The COVID-19 Thread - Discussion & Cancellations

[stevis]

25 minutes ago, aaluck said:

AHSAA (Alabama) has shut everything down until March 31.  At that point they say they will look into this again and make plan forward.  As of this morning we have 22 confirmed cases.

On a selfish note this really sucks for all of us on here that love working the games. I had a game (probably the last one) on Friday and it was 71 degrees with a slight breeze and a hint of that spring "smell". I asked the coaches if they wanted to play a couple of extra innings and we ended up doing 9.

Our youth baseball is probably all but done. Our mayor has shut down all the city parks until further notice. No practice or games.

Hopefully soon someone will post that things are resuming back to normal in their area.

I think it is absolutely ok to be pissed at the circumstances.  Just because others will suffer worse--and we're all doing the right thing with these closing to limit that suffering--doesn't mean we can't acknowledge our own, less consequential losses.  I'm certainly telling my daughter she gets to be cheesed off about not getting her birthday trip to NYC.  It's a bit selfish, but not unhealthy, as long as we keep a sense of proportion and respect for more significant losses.  This is probably a good place to do that since we're all in that particular boat!

 

[Thunderheads]

Yes, ...this does suck and it's weird and it just doesn't feel right, but .....based on what we all know about COVID-19, ... keeping people away from eachother has shown to decrease cases and if that's the case, let's get it done so it goes away faster, right?

I noticed yesterday (I had to run out and grab a few things for the house) ... I had 3 great conversations with total strangers as though we were long lost friends.  People seemed warmer and friendlier .... reminded me of right after 9/11.   Maybe some really good stuff will come out of this crap?   

Hang in there bretheren ...... we can do this!

[MadMax]

1 hour ago, Aging_Arbiter said:

SWMBO:  How can West Virginia have ZERO reported cases of COVID-19?

Me:  Moonshine

RIGHT??!!

Watch, it’s going to be something that we – as a sophisticated, “cultured” society – have utterly vilified that will turn out to be the cure for this.

Gluten! Gluten will be the cure. 

Oh, why is it so deadly in China, especially amongst men? One thing they’re finding is that more Chinese men than women smoke, and that smoking increases the chances of mortality from this by, like, 90%*. Time to quit smoking, guys. My only hope is that vaping results in a 110% mortality rate.

@The Man in Blue, I’m finding myself at odds with your rather frantic, authoritative tone. I am going to seek out any game possible, because some of us are dependent upon games as a significant part of our income. We don’t have employers that are now compelled to keep us home, but still pay us. For us it’s No Game = No Pay. And don’t fire off at me, “Well, you should have other forms of income, you should have planned better”. I did! One of my other forms of income? Heavily dependent on what amounts to “social calls” (home renovation visits, in my case). This isn’t a pandemic; this is a panic-demic, whipped up into a frenzy by a cacophony of social media, for an ulterior purpose (I’m not going to get into the details of which here).

Now, with that said, I had this coronavirus.

Yes, I said that right. I had it. Right after Christmas, as in December 26th. Knocked me flat in my back for two weeks. My snot resembled Grey Poupon mustard, in copious amounts, and I had a nagging throat cough that felt like someone had spackled styrofoam peanuts at the top of my lungs – obtrusive, but “no mass”, so when I went on a hacking fit trying to dislodge it, nothing came out. I had zero energy. None. Like trying to start a car in the cold, or after you discover that the dome light had been left on all night. My Dad also had it. At the same time! Technically, he gave it to me, as he got it from one of his colleagues... who happens to run an Elderly Care Facility.

It’s the flu, people. In this case, it’s an engineered flu. The American strain ain’t the same as the Chinese strain. This crap’s been in circulation since November (at least). It’s no different than bird flu, swine flu, H1N1, SARS, MERS, or Guppy Goldfish Flu. The “crisis” is artificial, injected (more like dumped) into this politically overcharged cesspool like mentos into a tub of Diet Coke.

