“A completely different ball game”: a discussion of youth sport and Covid

Earlier this month, Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, asked schools and clubs to cancel youth sports events in the U.S. Midwestern state. another wave Covid cases.

The next day, hundreds of children, parents and coaches gathered at the Kalamazoo Wings Event Center for the annual Michigan Youth Wrestling Association Championships, where maskless contestants competed, threw and tightened for three days.

Those involved in youth wrestling say they couldn’t think of canceling competitions that end the state’s wrestling season. Health experts warn that such incidents have helped drive a wave of infection, which has left hospitals once again at the point of rupture.

Rick Sadler, an assistant professor in public health at Michigan State University, said: “Whitmer asked people to quit youth sports and people didn’t take it seriously. People think they’re kids and they’re not transmitted, but rather B.1.1.7 strain [which is now dominant in the US] it’s a completely different ball game.

“We are close to the worst peak Michigan it has never been, but this time it is young people who populate our emergency services. ”

[My son] he missed school, he missed returning home – a lack of sports would also put a nail in the coffin

The fight against youth sport is just one aspect of a broader push by politicians and health officials to encourage Americans to be cautious, even though the spread of U.S. vaccines continues at a rapid pace. Public health experts are concerned about the chances of the vaccine program’s success in preventing people from getting infected with viruses, which could lead to a sudden rise in some parts of the country.

Michigan has been in the midst of recent U.S. waves, with an average of seven new cases a day reaching a record high of about 8,000 a day. according to the data Johns Hopkins University. Now they are approximately 4,000 people in a hospital with the disease across the state – more than during the pandemic. Deaths have also begun to grow.

Health officials have blamed the point on a number of factors, but the state’s top competitive youth sport has been at the top of the list.

State Department of Health has identified at least 291 clusters associated with youth sports since January, in 1,091 cases. Indoor sports seem to be the biggest problems, with 106 clusters coming from basketball, 62 from wrestling and 51 from ice hockey.

Fighting is considered a great danger; The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends wearing a mask in sports because of the risk of drowning competitors.

December was a Florida high school wrestling tournament Covid-19 According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the outbreak was responsible for at least 79 cases and one death.

However, participants say there has been a lot of participation in recent competitions. Parents and coaches said they felt at ease within 72 hours of Covid’s demanding test conditions that required a negative test for the fighter.

“We haven’t had anyone who has been positive or revealed,” said Pete Israel, a Salem High School wrestling coach. “If all these guys are in a very close relationship and they don’t get it, is that really a problem?”

Israel’s comments reflect the views of many involved in youth sports across the country.

A final interrogation The Aspen Institute and Utah State University found that 66% of high school students were concerned that they could catch or infect Covid through sports participation, with at least 84 percent saying they were interested in playing as before. pandemic.

“The youth sports scene in the U.S. came back pretty quickly – in many places a year ago,” said Jon Solomon, editorial director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program.

Unlike much of Europe, youth sports develop professional talent in the U.S., where athletes retain professional teams at a young age.

“It’s a highly commercialized industry. People will travel all over the country to attend the next big event that university explorers can see,” Solomon said. “There are families who will spend ten thousand dollars a year to take their children to college sports.”

Some schools have allowed athletes to pursue virtual learning to minimize the risk of not being allowed to receive and compete with Covid. Others have lunch with their groups apart from other students.

Many parents and coaches are angry at the suggestion that the virus is spreading through contests. They suggest that social events related to team sports may play a larger role.

“I don’t know of a single case where Covide came from playing sports,” said Holly Locke, director of the Canton Soccer Club office, in Canton, Michigan, and the parents of two high school athletes. “It’s come from parents, where they’ve hired a friend or gotten out of school and they’re just athletes.”

Lock added: “We went to Florida for my son’s main spring break with other school athletes. Some kids hired Covid down there – my son was away from the parties, but a lot of the kids were together and got sick.”

However, Locke says he remains committed to continuing to involve his children in football and basketball teams.

“I haven’t thought for a minute whether it’s worth it,” he said. “This was what my son had been hoping for in high school for three years: playing football and basketball for the last year.

“He missed school, he missed returning home – a lack of sports would also put a nail in the coffin.”

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