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+---- Thread: A missed opportunity (/thread-905001.html)
A missed opportunity - ken d - 08-20-2020 08:34 AM
Each of us who post or lurk on this forum have one thing in common with every University President, Governor, Mayor and School Superintendent who have to make decisions on how their constituencies will cope with this pandemic.
None of us know what the right answer is.
All 130 of the FBS schools, with the exception of the service academies, have as their primary reason for existence the scholarly search for answers and knowledge. And they all have at their disposal tools with which they could conduct a scholarly study of how to contain and/or prevent the spread of this virus. They have football teams.
Combined they have roughly 13,000 potential test subjects, some of whom attend schools that are determined to play this Fall, and some who won't. Some will be on campuses with students, and some will be at schools that opt for online classes only. These aren't the only variables worth looking at. So why not use this as an opportunity to isolate those variables and quantify outcomes as a way to contribute to our nation's ability to cope with this and future pandemics rationally?
It may already be too late to craft such a study, or maybe not. Perhaps the NCAA and the CDC and NIH could collaborate to fund a study, and compensate the student/athlete volunteer subjects as they would in any such study. Have we missed the opportunity, or is there still time?