NCAA Won't Mandate Uniform Return to College Sports

[caduceus]

And did you just compare school to death... really?

Yes. This is just a sample of the news from only this morning:

2019 Puyallup High School graduate dies of COVID-19 complications

11 cases of COVID-19 related syndrome in kids confirmed in Washington State

7-year-old Georgia boy dies of coronavirus, officials confirm

Two teens in Florida die of coronavirus complications

Florida High School coach in medically-induced coma, battling COVID-19

Mississippi teacher's death during first week of school stokes COVID-19 fears

Within 11 days of schools opening, dozens of students and teachers have gotten COVID-19: 'I truly wish we'd kept our children home'

32 year old UGA Employee Dead from COVID-19, Worked in University Housing

Florida: Health directors told to keep quiet as Fla. leaders pressed to reopen classrooms

North Carolina reports first death tied to child care COVID-19 cluster

Virus keeps spreading as schools begin to open, frightening parents and alarming public health officials

(GA) Cobb schools district reports 100 COVID-19 cases in staff, students

Alabama HS football team, band under quarantine

UCF students prepare to return to campus with hundreds of COVID-19 cases already reported

Seven Cherokee schools now affected by COVID-19 quarantines after one week of school

Without COVID-19 testing, high school football putting communities at risk


There were a dozen other similar articles, but my fingers tired.

[SkipZag]

Wow...

State of Washington... 1654 deaths. 99% — 40 and older. 100% — 20 and older. The State’s numbers not mine. And I don’t think the children have been locked away all summer.

Many many many terrible stories out there... if you are looking and not just of the covid

I think we should move on...

Cheers

[caduceus]

State of Washington... 1654 deaths. 99% — 40 and older. 100% — 20 and older. The State’s numbers not mine. And I don’t think the children have been locked away all summer.

I'm well aware of the statistics. Death and complete recovery are very much not the only two outcomes. We've already seen a young, previously healthy MLB pitcher out for the season with heart failure from COVID-19, among many other stories regarding youth morbidity.

Recent studies show that kids and young adults pass it on to other contacts as easily as adults do, possibly more. Dead kids are clearly not the major concern. Dead teachers, staff, coaches, parents, and grandparents are. You cannot hide away all these people while schools become major centers of transmission.

[TerpZag]

As a brief background, Mrs. TerpZag and I are both 72+ years old. We are both retired for the most part except for a few regulatory consulting arrangements on my part here and there.

Since early in March, we have tried to be diligent in our efforts to heed the advice medical experts at the Federal, state and local levels. While our usual routine was suddenly and dramatically turned up side down, we continue to minimize our travel trips, keep our social distance where necessary and wear our masks to not only keep ourselves safe but more importantly to keep others safe.

Our major worry so far has been our concern for the safety and the health of our son and his wife and their 4 young children. Before this we were involved on virtually each day of the work week with 1, 2 or even all 4 of our grandkids. We live about a mile away from them but it might as well be hundreds of miles these days. We miss being with them and they miss being here with us.

We also now find ourselves checking in periodically with our extended family members across the country on a more frequent basis. Just to touch base and see how they are doing...

I would like to extend a big shout out of thanks to Caduceus for taking his time to generously share with us his knowledge, his experience and his concern for the health and safety of all his fellow Zag fans. I know i am not the only one who is grateful for your contribution Caduceus to this ongoing and important discussion.

Here are a few recent postings by Caduceus that might be worthwhile reviewing:

...This is cataclysmic, and for some reason, people have decided to ignore it wholesale. Yes, it is absolutely terrifying because this country just might actually undo all the greatness and prosperity of the last 70 years, and I'm not kidding in any way.

My colleagues are wholly in despair about what the next weeks and months might bring. They are in fear of making the wrong medical decisions for their patients. They are worried themselves about contracting the illness and dying, or spreading it to their families. They are very afraid we will run out of protective gear even worse than we already have. They're worried about their mental health with all the dying and making life & death decisions about who gets a ventilator or the very few ECMO machines (a last resort that entails a small garden hose snaked up into the heart. I'm not sure Spokane has more than a handful, if any) we have. We are starting to see a MAJOR shortage of testing kits, with results backlogged for a week in some states (Arizona and several others). That means soon we'll be flying blind. I wish we had more news crews inside of ICUs to portray what's happening on the front lines.

