Coronavirus and sports

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

I completely agree, and didn't intend it as a certain prediction, but rather a possible scenario.

It seems very likely that things are going to get 'worse' over the next week or two in North America, but exactly how much worse, exactly where, and exactly when it will start to get better.

Without diving too deep into things, it is also worth noting that because most of the biggest market teams are out of contention, there aren't likely to be very many higher risk teamsin the NHL playoffs. Pretty sure VAN, BOS, and TOR are the only teams in states/provinces with more than 30 cases at present. PHI and WAS also seem to have more potential risk, but the rest of the teams are in relatively 'smaller' cities that are more geographically isolated and not big hubs for int'l travel.

I think it's very possible that only a few cities/regions get shutdown/overwhelmed, but the degree to which business continues 'as usual' every else would be another question altogether. If/when it happens in one NA city, will there still be an appetite for large gatherings elsewhere?

California is getting hit hard. There aren’t more confirmed cases because they weren’t testing. But San Fran Area and others seem to be hotbeds in the US. We can’t trust the numbers from the US because of the testing issues.

[powderjunkie]

^ I was talking from a playoffs perspective. No Cali teams will make it...but obviously them playing out the regular season could be a challenge...

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

And would either of you make the comment she made to a person of Italian background whose family was affected or suffering in some way from COVID-19?

Considering I’m one of those people, yes, yes I would.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

And would either of you make the comment she made to a person of Italian background whose family was affected or suffering in some way from COVID-19?

What? Why not? it is custom to greet people with a kiss on either cheek. Forget shaking hands, that's transmitting fluid right to someone's face.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Considering I’m one of those people, yes, yes I would.

And if a non-Italian says it to you?

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

And if a non-Italian says it to you?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

And if a non-Italian says it to you?

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

^ I was talking from a playoffs perspective. No Cali teams will make it...but obviously them playing out the regular season could be a challenge...

Yup. But I think we'll find the numbers are about to blow up in many major cities in the US. I guess we just have to wait a week or two and see. I was more making the point that claims of there only being 30 cases in major cities are just massively underreporting the actual amount of cases because the testing has not caught up to the virus spread. NYC for example hadn't been able to test anybody until recently. How can you know how many cases there are if you aren't testing?

The doctor in the Australian 60 minutes piece said there should be 80-100 cases for each death. So lets follow the death count closely and we'll be able to extrapolate from that the true extent of the spread. I guess that's about all we can do to try and guess at the numbers in the US since testing has been such a gong show down there.

My prediction is the crap is about to hit the fan in the US and we're gonna learn that this has spread quite widely already. Hopefully I'm wrong but I think all the information we have right now points that way.

[GirlySports]

I definitely would say it to an Italian. It's fact.

It's not an insult. Like I always think the Japanese not hugging and kissing is cold. But it might be good in this case.

Anyways, back on topic, NHL is probably going to have to cancel the season if it keeps going at this rate.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Shazam

[FlamesAddiction]

To move the thread a little more on topic, the Chinese professional team is playing home games at neutral sites in Russia apparently.

Saskatchewan is basically our Siberia, so it could work.

[FFFLife]

Just got this from CSEC

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Ohio debating whether Cavaliers and Blue Jackets may go ahead with games.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1237453689645867013

Is there even an issue in Ohio yet?

At least northern Cali has immediate reason for a ban. And we're very fortunate there aren't many games scheduled and they're not headed for playoffs.

If communities like Columbus cave this early and follow with a ban of their own, more will follow suit until we don't have a season any more.

I hope they hold off. Cause if the dominos are going to fall this quickly, can we even expect to finish the regular season?

[Jiri Hrdina]

Enhanced sanitizing is great but face remains you are still going to be in a relatively small amount of space, shoulder to shoulder with a large number of people.

[chummer]

Will be interesting to see if the games tonight have a noticeable decrease in attendance.

I would't be surprised to see a lot of empty seats. I hope I'm wrong.

[CroFlames]

It's hard to turn down all those gate dollars, but the right thing to do is probably play the remainder of NHL games and playoffs in empty stadiums until some level of certainty is established. I think most authorities are still in uncharted waters with this thing.

If mass outbreak happens, all health systems in the world would be overwhelmed. Business should do the right thing and work together to minimize mass outbreak risk. If they don't, governments should legislate it.

This of course would suck, but such is the reality.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Yup. But I think we'll find the numbers are about to blow up in many major cities in the US. I guess we just have to wait a week or two and see. I was more making the point that claims of there only being 30 cases in major cities are just massively underreporting the actual amount of cases because the testing has not caught up to the virus spread. NYC for example hadn't been able to test anybody until recently. How can you know how many cases there are if you aren't testing?

The doctor in the Australian 60 minutes piece said there should be 80-100 cases for each death. So lets follow the death count closely and we'll be able to extrapolate from that the true extent of the spread. I guess that's about all we can do to try and guess at the numbers in the US since testing has been such a gong show down there.

My prediction is the crap is about to hit the fan in the US and we're gonna learn that this has spread quite widely already. Hopefully I'm wrong but I think all the information we have right now points that way.

I am highly concerned, but it's one of those things where you can find evidence to change your opinion from scared to less worried over and over and over again.

The reassuring things of the moment that stand out for me are:
1. As of yesterday, Alberta had a 1452 - to 7 + test ratio. Obviously 7 more cases today is troubling, but I imagine there were also hundred(s) more negative tests. Lots of people have had reason to worry that they had it, very few actually have.
2. This thing has existed for a few months now - it seems likely that if the worst-case scenario of really fast, uncontrollable spread were going to happen, that it probably already would have.

Just as it has only exploded in a few disparate regions of the world (SK, Iran, Italy), I think there's a good chance that's how it plays out in NA.

[FlamesAreOne]

A lot more besides adding more sanitation stations is happening behind closed doors.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Is there even an issue in Ohio yet?

At least northern Cali has immediate reason for a ban. And we're very fortunate there aren't many games scheduled and they're not headed for playoffs.

If communities like Columbus cave this early and follow with a ban of their own, more will follow suit until we don't have a season any more.

I hope they hold off. Cause if the dominos are going to fall this quickly, can we even expect to finish the regular season?

3 so far

[Reggie Dunlop]

The Heat are playing the San Jose Barracuda (in Stockton) tonight. I wonder how many fans will turn out (wasn't great to begin with).