Let’s get back to baseball, and back to life.

————

*- I’m exaggerating. It’s a high number. Don’t go looking it up just to state I’m wrong.

[SJA]

I think we all need some cheering up! . . . so, just sing along and follow the bouncing ball! :-)

 

 

 

[Thunderheads]

10 minutes ago, MadMax said:

RIGHT??!!

Watch, it’s going to be something that we – as a sophisticated, “cultured” society – have utterly vilified that will turn out to be the cure for this.

Gluten! Gluten will be the cure. 

Oh, why is it so deadly in China, especially amongst men? One thing they’re finding is that more Chinese men than women smoke, and that smoking increases the chances of mortality from this by, like, 90%*. Time to quit smoking, guys. My only hope is that vaping results in a 110% mortality rate.

@The Man in Blue, I’m finding myself at odds with your rather frantic, authoritative tone. I am going to seek out any game possible, because some of us are dependent upon games as a significant part of our income. We don’t have employers that are now compelled to keep us home, but still pay us. For us it’s No Game = No Pay. And don’t fire off at me, “Well, you should have other forms of income, you should have planned better”. I did! One of my other forms of income? Heavily dependent on what amounts to “social calls” (home renovation visits, in my case). This isn’t a pandemic; this is a panic-demic, whipped up into a frenzy by a cacophony of social media, for an ulterior purpose (I’m not going to get into the details of which here).

Now, with that said, I had this coronavirus.

Yes, I said that right. I had it. Right after Christmas, as in December 26th. Knocked me flat in my back for two weeks. My snot resembled Grey Poupon mustard, in copious amounts, and I had a nagging throat cough that felt like someone had spackled styrofoam peanuts at the top of my lungs – obtrusive, but “no mass”, so when I went on a hacking fit trying to dislodge it, nothing came out. I had zero energy. None. Like trying to start a car in the cold, or after you discover that the dome light had been left on all night. My Dad also had it. At the same time! Technically, he gave it to me, as he got it from one of his colleagues... who happens to run an Elderly Care Facility.

It’s the flu, people. In this case, it’s an engineered flu. The American strain ain’t the same as the Chinese strain. This crap’s been in circulation since November (at least). It’s no different than bird flu, swine flu, H1N1, SARS, MERS, or Guppy Goldfish Flu. The “crisis” is artificial, injected (more like dumped) into this politically overcharged cesspool like mentos into a tub of Diet Coke.

Let’s get back to baseball, and back to life.

————

*- I’m exaggerating. It’s a high number. Don’t go looking it up just to state I’m wrong.

Max, with all due respect ...and I mean that, and you know it ...........     January 20th was the first reported US case in Washington State ...yes?  Now, with that said, I'm glad you're ok, your dad too!    Also, .... are you saying engineered as in 'reported to be worse than is' or literally engineered?  I've heard both, and agree that's it certainly does appear to be an overcharged cesspool.   Not that it's not nasty and we need to be aware/be careful, but ......

[BLarson]

From Nebraska NSAA:

Effective Monday, March 16 all NSAA activity practices are suspended until Monday, March 30 and all NSAA activity competitions are suspended until Thursday, April 2. These suspensions may be extended should the conditions warrant.

[The Man in Blue]

2 hours ago, Aging_Arbiter said:

SWMBO was watching the news this morning..............and our conversation was short and sweet

SWMBO:  How can West Virginia have ZERO reported cases of COVID-19?

Me:  Moonshine

Well, they say a 70% alcohol solution will kill it ... WV should be bombing back to the stone age!

I'm going to start drinking today, but I think getting my BAC to 70% is going to be problematic.

On a serious note, the key word in your post AA is reported.

[SJA]

9 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

Well, they say a 70% alcohol solution will kill it ... WV should be bombing back to the stone age!

I'm going to start drinking today, but I think getting my BAC to 70% is going to be problematic.

On a serious note, the key word in your post AA is reported.