When our healthcare providers get sick and can't do their duties, an extremely dangerous situation arises. There's a long chain of professions to maintain the system -- EMTs, paramedics, ambulance drivers, ER docs, nurses, medical assistants, managers, internists, ICU docs, respiratory therapists, radiology techs, lab staff, social workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nutritionists, medical ethicists, infectious disease specialists, hospice workers, etc. The list is much, much larger than I've mentioned. Most people don't even realize the undertaking, and every single bit of these parts need to work, or someone dies or ends up debilitated (and with a million dollar hospital bill in many cases -- ICU care is about $10,000 a day).

What's happening across the entire southern swath of our country is primarily due to "opening the economy" and Memorial Day close social interactions without recognizing the danger. Now that Independence Day has passed, and with all the parties and crowded bars and indoor situations, I guarantee you that we will see an uptick, if not an explosion of new cases and subsequent deaths...

I post this because 1) This regards our beautiful Washington State in the midst of COVID-19; 2) Harborview is the county hospital in King (having been around since 1877!), and is the only level I trauma center in the entire state, and one of the best in the entire world. The area it serves is far and away the largest in the United States, because it is the only level I trauma center among Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska (the next nearest are Portland, SLC, and Minneapolis). 3) They were instrumental in developing the Medic One/911 system for the entire United States (thank you, mentor Dr. Michael Copass). 4) In all my training and career, I never met a kinder, more caring staff than the people at Harborview. These are the people that are not in it for the money or notoriety, but for the singular purpose of saving lives and making people better.

It's an absolute zoo there sometimes, especially in the ER. But boy, does it make an impression on you in terms of pure compassion and kindness.

Please watch. It gives a good perspective of what's happening on the ground in our state, and should be required viewing for anyone that thinks this pandemic is just another common virus, and that things should just go back to normal:

I have 2 younger cousins who are in the medical profession and currently involved in dealing with the impact on the Covid-19 virus in their respective communities.

One cousin is currently retired and is now living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Prior to her early retiremnt, she was the Medical Director at the Public Health Division of the Department of Health of a state in the southwest United States. Earlier in her medical career, she was a Medical Epidemiologist and a Public Health Physician. Now she spends her time volunteering at various medical clinics in the communities near her on the Eastern Shore. In her conversations with me over these last 5 months, she has reported that these community clinics and their regional hospital have all been stretched to the limit at times both earlier in the Spring and most recently during much of July with Covid-19 patients. It still astonishes her that so many of these patients just believe that it will not happen to them and that they can just ignore all the safety precautions while going about their daily routines.

My other cousin is a Trauma Surgeon and a Professor of Critical Care Medicine at the Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Again, In his conversations with me over these recent months, he has indicated that his trauma facility has been overwhelmed during certain periods with the number of Covid-19 patients along with their usual number of trauma/emergency patients. He worries about both the short-term and the long-term impact on his colleagues of the hospital's Covid-19 medical response. They are all worried about contracting this virus and spreading it to their families. He has mentioned numerous times his admiration of the priests and other chaplains there who minister to the very sick and dying and comfort them in their final days and hours. He is heartbroken to see so many of their Covid-19 patients who have ignored virtually all the safety warning and precautions.

Both have pointed with pride though to all the care, concern, compassion and dedication exhibited by all their colleagues from top to bottom day after day, week after week and now month after month. God Bless them all...

Here are a few recent pictures from the Cowley Shock Trauma Center:

[ZagDad84]

PS: will be interested in seeing Mead’s hybrid approach to teaching

My concern (outside of the obvious health issues) is the School Districts who are opening up against the Governor's, Health Department's and OSPI's recommendations.

What happens, which is surely going to happen, when a student gets Covid-19 (whether at school or somewhere else) and spreads it to other students or a teacher? If a student ends up in ICU, has further complications or worse, you can count on a significant lawsuit against the School District, Superintendent, School Administration, Teacher and maybe even the student and parents of the student who came to school with Covid. If the School (or School District) is opening and not following the health department recommendations (masks, social distancing, limited class sizes, etc.) it only will increase the liability of the School District.

I know the liability issue was raised in the reopening talks in the SPS District and I am surprised that Mead went the way they did. East Valley does not surprise me at all, as the population within the School District is conservative.

Time will tell which decision turns out better.

