In response to today’s announcement that Big 10 schools reversed their initial decision and will now be moving forward with a fall football season, Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room Director Zac Petkanas released the following statement:
“Whether it was safe to have college football in the middle of the pandemic should never have even been a question. But for six months, Donald Trump deliberately misled the American people, lied about the danger of the virus, and undermined his own experts in his initial response to the pandemic, instead of knuckling down and getting this under control before kickoff.
“If it wasn’t for Trump’s failures, these schools would’ve been playing safely long ago. Now though, they are wrestling with how to protect students, players, staff, and fans – which are at far greater danger as a result of Trump’s refusal to let the science lead and his rush to reopen everything before it’s safe to do so.
“This announcement from the Big 10 comes as many of their campuses are already desperately trying to contain spiraling outbreaks – some of the worst in the country.
“Ultimately, this dilemma rests on Donald Trump and his absolutely botched pandemic response. School administrations and athletic offices are left to make impossible decisions because Donald Trump failed them from day one.”
BACKGROUND: Big 10 Schools Have Been Experiencing Outbreaks Since Students Began Returning to Campus
NPR: Despite Mass Testing, University Of Illinois Sees Coronavirus Cases Rise
- “The University of Illinois has one of the largest mass testing programs of any American institution. The school is conducting, on average, between 10,000 and 15,000 saliva-based tests for COVID-19 daily, at times accounting for more than 2% of all testing done in the U.S. The decision to clamp down on students’ movements calls into question whether any amount of resources and safety precautions makes it safe to reopen college campuses.” [NPR, 9/3/20]
The University Of Illinois Has Reported More Than 1,700 New Cases Since Students Began Returning To Campus On August 15.
- “University of Illinois officials have blamed an unpredicted surge in Covid-19 cases to some students partying and avoiding quarantining and contact tracing efforts. The university reported 1,754 new cases from Aug. 15 when students started coming back to campus, through Sept. 8, although a team of researchers working directly for the university administration had projected only 500 to 700 cases by Thanksgiving.” [CU-CitizenAccess, 9/11/20]
The Hill: Indiana University Seeing ‘Uncontrolled Spread Of Covid-19’ Among Greek Life
- “[Indiana University] announced that positivity testing rates in certain Greek and communal student homes are now above 50 percent in what school public health experts are calling an ‘uncontrolled spread of COVID-19.’ About 2,600 Indiana University students live within Greek housing or other communal situations. Given the highly communicable nature of the virus, which travels mainly through aerosol particles, it renders the other 42,000 students at risk, as well as the 12,000 faculty and staff that work on the campus.” [The Hill, 9/4/20]
Less Than One Month Into The Semester, More Than 1,800 Cases Of COVID-19 Have Been Reported At The University Of Iowa.
- “The University of Iowa on Monday added another 76 self-reported cases of COVID-19 since Friday — bringing its campus total less than a month into the fall semester to 1,831. That total includes mostly students — with 72 new cases for 1,804 so far. The campus is reporting another four new employee cases since Friday for 27 total since Aug. 18.” [The Gazette, 9/14/20]
All Students At Michigan State University Have Been Asked To Quarantine To Contain An Outbreak That Has Infected More Than 300 People.
- “The Ingham County Health Department is recommending all Michigan State University students self-quarantine immediately to contain a coronavirus outbreak from which at least 342 people have tested positive for the disease since Aug. 24. ‘This is an urgent situation,’ Ingham County Health Officer Linda S. Vail said in a statement. ‘The exponential growth of COVID-19 cases must stop.’” [Detroit News, 9/12/20]
Penn State Has Reported At Least 1,100 Cases Of COVID-19 Since August 7.
- “Penn State on Tuesday reported 458 more COVID-19 cases among students attending the University Park campus, a combination of weekend testing results and additional results from the previous seven days that had been pending. The new cases bring the campus’s total to 1,146 since Aug. 7, including one employee case.” [StateCollege.com, 9/15/20]
48 Student Athletes At Penn State University Have Tested Positive For Coronavirus.
- “Despite the rise in cases, the Trump administration has pushed for colleges and universities to remain open…Penn State University, another Big Ten school, also said this week it would be pausing team activities indefinitely for several programs after 48 athletes tested positive.” [TheHill, 9/11/20]
More Than 2,000 People Have Tested Positive At The University Of Wisconsin-Madison Since August, And Now Infections Are Spreading To The Broader Community.
- “‘There’s real clear evidence that the outbreak that’s happening among students has bled into the community more broadly,’ said Malia Jones, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the university. ‘Cases have really shot up in (Dane County), even not counting all the students’… Roughly 20% of the dorms’ more than 2,200 residents have tested positive, the email said. Campuswide since August, 2,160 students and 31 employees have been positive in on-campus testing. The university last week suspended face-to-face classes. More than half of fraternity and sorority houses near campus are under quarantine, as are more than a third of students who live in dorms.” [Wisconsin State-Journal, 9/16/20]