Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s chief medical officer, appeared on CNN to talk about fall sports just after midnight on Sunday morning. The audience for CNN at that late hour was probably pretty limited, but that did not stop him from giving his honest, professional opinion about the possibility of college sports in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spoiler: It’s not great.
No optimism about sports
via Chris Vannini of The Athletic. “Everything should fit together perfectly.” “Data-reactid =” 23 “>” The road to sports is very narrow at the moment, “Hainline told CNN, via Chris Vannini of The Athletic. “Everything should come together perfectly.”
Much of that “everything” has been tested, which is not yet up to snuff.
via Stewart Mandel of The Athletic.
“data-reactid =” 25 “>” At present, if tests in the US remain as they are, we can not advance a sport, “said Hainline via Stewart Mandel of The Athletic.Currently, testing in the United States is hampered not only by the availability of tests, but by the length of time it takes to get results. With multiple days, and sometimes weeks, between the test and the results, it would be almost impossible to guarantee the safety of players, who would require both tests and results to be close to gameday.
Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s chief medical officer, is not optimistic about college sports. (Peter Lockley / NCAA Photos via Getty Images).
It is possible that the time test for testing could change. The FDA on Saturday approved a new ‘game-changing’ detective test that is cheaper and faster than any current test. These tests may be particularly useful for schools that want students to simply return to campus, but the availability is not immediately known, and it is unlikely that tests for athletes will be prioritized over tests that may reopen a campus. for students.
With things as they are right now and the new tests only just approved by the FDA and not widely available, Hainline gave its overall rating.
Hainline sei.“data-reactid =” 40 “>” We are not in a place today where we can play sports safely, ” Hainline sei.
Return of students could be ‘downfall’
Despite Hainline’s lack of optimism and grim outlook, there are schools that are preparing for football. Six conferences are progressing: the Big 12, SEC, ACC, AAC, Sun Belt and Conference USA. These conferences all have the same medical data as the Big Ten, Pac-12 and other schools that have chosen to cancel fall sports but are still ahead. On Saturday, Big 12 School Oklahoma announced that nine footballers had tested positive for COVID-19, but they were still pressing.
What could stop these six conferences from setting their football seasons? Hainline believes that it is students who return to campus, and act as students tend to. If schools are unable to handle the return of students in the COVID-19 pandemic, Hainline said that “the downfall” of the whole structure could be.
