Good weather is finally here and that means outdoor sports!
Baseball, track and field, lacrosse, soccer…and one more weekend of football. There are plenty of indoor sports as well being played (volleyball, wrestling) to make for a wonderfully chaotic spring for fans of live sporting events.
Everything all at once, which is good development in the fight for a full #ReturnToPlay.
But obstacles remain.
With so much going on, I thought it was a good time for another edition of The Kerr Report Mailbag.
Let’s start with the destructive Dr. Fauci.
In the 11 years I’ve owned a Twitter account, I’ve never sent a Tweet that enabled such a reaction as this one.
I wrote about my issues with Fauci in the newsletter this week. At this time, he is doing more harm than good for the country.
My advice for Fauci…stop talking to the press. I understand how as Chief Medical Advisor to the Biden Administration, some transparency with the public is necessary. But every day? That’s not an exaggeration:
I’m not a scientist. But I do know this…much of science is acknowledging what you don’t know. There is still much we don’t know about Covid. But we do know that the double-talking fear-laden messaging needs to stop. We are ready to move on with our lives and take reasonable precautions to do so.
We should be cheering on states (like North Carolina this week) for removing restrictions and opening back up, not admonishing them.
Here’s a tweet from a parent about a Covid shutdown with her child’s football team:
Contact tracing and quarantining is in my opinion, the biggest obstacle to a full return to play as we roll into spring, the summer and fall of 2021.
I’m hearing from so many people all over the state about shutdowns due to contact tracing guidelines and forced quarantines.
The above tweet is about Huntley High School in the northwest suburbs. The nurse who sent this tweet was specifically referring to her son’s under level team. The varsity team at Huntley was scheduled to play in the Fox Valley Conference championship game Friday night. Not now as the Red Raiders are in quarantine, ending their season.
Highland Park High School will not play its final two games due to contact tracing and quarantine protocols. Some Giants players have been cleared by Lake County Public Health officials, others have not. But the final memory of players in their senior class will not be finishing on the field together as a group, but of isolation.
There are many more situations that have played out this spring of similar consequence.
All have a common origination story: one positive test. One.
One positive and the ripple effect impacts hundreds of people.
Until public health departments change contract tracing and quarantine guidelines, we are going to see more of these scenarios play out this spring and into the fall sports season.
I talked to one athletic director at a large Chicagoland school who told me the biggest concern for the fall 2021 sports season: contact tracing.
We don’t know if IDPH will adjust rules to coincide with the increased numbers of those vaccinated. What we do know is this—COVID-19 test results trigger tracing and quarantines.
How to best eliminate unnecessary quarantines and sports shutdowns?
Stop testing. Or for parents, don’t use school-sponsored testing sites and keep results to yourself.
I’ll give an example that happened recently to a youth football team I coach.
We started official practices for our spring season a few weeks ago. Two practices in, we learned one of the players tested positive for COVID-19.
What did we do? We shut down for 10 days (per CDC guidelines).
What did we not do? Tell the Lake County Health Department about it.
If so, it would have triggered an endless amount of contact tracing and quarantining mandates. That is a nightmare, which I wrote about in a previous newsletter article.
When we returned to practice, what did we tell the players? If you don’t feel well, stay home. Otherwise, we all become potential contract tracing targets.
What used to be the sniffles or the allergies is now a COVID-19 positive.
I would never tell a parent what they should do to keep their child safe and healthy. But to avoid the constant pauses and re-starts that sports has seen thus far in 2021, there are two pathways as it pertains to testing:
Asymptomatic: do not test. No reason healthy teenagers should be tested whatsoever.
Symptomatic: if compelled to receive a COVID-19 test, use a private physician. If test results are positive, keep the information private. Say the child has the flu or a bad case of hay fever as the reason he or she must be out for a little while.
No one has to know. No harm, no foul. I know plenty of parents who understand this and are doing just that.
The practical problem lies in the fact school districts are insisting on testing in order to compete. We don’t know of the legalities of this as no one in Illinois has challenged the testing directive. There is a case pending in Michigan where a parental advocacy group sued over testing and quarantine mandates. The case remains pending.
Could there be a legal challenge in Illinois? Sure. But only if enough parents or athletes get fed up to follow through with a lawsuit. If Michigan’s public health department is forced to reverse its practices, that may spur other states to do the same. Illinoisans don’t have a strong track record of united citizenry in standing up to oppressive regulations, so we’ll see.
We’ve seen enough evidence in the first third of this year to say objectively that more testing means less playing. Less testing, more participation.
So let’s stop testing. And stop submitting to testing practices that claim to make sports more safe when in fact, they are doing more harm than good.
Now visiting teams fans are forbidden to see their kids play on the road. We wrote the principal, the president and the athletic director and it fell on deaf ears, saying that not all schools had enough space for home and away spectators, which is a load of crap. These schools are falling in line with the IDPH, the IHSA and the state government, because they are awaiting funding from these outfits. Money talks, bullshit walks! -J.B.
That’s not a comment submitted by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, if anyone is wondering. You think he’s a reader of TKR? He’d be a more informed public official if so, would he not?
How’s this for a Mailbag factoid—we will complete an entire football season where one conference, the North Suburban Conference, did not endorse a single road spectator from entering a school stadium.
It’s embarrassing for the administrations of the schools involved, all of whom are run by smart people, many of whom I like and have known for years.
Any health and safety concerns given as reasons are so absurd they are not even worth addressing. The “we want to take care of our own first” explanation is quite frankly, condescending. Every other conference was able to figure it out. NSC admins made a conscious choice to keep parents out.
And they will get away with it. That’s shameful.
I was told by a source that Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire is allowing road fans for the “summer” sports season. Two visitors per rostered athlete. I don’t know how many schools other than Stevenson are relaxing visiting spectator policy for the summer season or are sticking with the all out ban. Once I know more information, I’ll pass along to subscribers.
But to me, the embargo of road spectators to sporting events is the most egregious abuse of power by school districts since basketball season began in February. It’s stunning to me that parents have accepted it as they have (although many have found their way in to games anyway…but have done so covertly, defying guidelines.)
Indifference to repressive policies are a big part of the problem and will continue to be in #ReturnToPlay.
I’ve driven through Elk Grove many times in my life. Covered a few sporting events as well.
But I may have to spend some real time in the northwest Chicago suburb this summer.
Here’s why:
Can we move Lollapalooza to Elk Grove?
“I call bullshit”....thank you for your honesty, integrity and fighting for our kids. -D.F.
Thank you D.F. and I will continue to do so with #ReturnToPlay.
One thing I will also continue to fight for?
The right for all men (and children) to impersonate 1980’s wrestlers.
This might be my choice for video of the year. Watch this six-year-old greet the great Hulk Hogan.
Don’t forget to eat your vitamins.
Thanks for reading the mailbag everyone. Have a great rest of your week and weekend.
Do you have tip/comment/suggestion for the Mailbag? Send to Jon and jon@jonjkerr.com.