Did you see the picture posted by a 15 year old girl of the 1st day of high school (Georgia - about an hour outside of Atlanta) of the corridor during a class change over where the hallways were packed and nary a mask was seen in sight. The girl got suspended for 5 days for violating the school district's policy on posting data on schools to social media sites without prior approval. A bit touchy in Georgia these days.

ZagDad

[SkipZag]

Not sure on East Valley ZD. I know the Superintendent and he is working very hard at making sure everyone is safe. And at the same time knows the importants with his community of getting them back to school. He spent time in the Mead district so may look at Mead for guidance.

Cheney, where I’m at, is starting on line. And when a survey was taken, it was 70% in favor of having the kids back in school.

You will never satisfy everyone... you see a difference in views and thoughts on this board. Wouldn’t expect otherwise.

How about the Big Sky and football next spring... may need to truck in the snow.

Today is National Twins day... checkout the GU WBB Facebook page. Any guesses on who is who?

Face mask, distance and stay safe!!

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

Not sure on East Valley ZD. I know the Superintendent and he is working very hard at making sure everyone is safe. And at the same time knows the importants with his community of getting them back to school. He spent time in the Mead district so may look at Mead for guidance.

Cheney, where I’m at, is starting on line. And when a survey was taken, it was 70% in favor of having the kids back in school.

You will never satisfy everyone... you see a difference in views and thoughts on this board. Wouldn’t expect otherwise.

How about the Big Sky and football next spring... may need to truck in the snow.

Today is National Twins day... checkout the GU WBB Facebook page. Any guesses on who is who?

Face mask, distance and stay safe!!

Go Zags!!

As I said, I don't have a dog in the school fight one way or another. If I did have kids, they would not attend school in this climate, but since I work from home and my wife is a teacher, we would be much better off than most.

Every parent has to make the determination for themselves and their family what is an acceptable risk for them and their family. I certainly see the potential for a petri dish of Covid, but we will see how the districts who are choosing to open fair. let's hope all goes well.

Unfortunately, I am willing to bet that a very large quantity of the 70% of the parents that want their kids back in school would be first in line to sue the School District if Covid shows its ugly head and significantly impacts their kids. Yes they want it one way, but when it comes time to pay the piper, it better not be their kid who pays the price even if today they are the ones who wanted their kid in school.

Yes, the School Districts can never satisfy everybody or even 50% of their families entirely. SPS and CV decided to error on the side of caution putting the health of the students, teachers, parents, etc. ahead of the educational issues. Other districts chose a different path. I see both sides of the equation. Let's hope it is not the students, parents and their greater families, teachers, etc. who pay the price.

Snow? The Vandals play indoors. EWU might need to truck in some snow.

Since they parted their hair in the same spot, I think LW is on the left and JW on the right base on their smile. I would say Kayleigh is on the right and Kaylynne is on the left based on their height as Kayleigh is an inch taller.

ZagDad

[SkipZag]

Many years of clearing snow from our seats for Eastern games. Glad that they didn’t cancel football but moved it to Spring.

I saw the same thing with the Wirth twins and their hair. I agree on your choices of the twins. JW and LW appear to be having fun with looking alike... with the hair and dressing the same. Love the smiles...

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

Many years of clearing snow from our seats for Eastern games. Glad that they didn’t cancel football but moved it to Spring.

My two boys went to Eastern and for several years they gifted us Season tickets to EWU football. Now they are usually providing security, so we go to the games where there is no snow. Yup, fair weather fans (Hey my degrees are from GU and WSU, Eastern just gets the leftovers).

ZagDad

[caduceus]

Hey Terp, thanks for the kind words and sharing your experiences. Also many thanks to your long history of contributing to the women's side of the board...much appreciated!

[caduceus]

[willandi]

Washington DOH reports 11 cases of COVID-related inflammatory disease in children

https://www.kxly.com/washington-doh-reports-11-cases-of-covid-related-inflammatory-disease-in-children/

[SkipZag]

Had a chance to review this thread this morning and for me it’s GAME OVER...

This thread has become dark, negative and accusing... and I got sucked in...

I joined this board a number of years ago to have some fun discussing GU women’s BB and to do a little arm chair coaching.

I like to be a positive, half full, problem solver, consensus builder.

Sorry ZD you will have to depend on others to run the numbers up... I’m out of here.

Stay safe folks and I’ll catch you on one of the positive GU WBB threads.

Go Zags!!

[tummydoc]

That's one way to social distance.

[ZagDad84]

That's one way to social distance.

ZagDad