Mississippi is weeks away from the start of the 2020 football season. Other sports are also preparing for the start of their seasons. With apprehension in the air and the fear-driven media outlets pushing against the re-opening of virtually anything, it is time to share some examples that Mississippi can use as a model to conduct high school sports this fall.
First, look to the state of Mississippi itself. The Deep South Summer Collegiate League conducted a 20-game season with eight teams. Fans were in the stands for most of the games, with the season being concluded July 30. There were little-to-no issues. Reception from the league was positive, with parents of players commending founder Colton Caver for pulling the league games off.
Let’s look out of state.
In Iowa, the high school baseball season finished on August 1. After taking necessary action and maintaining safety protocols, 94 percent of the teams in the state were unaffected, 96 percent of the teams finished their season, all infections were reportedly mild, there were no deaths, and fans were allowed during the season. Iowa also hosted a 32-team state tournament that was attended by 29,904 people.
Iowa has tested over 492,000 people with 46,045 positive tests and 34,015 recovered patients. They have 886 deaths to date. Over half of those deaths came from long term care facilities (477).
In Mississippi, 477,160 have been tested with 61,186 confirmed positives, 42,391 recovered, and 1,705 confirmed deaths. The list of “probable” COVID cases and deaths are 1,013 cases and 49 deaths. Long term care facilities account for 782 of those deaths. For those ages 60+, they account for 1,462 deaths. There have been no deaths under the age of 18 and 11 total deaths between the ages of 18-29. There have been a total of 280 deaths between the ages of 30-59.
Those stats are in no way making light of death as the result of a COVID-19 infection. It does show that people under the age of 60 can overcome COVID as it has a death rate of 0.61 percent.
There has to be consideration of hospital capacity, namely ICU capacity; however, there is a blueprint from other states like Iowa that reveals that school and extracurricular activities can work with the proper amount of safety procedures in place. What will it take? It will take the determination of Mississippians state-wide to adhere to proper mandates, along with keeping their children safe and in check. It will take people who are more susceptible to viruses using wisdom in making decisions as they would during flu season, for instance.
Will it be easy? No. Is it needed? Yes. We can learn from others. We have to.
