Quinlan2020

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Good to hear about Livebarn at YMCA. I don't remember there being one-way glass windows last season. Did they replace those windows? I remember being able to see in the lobby from the outside. That's not the case anymore.

All good points in response to my post. It's very complicated. I'm thinking that a more defined plan to safely play would make it less likely for the governor to get involved. There are many reluctant to play for various reasons but one of them is financial. I don't know what the solution is. Planning without committed funds is very hard, but life, in general, is hard to plan at this point. Many of us don't even know if we'll have jobs that enable us to pay for things such as hockey. As far as safety goes.... I would feel comfortable participating in a phased approach where we were guaranteed a couple of months of individual skills only. We would then decide if circumstances looked good to allow for more team-oriented drills. That seems like a conservative approach that would show local/state officials that youth hockey was conscientious enough to handle this as an organization.

Yes. Too much uncertainty to be comfortable. I wish USA Hockey would step up and create a more defined approach to staring up. We could start with practices focused on individual skills only, with the hope that they could get into more team oriented practices by mid-fall. It would just depend on local transmission rates being below a certain threshold. Postpone all travel games until the start of 2021. They should be open to participants opting out at any point and receiving a partial refund since some may become uncomfortable about how their organization is following these guidelines.

Yep. It's a fine line we have to walk on with requirements & mandates. This is an extremely complicated issue. We all want to get to the same place. How quickly we get there is largely based on how we behave through all of this. The downplaying of it is what upsets me sometimes. I don't think you are doing that but many are. That just makes it worse. Even if you don't consider it a health disaster it will continue to be an economic & social one as long as case counts are high. So we need to refrain from doing things that keep the case count high. Is that youth sports? I dont know for sure, but it's got to be scrutinized. I keep trying to convince myself that hockey is safe, but then I always think of a situation that may present a problem. Yes. I do have an anxiety issue. I have trouble sleeping at night thinking about my kids and trying to solve problems that I am not qualified to solve.

Fair enough. I see where that came from. That seems like an outdated statement, but we all should give credence to what is posted by the CDC. But do we really think there are that many sick people out there recklessly transmitting this? I do remember when the WHO mentioned "rarely". They did walk that back and said that we just don't know. Most of the evidence points to a ton of asymptomatic spread so it's all about who you believe and who you don't. The bottom line is... I'm just uncomfortable about how so many seem sure that participating in contact youth sport is safe. This is risky based on the unknowns and everyone has a stake. That includes people not even involved in youth sports as the spread of this disease affects everyone in so many ways. Maybe it can be done and maybe it's a bad idea. Can we at least agree that this a a very fluid situation and people have legitimate concerns?

I am not really concentrating on what politicians are saying. Most are trying find some sort of middle ground in an effort to not alienate too many people and lose their votes. Some are way worse than others and put their self-interest way above the health of the public. It seems that the majority of the scientific community is zeroing in on how this virus transmits and what we should do to limit the spread. I can't find any CDC statements inferring that they do not know if it spreads from asymptomatic transmission. Perhaps that was the view early on but it now seems that it is thought that more than half of the infections are transmitted from asymptomatic or presymptomatic individuals. Why is it so important for pro athletes to quarantine and get tested almost daily, but many are insisting that youth sports are safe absent such precautions? Like I have said before, I am not sure of the real risk, but it is a giant experiment that I would feel a lot better about with a lower case rate and improved testing standards. It scares me that so many are willing to jump right in no matter what and many of those will be the people responsible for keeping our kids and community safe. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/asymptomatic-presymptomatic-people-transmit-covid-19-infections-study/story?id=71647268

OK. Science & facts are on one side, so I will take that side.

Yes. I don't understand how this has to be explained so often. The people that rebel against these regulations are hurting everyone (including themselves.) Even if they are not afraid of dying.... there are so many other issues that continue be a problem (both health and economic) as long as there is widespread community spread. Lowering the rate of transmission is the key to everything. We really could get close to a normal life if everyone was truly in this together.

OK. I can't make anyone believe what the health experts say, but please concede that this a an extremely contagious & dangerous disease. Our rink has a sign on the front door outlining this and how participants are to assume all risk. Why do people want to downplay this? I am not one to decide what is a safe activity and what is not, but why is there such resistance to every precaution possible to protect everyone and get us to a better place?

That is a wise statement, Certain people are trying to do the right thing. Very few are poiticians.

Nobody really knows. For that reason, we need to proceed with caution. We can't just jump right in. That's why I like the Massachusetts model. Ease into hockey with individual skills drills for a while and get used to new safety protocols around the rink. Then ease into more team oriented practices when case counts start decreasing for a while.

