With the NBA and WNBA bubbles in full effect, another sporting event will kick off in Orlando starting Tuesday. The 2020 AAU National Youth Volleyball Tournament is expected to attract 17,000 people to the region across the country, and it is still going ahead despite the dizzying number of Covid-19 cases in the state, which now has more than 282,000 confirmed cases. .
The tournament, which started at the Orange County Convention Center, was delayed several times due to Coronavirus, but is now moving forward under what the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) calls “numerous safeguards,” including requiring that non-athletes athletes wear masks, no fans present, temperature controls and social distancing measures. However, the rationale for holding the event right now at one of the country’s largest Covid access points is unstable at best.
AAU has a video posted by Orlando Health physician Don Plumley explaining how the event will take place with established health and safety measures; however, according to the Internet Archive, this video was posted on June 8 and has not been updated or adjusted since then. This was before the dramatic increase in Covid cases in Florida, which took place in mid-June, when confirmed cases quadrupled from 64,904 to their current number.
Additionally, hosting the tournament now breaks CDC-recommended guidelines on Covid-19 safety, as well as seemingly counteracting skeptic Covid Ron DeSantis’ recommendation on avoiding crowded places.
We must all continue to do our part to protect Florida’s most vulnerable and avoid the 3 Cs: confined spaces, crowded places, and close contact environments. Protecting the elderly and people with underlying health problems will continue to be our top priority. pic.twitter.com/2GiAJHq6r1
– Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) July 14, 2020
Given these factors, how do you allow for a large-scale youth sports event in the midst of one of the highest risk areas during a pandemic? The Orlando Sentinel has been trying to obtain information from Orange County about the financial deals that led to the event, but they have been turned down. Local taxpayers are giving the AAU $ 150,000 to celebrate the event, with no information being offered on what the county is receiving in exchange for the AAU. Resources are so widespread in the area that the Orange County Convention Center, where the volleyball tournament is held, has even been considered as a possible field hospital to treat the hospital’s overflow, and the Corps of Engineers The Army visited the site as recently as this week to determine its feasibility.
To its credit, the convention center itself received STAR accreditation from the Biorisk Global Advisory Council for its sanitizing and cleaning regime, but this does not mean that the event is “safe” by any part of the imagination. On Monday, the NBA bubble burst for the first time when Richaun Holmes went out to accept a food delivery, without thinking about the ramifications. The AAU National Youth Volleyball Tournament will not have the same level of protection as the NBA, with additional risks from thousands of other competitors, and will eventually return to its home states after spending significant time in Florida.
The impact of holding the event right now will not be known for weeks, but for all the suggestions and pointers, it shouldn’t be happening right now.
