Rightnut...I never claimed that college athletes have been infected at higher rates than those that aren't in that same age group. Or, any age group for that matter. Not sure where you pulled that argument/point out of but, that's not anything I have claimed. Since you seemed to be confused about my perspective, I will restate it.
Again, I derive my employment directly from our game being played so, the last thing I want is for it not to be played. I'm not against college sports from being played. As long as that activity doesn't contribute to local community spread in a significant way. However, whether that's occurring needs to be determined by both the local and state health departments/experts. And, if they recommend pausing those types of activities for a certain length of time, then I support that.
You keep bringing up/comparing athletic activity to college kids going to parties. Nobody who supports a more cautious approach to Covid -- including me -- are saying that high school and college kids aren't exposing themselves to infection by their "normal" societal activities. However, unless we choose to do Italy-type lockdowns where you couldn't leave your home without a piece of paper signifying you had permission to go to the grocery store, or the doctor, or dentist, or hardware store for an emergency home repair, we can't possibly prevent kids, especially college age who aren't living at home, from "going out". Whereas, we -- government/administrative leaders -- do have the ability to 100% control whether sports are played or not. You control what you can and you do your best to influence toward the safest direction when you can't
Now, preventing high school kids or college kids still living at home from going out is a different matter. I get tired of listening to parents of kids in that age group/situation saying "What are we supposed to do? We can't keep them from leaving the house..." Ummm, yes, you actually can. Is it hard to do, especially if they are more social than not? Absolutely. Will it likely cause significant friction and conflict in the house. You bet. But, as I often tell my friends, if my kids aren't telling me they hate me at least once a month as teenagers, I'm likely failing them as a parent.
Next, you say I haven't presented any information that definitively proves that there is infection occurring from on-ice activity. You obviously aren't actually reading what I've provided. OK, here's the link to the Washington Post article that looks at why experts consider hockey less safe than other sports...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/04/hockey-covid-transmission-outbreaks/
From the article...
"
Massachusetts logged more than 100 youth hockey cases in a few weeks. In Maine, an asymptomatic referee exposed up to
400 people in two days. In Bellemore’s home state of New Hampshire, state officials shut down youth hockey for two weeks to get cases under control and mandated testing for all 20,000 players." The hockey-related cases have been especially striking, epidemiologists have said, because clubs followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
limits on gathering size and had numerous social distancing measures in place."
"One critical way hockey differs from other contact team sports is how players do line changes — substitutions of groups of players — and are expected to sprint for nearly the whole time they are on the ice. Experts say it probably leads to heavier breathing, resulting in more particles being exhaled and inhaled."
When schools
shut down in March, there was huge confusion about the extent to which children could get the virus and transmit it to others. Today, cases among those younger than 18
are soaring. The American Academy of Pediatrics
reported last week that more than 1.3 million children had tested positive for coronavirus during the pandemic. Nearly 154,000 children tested positive from Nov. 19 to 26 "
Massachusetts Hockey President Bob Joyce said that state officials estimated that those 108 initial hockey cases amounted to 3,000 to 4,000 others potentially exposed. In an October report, the
CDC detailed a large outbreak in Florida among amateur adult hockey players on two teams that played each other but had no other contact. Investigators speculated that the indoor space and close contact increased the infection risk. They also pointed out that ice hockey “involves vigorous physical exertion accompanied by deep, heavy respiration, and during the game, players frequently move from the ice surface to the bench while still breathing heavily.”
Surrounded by plexiglass not only to prevent errant pucks but also to keep the airflow stable so the ice can remain cold, there’s little ventilation and humidity by design in ice rinks. The surface of the ice is kept around 20 degrees Fahrenheit; the ambient air temperature, in the 50s.
The Department of Homeland Security has shown in lab experiments that the virus may live at those temperatures up to two times longer in the air. At 86 degrees, for example, 99 percent of the airborne virus is estimated to decay in 52 minutes. But at 50 degrees, it would take 109 minutes.
In Vermont, an outbreak at a
single ice rink ripped through the center of the state, affecting at least 20 towns in at least four counties, and seeding other outbreaks at several schools. By Oct. 30, when Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) detailed the outbreak at a press briefing, 473 contacts had been associated with it.
The previous paragraph is proof as to how sports specific spread leads to legitimate increases in community transmission. What follows is from a different article by ABC News in regards to how hockey is unique compared to other sports. Here's link...
