No surprise the game against Richmond is officially postponed: https://twitter.com/GW_MBB/status/1357019081648521217

22ndandF wrote:

GWRising wrote:

IF everything continues to go well in terms of the team progressing through this, I would expect our return to action the weekend of February 13-14th at the earliest meaning La Salle. Then hopefully we can play out the last 6 games on the schedule with the possibility of 1 or 2 make-up games (unknown as to which ones are going to be made up). My understanding is that it is increasingly likely that as many as 5-6 games will not be made up but that is being decided now.

GWRising, thank you for sharing this information. I feel the most important thing is to follow the protocol and keep our great student athletes and the staff safe.  After we confirm that all is well and everyone wants to continue play, that'll be a nice thing. The 13th-14th is less than two weeks away, so it'll be here before we know it!  But again, I feel the most important thing is not basketball but health and safety.  Thank you again GWRising.

I think GW is doing everything it can reasonably do to protect our student-athletes and coaches. This is a thorny problem for sports. At one level from a competition standpoint, it would be better for everyone just to get it all at once and have a shorter pause. Of course, no one would suggest that because no one knows for sure what the health effects of the virus will be on any individual so even one person contracting the virus is one risk too many.  So it just has to play itself out within the team using quarantines and best practices (social distancing and masks) which ironically may have prolonged the pause.

That said, it takes two teams to play so even if GW gets through this it is possible games could still be cancelled or postponed due to the opponents. 

We have been and continue to be in unchartered waters. 
 

Gwmayhem wrote:

GWRising wrote:

22ndandF wrote:

GWRising, thank you for sharing this information. I feel the most important thing is to follow the protocol and keep our great student athletes and the staff safe.  After we confirm that all is well and everyone wants to continue play, that'll be a nice thing. The 13th-14th is less than two weeks away, so it'll be here before we know it!  But again, I feel the most important thing is not basketball but health and safety.  Thank you again GWRising.

I think GW is doing everything it can reasonably do to protect our student-athletes and coaches. This is a thorny problem for sports. At one level from a competition standpoint, it would be better for everyone just to get it all at once and have a shorter pause. Of course, no one would suggest that because no one knows for sure what the health effects of the virus will be on any individual so even one person contracting the virus is one risk too many.  So it just has to play itself out within the team using quarantines and best practices (social distancing and masks) which ironically may have prolonged the pause.

That said, it takes two teams to play so even if GW gets through this it is possible games could still be cancelled or postponed due to the opponents. 

We have been and continue to be in unchartered waters. 
 

OK, I'll play.  How did best practices and quarantines ironically prolong the pause?

Well by every medical expert I have read or heard these practices SLOW the spread but do not completely PREVENT the spread. I used the word "may". It is possible that there was a longer transmission time between cases due to mitigation so that there was a serial progression of the virus through the team and not a parallel one. The first positive was detected more than 10 days from the last positive is my understanding. Point was with no mitigation efforts everyone would have likely been exposed quickly and the pause would have been shorter. Note I am not saying that is what should have been done from a health and safety perspective for the team just making note of the irony from a length of pause perspective.

 

I'll go on record as saying that I am very much in favor of masks and quarantines and best practices, so that we run as little risk as possible in the whole team getting this at the same time, even if this means a longer pause.  GWRising, do you feel this is a more favorable scenario than what amounts to no mitigation, a greater chance of the whole team getting infected at the same time, and subsequently a shorter pause?   

I think that ship has already sailed Brian.

One reason for masks etc even if it only slows down the spread is to prevent the health care system from being completely overwhelmed by Covid-19.   Lots more people would die if that happens including but not limited to people who have heart attacks, strokes and major accidents because there just not enough beds or medical personnel to go around.

I was an ICU volunteer for two weeks.I’m still traumatized.

GW69 wrote:

What are we arguing here?Basketball vs. possible life and death? I’m confused.

I think Gwmayhem is trying his best to make this into that but that's not my intention in the slightest.

GWRising wrote:

Gwmayhem wrote:

GWRising, I think (and certainly hope) that you are answering this.  Failing to exercise best practices is not an option for the reason you gave.  It just strikes me as odd for you to say that best practices may have ironically prolonged the pause.  The implication, at least how I am interpreting this, is that you are leaving open the possibility that GW could have handled this a different way with better results (shorter pause).

Not leaving open any possibility. GW had and has no choice for a variety of reasons including those that BC pointed out..

I am merely pointing out that what is in the best interests of public health may not be the best for playing a college basketball schedule that is interrupted as little as possible in this pandemic environment. Often this is the case with complex issues such as the pandemic - competing interests. I am NOT making a value judgment on playing basketball as being a sufficient reason to try and speed up the pause at the expense of health and safety. But I will tell you that players and coaches are frustrated mainly by the randomness of it all.

I hope you would at least acknowledge that the longer this pause continues it will not be a positive factor for our players and coaches' mental health. Keep in mind, these players and coaches have made and already accepted significant sacrifices in terms of exposure to risk to their health and well-being for a number of months. It is difficult and unprecedented to have played 3 games since the first of the year. With virtual classes and a de facto bubble, this is often the only outlet for our players. Now they haven't even been able to practice for weeks.

It is easy for us to say things like shut it down, wear a mask, social distance, take as long as it takes.  We aren't in the middle of it and we aren't 18-22 years old.

GWRising, I feel it's sad that we even have to debate this. While you make some valid technical points, I feel they are mostly irrelevant.  

If we had had adult in the oval office when this all began, so much death, illness (including mental illness), and economic dislocation/destruction could have been avoided.  Certainly all Americans would have had to sacrifice. It wouldn't have been easy.  But instead of sacrifice for a month or two, our citizens were lied to and brainwashed by deranged public officials and greedy and stupid (IMO) people on TV, mostly on Fox News.  It's the thought process of questioning science, lying about the motives of good people and lying to the public that got us into this horrible mess.  Sadly it continues even today with over 400K dead, more than 25 million diagnosed with the virus, more than twelve million out of work, about half due to COVID-19, and so many hungry and vulnerable American souls that people don' even seem to worry about anymore.  The country seems to have lost it's moral compass  We have a dead Capitol Hill policeman, an attack on two branches of government and seditionists still in office. Public officials are in denial and some still say that COVID-19 a fake, that the number are lies, inflated by greedy hospitals and doctors. None of this should ever have happened. This whole thing could have been kept at a low level had we had good politial leadership combined with a caring public.

I feel sad the virus has hit our program, but I am very happy we have paused to take care of our players and coaches.  After reading some of garbage people say, I'm at the point where I wouldn't be at all upset if the rest of the season is canceled, although I feel it may break the hearts of some of our great players.

Thank you Mayhem