OutdoorsGuy

Latest information of the Texas Health and Human Services COVID dashboard: Out of over 9,000 confirmed fatalities the amount of deaths of people under 20 isn’t enough to even register. Shows as zero. Of the 9,000 almost 8,300 were older than 50 with majority of that over 70. Trends seen at the start of this deal have not changed. I really believe if this had happened 20 maybe even 10 years ago we would be talking about the lives lost from the virus but shutting down business, schools and anything else would not have even been a consideration. Maybe an isolated events, but nothing this widespread effecting this much of the country. What I am seeing from college coaches, players and high school coaches and players is acknowledgment of the disease and acceptance that precautions are needed. But the desire to play far outweighs assumed risk of the virus. Hopefully we can get to a point where people have a chance to make decisions for themselves again.

Read this yesterday and it seems factual. Iowa HS Baseball season ends tonight (only state where HS sports have taken place since pandemic) It wasn't exactly smooth sailing with Covid but: -94% of teams were unaffected -96% finished season -all infections reportedly mild -fans were allowed all season I know it's Iowa but I still see this as good news.

Looking at the Texas Department of Health and Human Services data for confirmed fatalities it looks like it’s basically 0 for teens. I do know of the one from Lancaster that was all over the news and was a terrible deal. Not sure where that 500 number came from but most of the CDC stuff has COVID, pneumonia and influenza lumped together when you look at age demographics. It also puts 0-24 as an age group together.

The only way I see things working is if can can give up the idea that if someone tests positive you send everyone home. Just the individual that tests positive needs to go home. It should however raise the level of concern and make you more vigilant about others that could have been in contact. Often a follow up test shows negative with no antibodies. i do wonder how this would have played out 20 years ago without social and mainstream media being the way it is today.

If there was any evidence at all that kids would end up sick then I could see that viewpoint. The overwhelming evidence suggests they are in much worse danger driving to school or to athletic event than even getting seriously ill from COVID, much less dying. It's hard for kids in our area to see the "Big Picture" when they don't know anyone in their county, or even in the surrounding ones that has died from the virus. My daughter had a bone marrow transplant when she was young so she would fall into the immune-compromised category. From the start our family has tried to gather as much information as we could to make good decisions on how much risk to take. Sifting through all the propaganda and politically driven agenda's is hard but we made the decision if travel softball kicked back up then she would be playing. I worry too may decisions are made just to protect government, schools, and people from liability if something does happen, no matter how small the chance.

Just curious if you have any kids in high school? I have a daughter who will be a senior this year. If school and sports are shut down it will greatly effect where she goes to college, scholarship opportunities, if she continues to play sports, and many other aspects of her life. I also was very close to several students who were students this past spring when things go shut down. You don’t get that year back. It’s easy as adults to dismiss how important school, prom, graduation, and youth and high school sports are. They shape what kind of adults we become. There has already been harm done to students, athletes, schools, and colleges that will take a long while to recover. If things continue to be negatively effected then the damage done may never be able to be fixed. Views on this tend to be based on how it effects you personally. Since this started almost all negative effects for me and all the people I know closely have been from the lockdowns not the virus. My wife’s uncle spent a couple days in the hospital with COVID and he was extremely high risk but recovered and is fine. If you continue to take away freedoms from people your leading them into a dark place. I don’t mind the social distancing and even the mask wearing but I can’t see shutting down schools and the economy any more unless you are ok with starting a major change in America as we know it. It’s been said over and over but it’s true. The cure can’t be worse than the disease. The country has been through numerous crisis in the past including pandemics and never reacted this way. I feel like people should be responsible enough to decide for themselves the path. If enough people had been adversely effected by the disease you wouldn’t see them filling every restaurant to capacity, wanting schools open, or sports to resume.