Vaccinated and unvaccinated people can both catch and spread COVID.
LeBron James and I can both play basketball.
Both statements are true.
It's pretty simple. You have a much lower risk of getting covid if vaccinated. If you do get it, you have a much lower risk of getting very sick or dying. Granted, young athletes are a lot less likely to get very sick, but they can pass it to those who may get very sick. Why can't people grasp this?
Also, what's with all the whining about boosters? They are very easy to get and you're much better off with one than without.
Response meant for gmubrian...oops.
I get tested once a week. It’s really not that invasive (not even as bad as taking a strep culture). Also more data is never a bad thing. Knowing who has an active infection and who doesn’t allows you to control the spread.
I'm specifically referring to the 15 min rapid tests. Takes 10-15 seconds to administer and are not painful nor an imposition to the players. While they are not as accurate as the PCR tests in detecting small amounts of virus, they are VERY effective (95% sensitivity) in detecting whether someone is infectious (i.e., has enough virus to transmit), and 100% effective at identifying people with high enough viral loads they become "super spreaders").
While I agree that covid will be with us from here on out, until it mutates into something no more dangerous than the common cold, I'm for mitigation efforts. There are simply too many in our communities who are not fully vaxxed, and therefore quite vulnerable.
But the point of my prior post was simply to express incredulity that these rapid tests are not being utilized as widely as they should. We're paying KE and staff about $1.5 million per year. @$10 per test it would only cost around $250 per day - or about $7,500 per month - to rapid test players. Over 5 months that adds up to less than $40K.
It seems to me it's either: A) implement such measures, or B) play greatly reduced schedules.
To Quentin, Exactly, thanks for making my point for me. Lebron is a moron on this and most topics as well. ;-)
My original response was about questioning whether more testing does anything to protect the players more (than they are already protected by the super duper vaccines and their age/health). My understanding is they are all vaccinated. Additionally, they are in one of the lowest risk groups for serious effects and spreading the virus. One got it regardless of vaccination, but, he seemed to recover very quickly which backs up the less severe for vaccinated and/or young, healthy people. Again, not sure how testing protects the athletes any more.
Yes, testing gets you more data. It also gets you more false positives which invokes additional protocols on the entire team, if I understand how the protocols kick in once there is a positive test. The amount of contact tracing, additional testing, notifications and cancelations that the program has to start doing in response to a positive test (that could be false). I was told by someone VERY close about them having to watch film/pictures of games and practices for endless amounts of time in response to this one positive test. Again for a population of people that are at less risk than they are on the cars, buses and planes that they are traveling around on most every day.
Also, those talking of boosters for the players, you don't know the timing of their current vaccines. They may not qualify for a booster at this time.
Nowhere in my post did I make a statement about not getting vaccines, I merely pointed out that they aren't perfect and wane over time (which you guys admitted in your responses) but, you guys take this topic so politically/religiously, as soon as anyone tries to make a point, all backed up by facts, that doesn't say test everyone daily/vaccinate repeatedly or points out that young healthy people are at near zero risk you jump down their throat with out taking a moment to consider it. I suggest you read up on the topic a little deeper to get information that your nightly news seems to leave out in their effort to grab ratings with overly scary coverage.
Before you irrationally accuse me of it, yes, I want to kill grandma (what a stupid take on things, it is the new way to shut down diverse views, replacing knee jerk accusations of racism or sexism)
