Outbreak Map 4 hours ago
It was indeed a very sad day for the Sport yesterday as the Coronavirus was officially declared a 'pandemic' and states began to close schools beginning with Ohio. In less than an hour governors were giving press conferences like Governor Kemp did. The GHSA had a preliminary announcement around 3pm leaving it to local school systems to decide on on the course of action to take, but just before 5pm updated their recommendation with Executive Director Robin Hines stating:
After this, WSB TV began to report school systems closing down rapidly beginning with Rome City and shortly after Cobb County, Atlanta City, Decatur City, Marietta City and DeKalb County closed schools and the domino effect had began in the metro ATL and Northeast Georgia school systems. