COVID is back this season, maybe with a vengeance.
We thought we were on the other side of the pandemic, heading into an interim year that I’ve been calling the period of personal preference. Even if all the protocols were lifted, the infection rates declining and the stadiums sold out, some people will still stay home.
But it is worse thanks to the Delta variant and other strains that have raised the positive and death rates across America. Live concerts with thousands in attendance have yet to come back, but college and professional sports are still playing thru it, most fans unmasked.
Although every seat in Kenan Stadium may be sold, every seat won’t have a fanny in it when the Tar Heels open the 2021 home season against Georgia State on September 11, the 20-year anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. It may be different the next week against Virginia, which is an ACC opponent with seven more days to take everyone’s temperature, both literally and figuratively.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has been politicized and caused widespread confusion that has kept more people from getting vaccinated. Why does political party or policy keep some from making a decision that is in the best interest of their own health?
“All the tickets have been sold, and we’re expecting 100 percent attendance,” Mack Brown said of the home opener, allowing that “we’re still not sure of the protocols.” That is up to the university or should we say the Board of Governors, which has not dictated mandatory vaccinations on any of the state campuses.
The UNC football team, along with other fall-sport athletes, will be tested twice a week, even though the ACC is requiring only one weekly test. The Carolina campus seems to be doing a better job with clusters but cannot make all students get shots.
Brown has gone back to saying his hundred-or-so players are in a bubble; they can meet, eat and travel together but will be all wearing masks on the bus ride to Blacksburg and home late Friday night. The 70-year-old head coach will likely be masked on the sideline, again.
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