MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Love how my friend OG keeps calling Stevens "Edwards." Not as good a defender (yet) as Timmy, but perhaps more offensive upside?

In my defense, he looks a lot like Edwards, down to the way he moves (though their games are different). Geriatric mistake on my part, Old Guy indeed. Maybe I should write these posts earlier in the day.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Middlebury shutting down campus - and athletics - for a little while to get a handle on COVID, I guess. Stay safe everyone!

[Bucket]

Middlebury news:

"Middlebury has moved to remote instruction as of December 10. In alignment with COVID-19 protocols for team play, all athletic competitions will be postponed until further notice. Makeup dates for each competition will be posted at a later date."

Bucket and Old Guy - What is the mood at Midd??  I imagine there's an extraordinary amount of frustration.  I believe that almost everyone in the Midd College community (students, faculty, admins, etc.) is vaccinated.

34 new Covid positive cases in the past few days, bringing campus total to close to 50. (And yes, I believe most all of the campus community is vaccinated.) Looks like a Thanksgiving surge of "breakthrough" (though can we call it that any more?) cases and a prudent move by the institution.

[Stretch4]

Disparity in Middlebury's covid dashboard numbers vs. the case numbers being reported in local media.  So you can assume that is a timing issue with their covid dashboard.  Regardless, is this a sign of what to expect at Middlebury and other NESCAC schools who seemed to take extreme pride in being the first schools to shut down everything last year.  Plenty of similar sized schools seem to manage fine with comparable numbers.  Not get political, but let's face it, the NESCAC is loaded with extremely liberal institutions.  It would be a shame after everything these kids have endured, and after a great start to the college basketball season, to start going backwards in the name of someone's political agenda.  Really hope this isn't a sign of things to come for these student athletes.   

[Bucket]

Disparity in Middlebury's covid dashboard numbers vs. the case numbers being reported in local media.  So you can assume that is a timing issue with their covid dashboard.  Regardless, is this a sign of what to expect at Middlebury and other NESCAC schools who seemed to take extreme pride in being the first schools to shut down everything last year.  Plenty of similar sized schools seem to manage fine with comparable numbers.  Not get political, but let's face it, the NESCAC is loaded with extremely liberal institutions.  It would be a shame after everything these kids have endured, and after a great start to the college basketball season, to start going backwards in the name of someone's political agenda.  Really hope this isn't a sign of things to come for these student athletes.

Dashboard is updated once a day.

[nescac1]

We got into this last year on the football board, and I just don't think it's fair to describe all decisions about COVID safety as a "political" agenda.  Sadly, everything about COVID, from vaccines on down, has been politicized, but that doesn't mean the people in NESCAC schools making these decisions are acting based on "politics" -- not everything is informed by your political leanings, nor should this be.  In the end, last year, NESCAC schools did what nearly everyone else ended up doing when they shut down / went remote, so they were hardly outliers. 

As for THIS decision, I personally disagree with Midd's approach (even if I assume it's being done in good faith) and I hope other schools don't follow suit.  COVID is, at this point, never going away.  The key was waiting for the vaccines, and better treatment options, and getting everyone vaccinated.  The risk of severe harm for those who are vaccinated and boosted and take other reasonable precautions is very low, especially if they get medical attention very quickly upon contracting COVID, which is certainly possible in a high-test environment like (I presume) Midd has.  Is there no risk?  Of course not.  But the risk is far more something along the lines of other types of normal risks we live with in life, again, at least among the vaccinated population.   Folks have already missed SO much over the last two years that I think depriving athletes of competition or students of classroom experience is a mistake unless the situation is absolutely dire -- which, with vaccines and better treatments now available, it is not. 

[Greek Tragedy]

Man, I hope this isn't the start of something...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The thing for these schools is following the policies in place.  Maybe some of those policies are overdue for revue, but what makes people comfortable being there is knowing what will happen and when.  We've found that in our local school district - people might disagree with what the policies should be, but once they're set, people just want you to do what you'll say you do.

Hopefully it won't be a big deal for Midd, because I imagine they're awfully close to the end of the semester anyway.  The women's team is already in a month away from the games, the men will miss two non-con games they will likely be able to reschedule in the spring if they want to do so.

[Bucket]

The thing for these schools is following the policies in place.  Maybe some of those policies are overdue for revue, but what makes people comfortable being there is knowing what will happen and when.  We've found that in our local school district - people might disagree with what the policies should be, but once they're set, people just want you to do what you'll say you do.

Hopefully it won't be a big deal for Midd, because I imagine they're awfully close to the end of the semester anyway.  The women's team is already in a month away from the games, the men will miss two non-con games they will likely be able to reschedule in the spring if they want to do so.

Yes. Context is key. Today was the last day of classes. So we're talking about one day of instruction and then exam week that is going remote.

[jayhawk]

The issue with COVID 19 from a medical standpoint is not that just people get infected and may be asymptomatic , is the risk that they will transmit it to someone who is at risk medically because of some underlying disease and inadequate immunity which is more prevalent in younger individuals than you probably realize  or other individuals who are at risk of severe infection, hopsitalization and death such as individuals with obesity and the elderly
Our hospital are filled with COVID-19 disease and also getting long-COVID with long lasting symptoms is extremely onerous

[jayhawk]

particularly if an infected person comes in contact with a person who is unvaccinated or inadequately vaccinated
Addison has a fairly high percentage of vaccinate individuals
it is concerning to find a cluster of infections though

[Greek Tragedy]

particularly if an infected person comes in contact with a person who is unvaccinated or inadequately vaccinated
Addison has a fairly high percentage of vaccinate individuals
it is concerning to find a cluster of infections though

But the purpose of the vaccination is to limit the severity of the effects, not to prevent you from getting it, from what I understand. A very high percentage of people hospitalized with COVID are not vaccinated. I think a good analogy is a roundabout. Roundabouts aren't designed to prevent accidents, they're designed to prevent you from getting t-boned at 60 mph.

[SpringSt7]

So assuming their two postponed games don't get rescheduled for sometime over winter break, Middlebury is going to have a month off and then play Amherst. Woof.

[jayhawk]

in general vaccinations absolutely limit COVID to a mild case
That said the new highly contagious omicorn variant which is beginning to spread rapidly has a different profile in terms of vaccinations
A t least in early studies in England two shots of Pfizer only resulted in 30% protection against significant COVID disease
It appears that 2 shots plus a booster are needed

NESCAC colleges vary in their approaches to controling and prventing COVID
I believe Middlefury's approach is not quite as rigorous as some other institutions
For example Amherst reports about 98 to 99 % of indviduals at the College are fully vaccinated (likely does not take into booster shot)
Also Amherst I believe tests students twice a week which seems to be aggressive
Tufts tests students once a week

after seeing COVID patients in the intensive care for months and the effects of a "COVID" disease- this is not a trivail disease and much worse than the flu

[JEFFFAN]

Best way to turn off visitors to this site is to discuss Covid, folks.   Please let's just stick with sports.