Well TMiB, a few straight snorts of this should fix ya up . . . if'n it doesn't kill ya HA!

 

[JaxRolo]

Everything up to march 28th cancelled.  Started getting new assignments today for the 29th and after...

[kylehutson]

My state's NAIA league just officially cancelled the rest of their season

[The Man in Blue]

@MadMax I think conflicted is an appropriate way to feel.  I am the same way.  I'm usually perceived as a skeptic and a naysayer (not because I am negative, but my nature is to understand by taking things apart).   If my tone comes off as "authoritarian", I apologize.  That is just part of my personality (and being an umpire?).  

I try to cite sources as I can to back up what I say (be it here or arguing rules!) because what frustrates me more than anything is half-ass rumor-mongering.  Well, maybe willful ignorance might be more frustrating.  That is the part that makes me sound frantic, as I am often stupefied by how willfully ignorant some people can be.

I understand the financial impacts of this are going to be devastating.  I was let go from my job of almost 15 years right before the holidays.  Since then, I worked every volleyball game I could (many that I would have turned down otherwise).  Fortunately I only lost one game on the Thursday before everything started going haywire.  I've been substitute teaching -- that's gone now, too.  I had planned on working as many games as I could this spring and summer (with a potential job opportunity in education coming up mid-summer).  I feel your pain and I get it ... but killing people isn't worth it in my opinion.

This isn't about the virulence of COVID-19 itself or necessarily the mortality rate of individuals who get sick with it.  It is about overwhelming the health care system to the point that people with non-virus needs cannot get treated.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/italy-coronavirus-patients-lombardy-hospitals/2020/03/12/36041dc6-63ce-11ea-8a8e-5c5336b32760_story.html

Having a heart-attack?  Sorry, our surge/triage policy says you are too old to treat and our beds are full.  https://www.businessinsider.com/prioritizing-covid-19-patients-based-age-likely-wont-fly-us-2020-3

American hospitals are already delaying surgeries, including cancer patients.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/us/coronavirus-covid-surgeries-canceled.html

If you did have the virus already, your story illustrates the hazards.  What harm is there in holding a baseball game with no crowd?  Let's just start with you ... Let's say you are able to hold a "contaminant safe" pre-game (no exchange of lineup cards, coaches stay six feet back).  You still exchanged the game balls, which you rubbed up real good and gave back to both teams.  You are standing right behind those catchers the whole game, breathing on them.  The pitchers and catchers then go back into the dugout and act like kids.  Let's call that 24 kids and six coaches who are potentially exposed.  They go home to their families and expose another 4-5 people each.  Now we have 120-150 potential exposures.  Say one parent from each family goes to work (exposing a conservative 10 co-workers each, that's another 240+).  They also have to stop at the gas station (another half dozen potential exposures each, another 144) and the grocery store (a hundred potential exposures each, so and another 2,400 there) ...

If you haven't read the Washington Post article on how contagions spread, please do.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

 

[The Man in Blue]

2 hours ago, Thunderheads said:

Max, with all due respect ...and I mean that, and you know it ...........     January 20th was the first reported US case in Washington State ...yes?  Now, with that said, I'm glad you're ok, your dad too!    Also, .... are you saying engineered as in 'reported to be worse than is' or literally engineered?  I've heard both, and agree that's it certainly does appear to be an overcharged cesspool.   Not that it's not nasty and we need to be aware/be careful, but ......

 

Which, in my opinion, means @MadMax's claim could be valid.  Again, the key word you said is "REPORTED".  It didn't become COVID-19 on January 20th.

Nobody knew before.  It lingers and takes extended periods to show up on tests.  Our numbers are MUCH higher than we know right now.  My county has three REPORTED cases today.  We had those several days ago, we just didn't know.  We are waiting on several tests to come back.  The VAST MAJORITY of the population has not (and cannot) be tested currently.

