World

College football season is here. And so is the delta variant.


College football is back. For many, it’s a welcome return to fall traditions, but for some, the sight of tens of thousands of fans gathering in stadiums – all amid the pandemic still remains. is raging across the country – causing more anxiety than joy.

With the delta variant of the coronavirus still causing an increase in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths in These big events and the huge crowds they attract can come at bad times, experts say, even if they take place outdoors, where the risk of infection is usually minimized.

It’s part of what some researchers have called a disappointing “gray zone” that more than a year and a half has turned into a pandemic. There’s no simple answer to how risky gatherings like a college football game are. A range of factors influence the level of risk: local infection rates, whether the stadium requires vaccinations or evidence of negative testing and even what people do before and after the game. fight.

At one such game, the University of Wisconsin’s opening game against Penn State, there’s no need for proof of vaccinations or a negative test. Masks are required indoors but “strongly” recommended in outdoor spaces only. More than 76,000 people attended. The Madison, Wisconsin, metro area, home to more than 660,000 people has seen a steady increase in cases since mid-July and a positive test rate of 3.4%, according to Public Health Madison and Dane County.

The challenge of determining the risk of these events is compounded by the ongoing challenges of follow-up cases. While experts still say that transmission indoors is much more common, being outside doesn’t eliminate the risk.

“Being outdoors is protective in the sense that there is more air circulating,” said Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, professor of health policy and management at the City University of New York. “But if you’re close to a lot of people for a few hours, it’s not as if the wind could magically wipe out all the viruses.”

That concern is even more pressing with the delta variant’s supercharged transmission. In an interview on MSNBC, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed concern about the crowd size at recent college football games.

Fauci told MSNBC’s Joy Reid: “People like to say we’re done with Covid, but Covid isn’t.

While research is still underway, studies have shown that people infected with the delta variant have more virus in their system than previous strains, and those infected with delta may secrete more viruses. release more virus particles when they cough, sneeze, or talk.

Jamie Lloyd-Smith, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, said both factors likely contribute to why the delta variant is thought to be twice as transmissible than the delta variant. with the original coronavirus.

“With this variant, there’s probably less virus that gets into your respiratory tract to get infected, especially if you haven’t been vaccinated,” says Lloyd-Smith. “And if you’re in a game and a super-spreader is two seats away, that person could be spreading more viruses than they did a year ago.”

However, the risk of mass gatherings at this stage of the pandemic is difficult to assess, he said. Much depends on the specific site and situation in the field, including the prevalence of the virus in the community, the number of vaccinated populations, and other mitigation measures or rules applied.

Several schools, including Louisiana State University and the University of Oregon, are asking fans 12 and older to provide proof of recent vaccinations or negative tests to attend games. Elsewhere, there are fewer restrictions.

Penn State is planning full crowds at football games this fall, and the school’s athletic director said there are no plans to require fans to present proof of vaccinations or negative test. Likewise, the University of Alabama and Auburn University have not imposed any testing requirements on fans, although state health officials have partnered with colleges to provide the necessary tests. on-site vaccination clinic.

While being outdoors is often less of a risk than a cramped indoor setting, people attending games and other large events tend to move between the two. Usually, there are also other activities related to the main event, where people gather and provide an opportunity for the virus to spread.

“The risk isn’t just the football game or the music festival, it’s what people do before, during and after,” said Dr Cameron Wolfe, an associate professor of medicine at Duke University.

This in part makes it difficult to track whether major events – such as concerts, sporting events and festivals – lead to further spikes.

Lollapalooza, a four-day music festival held in Chicago in late July, was linked to 203 cases of Covid-19, but the city’s health department said certain infections had was predicted among about 385,000 attendees, and added that the increase was “no sign” of a super-spreading event. Lollapalooza requires attendees to present proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test.

In August, more than 100 infections across five states were traced to the Sturgis Motorcycle Race in South Dakota, where hundreds of thousands of people flock to the annual event in a state that has imposed some restrictions on throughout the pandemic. A similar event last year is believed to have contributed in part to the wave of infections across the Upper Midwest.

However, figuring out how many cases stem from any one event is an inexact science without full gene sequencing and contact tracing.

“It’s hard to link clusters of cases that you might not see until three to six days later coming back to a starting event,” says Wolfe. “It’s not that transmission doesn’t happen; it’s hard to prove without a lot of manpower and lab work.”

While Wolfe expressed concern about mass gatherings at this stage of the pandemic, he said it was possible to hold college sports, music festivals and other large events safely and affordably. responsibility.

One way could be to ask for proof of vaccinations or a negative Covid test, he said. Seating capacity limits may also apply, along with other mitigation measures such as mask-wearing requirements and the placement of more people in stadiums.

“All of this just fixes the risk,” says Lloyd-Smith. “It brings the temperature down and just lowers the temperature on the whole thing.”

When done right, these events can provide a model for public health measures in the wider community, says Wolfe.

“It could be a good microcosm of how sections of society can try to get back up and running,” he said. “You can run a university campus carefully and securely. You can open businesses and make sure they’re safe. We have to find ways to hold people accountable for how they’re managed. at our own risk, because that’s all we’re doing as a challenge to learn to live with Covid.”



Source link

news7h

News7h: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button