Covid Confusion and Consequences

Loyola and Evansville on Pause

(St. Louis, MO) – Coronavirus is rearing its very ugly head once again. Infections are up across the country and athtletic programs are being paused, games canceled and moved. The Covid confusion abounds.

Seton Hall is the first college basketball team to forfeit a game for declaring a covid shutdown. The Pirates’ game Monday with St. John’s will be a ‘no contest’ for Seton Hall’s overall record but will be a forfeit loss to St. John’s in the Big East Standings.

“Per BIG EAST policy instituted on Nov. 4, 2021, if a conference game cannot be played on its originally scheduled date because one team is unable to begin or complete the game due to an insufficient number of players, including as a result of COVID-19, that team will have forfeited the game, with a loss assigned to that team in the conference standings.  A win will be assigned to its opponent.”

“The BIG EAST’s policy does not affect the overall won-lost record of the teams. Per NCAA policy, this canceled game is marked as “No Contest” and will not be reflected in the overall team records. Seton Hall’s overall record remains 9-1.”

Friday night we learned that Missouri Valley Conference programs Loyola Chicago and Evansville are pushing pause. Both programs are clearly taking safety precautions for the welfare of their players and opponents. With league games beginning on January 2, getting their teams healthy now is also imperative.

Valley rules are similar to the Big East’s regulations. If teams cannot play a game due to covid limitations, they are currently set to forfeit those games.

Covid Confusion Nationally

Without getting political, we know there has been some national confusion on this topic related to masks, vaccinations and whether the vaccinations work against the Omicron variant. For a reporter that earned C’s and D’s in science and biology, I truly have no worthwhile opinion on these subjects. What remains clear, is that we aren’t out of the woods yet.

It’s like those old horror movies where the villain wouldn’t stay dead.

We polled a number of head basketball coaches from several leagues to ask about vaccination rates and reactions to the latest shut down news. As I’m typing this story, the Memphis versus Tennessee game has been canceled one hour before the tip.

Covid confusion reigns.

Wide Range of Responses

Several coaches, even with the promise of anonymity, didn’t want to respond at all and I understand why. Privacy issues are legitimate and so are the fears of being misquoted or mischaracterized in one direction or another. We respect their choices.

Teams I talked to ranged from programs with a mixture of ‘natural immunities’ and vaccinated players to 100% of the entire program vaccinated. The stress is real for these coaches.

Phrases like “stressful times” and “it’s getting crazy again” were normal responses. One coach, after giving me his team’s percentage of vaccinated players said “100% over it!”

One coach whose team is 100% vaccinated said, “We’re one of those areas of America that this whole deal has been politicized” so their program is really trying to take a low profile on the subject.

Some programs have different results from players, to coaches to traveling parties. Programs might have ‘ten of 13 players vaccinated and all the coaches’. Another program has listed their players as “we only have three players that have not, had it (presumed natural immunity) and those that aren’t vaccinated.”

While some believe vaccination is the only way forward, some believe the natural immunities are as good or better than the pharmaceutical version. The Covid confusion is real.

One coach told me “75% of his team is vaccinated ‘naturally’, 88% fully vaccinated and 100% partially vaxxed.”

Another told me how his players are covered until the end of the season. My guess is that he surmised that due to recent infections, his players were in the clear.

Yet another coach said some schools haven’t been testing during the first semester, but will be testing after Christmas and that we should prepare for ‘lots of interruptions’.

Stay Positive – Test Negative

NFL games are being moved and Broadway has been shutdown again and basketball programs are going on pause. We pray for the safety to the players, coaches and fans of these college programs we deeply enjoy.

Do Good