[The Man in Blue]

1 hour ago, SJA said:

Well TMiB, a few straight snorts of this should fix ya up . . . if'n it doesn't kill ya HA!

 

[BT_Blue]

16 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

if you haven't read the Washington Post article on how contagions spread, please do.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

I read this yesterday and ran the Sims on it a few times. It is really quite interesting to see how it all works.

[The Man in Blue]

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Bay-Area-must-shelter-in-place-Only-15135014.php

Bay Area authorities place strictest order in country: ‘Shelter in place,’ only essential businesses open in 6 counties

Six Bay Area counties announced a “shelter in place” order for all residents on Monday — the strictest measure of its kind in the country — directing everyone to stay inside their homes and away from others as much as possible for the next three weeks as public health officials desperately try to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus across the region.

The directive begins at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and involves San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties — a combined population of more than 6.7 million. It is to stay in place until at least April 7. Three other Bay Area counties — Sonoma, Solano and Napa — were not immediately included.

The order falls just short of a full lockdown, which would forbid people from leaving their homes without explicit permission, and it wasn’t immediately clear how, or to what degree, it would be enforced. The order calls for the sheriff or chief of police to “ensure compliance.” In Italy and other places that have instituted lockdowns, travel outside the home has been restricted without permission and police have been ordering people back home if they don’t have a reason to be in public.

[StatsUmp]

3 hours ago, stevis said:

think it is absolutely ok to be pissed at the circumstances.  Just because others will suffer worse--and we're all doing the right thing with these closing to limit that suffering--doesn't mean we can't acknowledge our own, less consequential losses.

Agreed. If player safety is first and foremost with interscholastic sports, then it's understandable to postpone or cancel games as part of a larger plan to keep all involved parties safe. That said, there's also nothing wrong with discussion about the impact of this decision -- such as the financial impact on umpires and other sport officials who use their game fees to supplement their income or help pay bills -- so long as proper perspective is kept.

 

3 hours ago, MadMax said:

Yes, I said that right.

I'm glad you're OK. I wish the public received more reports/updates with practical advice on how to avoid COVID-19 and what to do if one has it instead of reporting information that seems to conflict and cause more confusion instead of less.

 

4 hours ago, Thunderheads said:

Yes, ...this does suck and it's weird and it just doesn't feel right, but .....based on what we all know about COVID-19, ... keeping people away from eachother has shown to decrease cases and if that's the case, let's get it done so it goes away faster, right?

Agreed. One would hope that while stuff is shut down, especially the schools, those places would take time to thoroughly disinfect as they do when nasty strains of flu or norovirus hit. That way, when the downtime ends, it would be easier to resume normal activity again provided people took time to take the recommended precautions.

 

52 minutes ago, kylehutson said:

My state's NAIA league just officially cancelled the rest of their season

I saw a tweet earlier that the NAIA has since cancelled spring sports for all member schools (article / archive).

[Lou B]

LL just extended their recommended suspension of play from April 6th to May 11th.

[aaluck]

53 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Bay-Area-must-shelter-in-place-Only-15135014.php

Bay Area authorities place strictest order in country: ‘Shelter in place,’ only essential businesses open in 6 counties

Great article.  Thanks for sharing.

 

 

[Mudisfun]

35 minutes ago, Lou B said:

LL just extended their recommended suspension of play from April 6th to May 11th.

Just got the email as well.

At this rate, fall ball will be postponed next!

[Replacematt]

3 hours ago, The Man in Blue said:

 

Which, in my opinion, means @MadMax's claim could be valid.  Again, the key word you said is "REPORTED".  It didn't become COVID-19 on January 20th.

Nobody knew before.  It lingers and takes extended periods to show up on tests.  Our numbers are MUCH higher than we know right now.  My county has three REPORTED cases today.  We had those several days ago, we just didn't know.  We are waiting on several tests to come back.  The VAST MAJORITY of the population has not (and cannot) be tested currently.

