“Every man dies, not every man really lives” – William Wallace, as portrayed by Mel Gibson, in “Braveheart”

As colleges grapple with when and how to open their campuses, it has become abundantly clear that even the most learned health experts don’t have all the answers about the future of coronavirus.

Obviously, the best way to avoid more sickness and death is to shutter the entire country and keep everyone quarantined. Even more obviously, that won’t work if we hope to have the economy and democracy we had before the pandemic hit us right in the mouth.

So, every plan to bring students back and conduct extra-curricular activities like sports comes with contingencies. UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz calls his a road map with “off-ramps.”

Some citizens are saying “enough is enough” with the shutdown – let us live our lives, take whatever precautions we want and suffer whatever consequences we must. Others say keep following the science and err on the side of safety.

So, it’s time to execute a plan to the best of our abilities. Older people, and anyone with damaged immune systems, be most careful, stay at home and wait for the virus to pass or a vaccine is invented. Otherwise, live life and if you get sick, call the doctor.

Guskiewicz met with a faculty council last week and laid out the road map. Because it included provisions for students who might test positive – like separate quarantine dorms – some faculty members saw that as an acknowledgment that there will be more sickness.

Mack Brown says his plans change daily, sometimes hourly, because the health experts are running the show. Brown says any players who test positive during training camp will be sent home for up to two weeks. And once classes start and games are played, those infected will quarantine somewhere the experts put them.

The fans? At this point, with millions of dollars at stake, we don’t know who and how many will be allowed into the stadium.  The attitude that seems to be surfacing is, “If you don’t want to take the risk, stay home and watch the game on TV.”

If so, it’s on us, I guess.

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