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Downside of being wrong is a little higher than whether the Steelers should tender Mike Hilton or go for a replacement in the later rounds of the draft

But given the strong views of some that Mike Tomlin apparently is missing a great opportunity to improve his coaching by reading more carefully what is posted here the absolute certainty of some of the hot takes on this subject is to be expected

As is the case with the Tomlin takes, depends how much you believe the folks who do something for a living have a better idea what is going on and how to proceed

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Originally Posted by steelreserve

Not to mention, what are most people really going to do to lower their risk profile for this in any meaningful way? "Oh, I won't go out for dinner this week. I'll cancel that trip I had planned. I'm being smart!"

Well ... really? Do you have kids? Do they go to school? Well, unless school is canceled, you already have a HUGE exposure profile of probably thousands of people. If you have kids in more than one school, you are already exposed to basically half your town.

Do you get the mail from your mailbox? Guess what, the mailman put his hands on thousands of other people's mail, and the post office brings in mail from all over the world. Do you eat food? Even if you keep your distance from everyone else at the store, there's no telling who's been to the same store as you and gotten germs all over everything. You were probably in the same store as thousands of people who have traveled all over the country.

If you lead any semblance of a normal life, really your best (probably only) hope for avoiding infection is that it really isn't that contagious or deadly. So far, that seems to be bearing itself out pretty reliably.

If there was any real danger - like, a REAL pandemic - none of this half-assed bullshit would be doing anything to prevent its spread. Cancel a bunch of high-profile stuff but leave the 99% of routine low-level daily exposure - congratulations, you won the internet comments section. Didn't actually accomplish anything. Roger Goodell and his concussion experts would be proud of the way you handled things. You would have to totally change your way of life to have any meaningful effect.

Like, if I go to an Asian market and some guy starts coughing blood all over me ... well, I'll try to avoid situations like that, I guess, but otherwise, just be realistic for God's sake.

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I couldn't agree with you more.

Must be more panic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1j1nISrBtc

There's certainly no reason to be concerned about large gatherings:

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70 of 92 coronavirus cases in Massachusetts linked to Biogen employees after biotech firm's Boston meeting

(CNN) — Massachusetts' coronavirus cases have more than doubled and the state's governor declared a state of emergency after employees who attended a company meeting in Boston last month tested positive for the virus.


The state announced 51 new presumptive positive casesTuesday that are awaiting confirmation by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The surge brings the total numberof confirmed or presumptive positive cases in Massachusetts to 92.


Seventy of the cases are related to employees at Cambridge biotechnology company Biogen, state Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said.

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/healt...ncy/index.html

Th media is promoting panic. They do that job well.

But that’s different than taking aggressive and drastic actions to (yes, you can Slashy) limit its spread to more people.
I don’t see any of what’s being done (and what’s yet to come) as the slightest bit of overreaction.

We’re dealing with a virus for which we have no treatments ( we have effective antivirals for the other flus), and no vaccine (we have effective vaccines for other flus).

Both will be developed in time, but we’re still dealing with a lot of unknown.
When it comes to matters concerning national public health it’s always wise to overreact towards safety.

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Originally Posted by tom444

There's certainly no reason to be concerned about large gatherings:



https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/healt...ncy/index.html

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Damn, what have the people at Biogen been doing?

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Originally Posted by Hawkman

Damn, what have the people at Biogen been doing?

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I guess whatever Tom Hanks and his wife have been doing:

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Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson Test Positive for Coronavirus

Alex StedmanMar 11, 2020 at 6:08pm PDT
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have announced that they have tested positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus), the first celebrities to go public with a diagnosis.

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Originally Posted by FrancoLambert

I don’t see any of what’s being done (and what’s yet to come) as the slightest bit of overreaction.

We’re dealing with a virus for which we have no treatments ( we have effective antivirals for the other flus), and no vaccine (we have effective vaccines for other flus).

Both will be developed in time, but we’re still dealing with a lot of unknown.
When it comes to matters concerning national public health it’s always wise to overreact towards safety.

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Exactly.

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Originally Posted by Hawkman

Damn, what have the people at Biogen been doing?

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That's a higher rate of transmission then on cruise ships!

I guess they were licking each other and all sharing one common coffee cup!

The NBA just suspended the season after tonights games.

https://www.nba.com/article/2020/03/...ollection=news

In May of 1968 my infantry company, about 80 of us, was operating Southwest of Da Nang. Late afternoon one day we got a report that an NVA regiment, 1500 soldiers, was moving in our direction. We quickly found an open area that would give us long, and wide, fields of fire. We all dug in. We had a helicopter bring out several .50 caliber machine-guns. Our battalion recon platoon was close by, so they joined us. Gunships at an LZ not too far away got ready.

Were we panicking? Of course not. We were getting ready. You folks who are poo pooing this should learn the difference between panic and preparation.

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Originally Posted by tom444

Must be more panic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1j1nISrBtc

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If you saw the statement that the WHO did about this, it literally had a section to the effect of, "We have been reluctant to classify this as a pandemic because it does not meet the criteria, but we decided to call it that anyway to force people to take action." No joke.

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Originally Posted by tom444

There's certainly no reason to be concerned about large gatherings:



https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/healt...ncy/index.html

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Less than 100 people out of 7 million have the flu. You have done it; I am literally trembling with fear.

Same 0.001% infection rate I mentioned before, incidentally.

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Originally Posted by steelreserve

No joke.

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That's right, it's no joke.

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Originally Posted by steelreserve

Less than 100 people out of 7 million have the flu. You have done it; I am literally trembling with fear.

Same 0.001% infection rate I mentioned before, incidentally.

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Frankly speaking, you're a moron.