I agree with most of what you said. I do have anxiety. I think more people should. The complacency is why we are where we are. However, the part about whether it transmits asymptomatically is not in question. It does, and that is one of the main reasons it spreads so easily. Epidimieologists agree that this virus is killing so many people because the death rate is low. People aren't afraid of it, so it spreads more, leading to more deaths. A more deadly disease would not kill as many people.

Torn? What would it take besides all the medical experts telling us how important it is? I just don't get it. I'm so frustrated that everyone is not on board with this. Can we just try it? Because what we are doing now is, obviously, not working.

It seems that common sense has prevailed in Massachusetts. Hockey is labeled as high risk (as it should be.) Practices will focus on non-contact workouts and individual or socially distanced group activities for a while. This is a good compromise rather than shutting it down completely. This will keep the kids in shape for a while with hope that we can get Covid under control before the end of the year. Hopefully games can start around the New Year. Although I'm not too confident in our country to get a handle on this virus. It thrives on stupidity and we have a large portion of our society acting like idiots. It's pretty clear that masks & social distancing are the key, but all the knuckle draggers are still ending up at crowded bars & parties. https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/07/massachusetts-phase-3-reopening-plan-for-youth-adult-amateur-sports-labels-football-basketball-soccer-as-too-high-risk-to-resume-games.html

I can't say for sure what the risk is in playing hockey, but if I am doing risk/reward analysis, the reward will definitely be low this season. As a result, my child will not be participating.

I should never be surprised at how an online forum discussion degenerates. This is a complicated issue. None of us really know the real risks of doing anything at this point. My opinion is that contact sports is risky. We won't really know unless we test it in the real world. I would just rather wait a while before moving forward with such things since that seems to have worked better in the rest of the world. The US just seems to be making all the wrong decisions. I just want hockey to be fun for the kids again. It just doesn't seem to me that it will be at this point and it may or may not cause us to move backwards in the fight to contain the virus. The argument that youth sports and physical activity is very important to the development of these kids is a valid one. I would rather us smash the virus growth curve quicker so these kids can get back to something close to normal.

Europe didn't just flatten their curve. They bent it down dramatically. We just need to do that. Can we just, at least, hold off on the fun stuff for a while longer. We should not have opened all these high risk things. Most business should be able to operate, but stuff that puts people in close contact with one another is prolonging this catastrophe.

Pee Wee, I understand the points that you are making about schools opening and how it seems way more risky than sports. I would not be on board with schools totally opening with no guidelines. I think there have been some ideas about the kids only going in two days/week in person with strict social distancing. That may not even work. I'm just thinking that is a worthier cause than the sports. Sports are important to the kids, but I feel that we do have to prioritize and make some hard sacrifices. It's just impossible to keep kids apart in contact sports. Professional sports opening wouldn't even be a possibility if not for the constant testing, hub city/ bubble concept. How can we consider having the kids play without those concepts while demanding it for the professionals?

It's been that way around here for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure of the reasons, but it seems that this would have been a good year to make exceptions. It would be ideal if we can get our health in good enough shape to start schools, see how that goes for about a month, and then bring back some youth sports gradually. Waiting a little longer will also allow for more time to get more/better testing in place and better therapeutics. I'm not one to say we have to put everything on hold until a vaccine is found, but it just doesn't seem people have modified their behavior enough have gatherings with the way things are now, Especially with cases rising as rapidly as they are.

I understand how so many people want to get back to doing the things that they love. Many will say that we need to move on and just do stuff. We can argue about how high or low the risk is. The bottom line is many people are afraid to move on with he numbers as they are. As a result, the economy as a hole and every organization will struggle longer. We need to suck it up and take our medicine as a cancer patient takes chemo until we can get our numbers down near the European levels. Sometimes the chemo kills you, but you know that your dead without it. The opening of youth sports that involve close contact is just not a good idea right now. We need to wait. Lets focus on getting the numbers down as much as possible so we can get the kids back in school first. I say the same thing about bars and restaurants.

It seems that it is being inferred here that Ice Castle is not following proper Covid-19 protocol. Is this the case? I have not been in the Spencer YMCA to see what's happening inside, but the parking lot seems to be way too relaxed with parents not social distancing and beer drinking in the back of pick-up trucks. It also seems as though the new PA mask requirement extends to athletes during practice/competition based on what Rachel Levine said. I just don't see how this is going to work. It may be that we have to choose between sports and school. Having sports start will likely get the case count up too high for anyone to feel safe with schools opening. I love hockey, but I choose schools.