Corona Virus And Playoff Games

[andyw2100]

Am I the only one worried that Cornell or the ECAC could make the decision to play games without fans present in an attempt to prevent the spread of the Corona virus?

The decision was just made to not have spectators at the NCAA Division III basketball tournament at Johns Hopkins:

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/03/06/johns-hopkins-ncaa-basketball-tournament-canceled-coronavirus/
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/coronavirus-outbreak-ncaa-division-iii-tournament-without-fans

And last night I received an email message from Cornell Vice President Ryan Lombardi that said:

"Large On- and Off-Campus Events

Effective Monday, March 9, we are postponing or canceling large (more than 100 people), non-essential events or work-related gatherings scheduled through April 15. This includes events sponsored by the university, colleges, schools, departments or units, as well as student-sponsored events, where a significant number of participants are expected to travel to or from the region for the event. This policy does not include on-campus events where participation is primarily by Cornell audiences."

I'm guessing athletic events are not yet included in the above, since nothing is said about them explicitly, but even so, I am worried.

Thoughts?

[Trotsky]

I'm not "worried."  If it happens, it sucks yeah but it happens.

There's really no way to predict the likelihood at the moment.  It's like everything else: balance the revenue of attendance against the expected value of the lawsuits if something happens.  If you're above the crossing point you let steerage in.

[billhoward]

Am I the only one worried that Cornell or the ECAC could make the decision to play games without fans present in an attempt to prevent the spread of the Corona virus?

The decision was just made to not have spectators at the NCAA Division III basketball tournament at Johns Hopkins:

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/03/06/johns-hopkins-ncaa-basketball-tournament-canceled-coronavirus/
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/coronavirus-outbreak-ncaa-division-iii-tournament-without-fans

And last night I received an email message from Cornell Vice President Ryan Lombardi that said:

"Large On- and Off-Campus Events

Effective Monday, March 9, we are postponing or canceling large (more than 100 people), non-essential events or work-related gatherings scheduled through April 15. This includes events sponsored by the university, colleges, schools, departments or units, as well as student-sponsored events, where a significant number of participants are expected to travel to or from the region for the event. This policy does not include on-campus events where participation is primarily by Cornell audiences."

I'm guessing athletic events are not yet included in the above, since nothing is said about them explicitly, but even so, I am worried.

Thoughts?

Cornell probably doesn't know yet. It knows students and attending alumni will be pissed if they can't go to the games. Yes, they have to balance revenue vs. yada yada safety yada yada. But a place like Cornell is risk-averse.

It sounds as if the QF round games don't need to ban fans. They're kind of doing it on their own.

[Scersk '97]

Perhaps non-student fans could simply act like grown-ass adults by being safe and smart and staying home if they are in a high-risk group, which, for this virus, includes unfortunately just being older, or are often in close contact with those in a high-risk group through living situation or employment. Then we wouldn't have to de-audience the games to protect them.

(After all, college dorms are pretty much built disease vectors, so community transmission is a certainty on college campuses. If you're in a high-risk group, it might be a good idea to avoid contact with, well, students of any age.)

If games ended up being played in front of exclusively college-aged audiences, I'd be pretty fine with that.

[Cop at Lynah]

The CCC just put out a release that says the Rap concert will go on as planned in Barton Hall on March 22nd.  Concerts bring a large contingent of out of town folks to campus, so how serious is the administration ?  I can't see them not allowing fans in Lynah and at the same time allow 4,000 people to a concert in Barton.

[andyw2100]

The CCC just put out a release that says the Rap concert will go on as planned in Barton Hall on March 22nd.  Concerts bring a large contingent of out of town folks to campus, so how serious is the administration ?  I can't see them not allowing fans in Lynah and at the same time allow 4,000 people to a concert in Barton.

That is great news! Thanks for sharing!

[redice]

From today's Ithaca Journal.

Next weekend is still on (so far).

[adamw]

I've already predicted the NCAAs will be played in front of no fans. Lake Placid - not as sure right now. But I would not be surprised one iota. Cases are doubling every couple days or so? With that rate, it would be in the millions by end of March.

[redice]

I've already predicted the NCAAs will be played in front of no fans. Lake Placid - not as sure right now. But I would not be surprised one iota. Cases are doubling every couple days or so? With that rate, it would be in the millions by end of March.

And, if Cornell wins those fanless NCAA's without me being there, I will carry hard-on for the rest of my life that I did NOT get to see that one either!!!   Son of a bitch!!!!!!

[upprdeck]

maybe they just dont allow people over 60 to attend any mass events..  there goes 75% of the home crowd.

cornell gets almost no money from hosting these playoff games anyway, they dont keep the ticket money and they dont kill it with revenue from concessions.

[Jim Hyla]

I've already predicted the NCAAs will be played in front of no fans. Lake Placid - not as sure right now. But I would not be surprised one iota. Cases are doubling every couple days or so? With that rate, it would be in the millions by end of March.

Cases are doubling partially because there are finally tests available for patients to be tested. Initially, if you couldn't be tested, you couldn't be diagnosed. Now that testing is available, cases are being found.

So that data interpretation is not valid. Yes cases are increasing, but we don't really know at what rate.

The fact the we couldn't test before is another example of our government failure. The WHO had a testing kit, but we had to try and develop a better one. And that test kit turned out to be in error, setting back the whole process.

[marty]

I've already predicted the NCAAs will be played in front of no fans. Lake Placid - not as sure right now. But I would not be surprised one iota. Cases are doubling every couple days or so? With that rate, it would be in the millions by end of March.

It might even become half as widespread as influenza by then.

[The Rancor]

I've already predicted the NCAAs will be played in front of no fans. Lake Placid - not as sure right now. But I would not be surprised one iota. Cases are doubling every couple days or so? With that rate, it would be in the millions by end of March.

Cases are doubling partially because there are finally tests available for patients to be tested. Initially, if you couldn't be tested, you couldn't be diagnosed. Now that testing is available, cases are being found.

So that data interpretation is not valid. Yes cases are increasing, but we don't really know at what rate.

The fact the we couldn't test before is another example of our government failure. The WHO had a testing kit, but we had to try and develop a better one. And that test kit turned out to be in error, setting back the whole process.

correct.

[upprdeck]

what would the flu numbers be if we tested for it?

[osorojo]

Now THAT'S the kind of existential question which makes this website worth following!