Two reasons why I don't see it having come to the US much before January:

1. This virus is extremely traceable. It has a very slow genomic evolution, and there's nothing to indicate that there are cases before that. (I understand this is all based on what was tested at the time, but I'd be willing to bet there is a significant number of remnant serological samples from symptomatic patients that would be in line for testing to determine the epidemiology of it.)

2. There probably would have been an initial death spike.

[MadMax]

2 hours ago, Matt said:

but I'd be willing to bet there is a significant number of remnant serological samples from symptomatic patients that would be in line for testing to determine the epidemiology of it.

Where does the line form? I'll give ya a couple draws of blood right now!

[umpstu]

On 3/14/2020 at 6:49 PM, The Man in Blue said:

Two cases confirmed at the hospital my wife works at.

We now have 13 cases in the Coachella Valley.  My wife's  club she works at is shutting down for 2 weeks starting tomorrow.

[umpstu]

10 hours ago, MadMax said:

RIGHT??!!

Watch, it’s going to be something that we – as a sophisticated, “cultured” society – have utterly vilified that will turn out to be the cure for this.

Gluten! Gluten will be the cure. 

Oh, why is it so deadly in China, especially amongst men? One thing they’re finding is that more Chinese men than women smoke, and that smoking increases the chances of mortality from this by, like, 90%*. Time to quit smoking, guys. My only hope is that vaping results in a 110% mortality rate.

@The Man in Blue, I’m finding myself at odds with your rather frantic, authoritative tone. I am going to seek out any game possible, because some of us are dependent upon games as a significant part of our income. We don’t have employers that are now compelled to keep us home, but still pay us. For us it’s No Game = No Pay. And don’t fire off at me, “Well, you should have other forms of income, you should have planned better”. I did! One of my other forms of income? Heavily dependent on what amounts to “social calls” (home renovation visits, in my case). This isn’t a pandemic; this is a panic-demic, whipped up into a frenzy by a cacophony of social media, for an ulterior purpose (I’m not going to get into the details of which here).

Now, with that said, I had this coronavirus.

Yes, I said that right. I had it. Right after Christmas, as in December 26th. Knocked me flat in my back for two weeks. My snot resembled Grey Poupon mustard, in copious amounts, and I had a nagging throat cough that felt like someone had spackled styrofoam peanuts at the top of my lungs – obtrusive, but “no mass”, so when I went on a hacking fit trying to dislodge it, nothing came out. I had zero energy. None. Like trying to start a car in the cold, or after you discover that the dome light had been left on all night. My Dad also had it. At the same time! Technically, he gave it to me, as he got it from one of his colleagues... who happens to run an Elderly Care Facility.

It’s the flu, people. In this case, it’s an engineered flu. The American strain ain’t the same as the Chinese strain. This crap’s been in circulation since November (at least). It’s no different than bird flu, swine flu, H1N1, SARS, MERS, or Guppy Goldfish Flu. The “crisis” is artificial, injected (more like dumped) into this politically overcharged cesspool like mentos into a tub of Diet Coke.

Let’s get back to baseball, and back to life.

————

*- I’m exaggerating. It’s a high number. Don’t go looking it up just to state I’m wrong.

Were you tested for this coronavirus?   It's not just your average everyday flu.  Take a look at what's happening in Italy.  And now I'm going to have to eat frozen food.

[yawetag]

23 hours ago, lawump said:

Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way you hoped with our Governor announcing at 4 p.m. on Sunday (3/15) that all public schools in the state are closed for two weeks. 

Yeah, and probably for the better. Rather than waiting for a case to show up in the schools, I feel the closure was a proactive move.

I did have to take the son by his school yesterday to pick up some items from his locker; e-learning begins Wednesday.

My next prediction: They won't return this school year. At some point, their e-learning will move from review to actual teaching.

[Aging_Arbiter]

Got a text from a buddy last night.  Says he starts his new job as a tail gunner on a Charmin truck today.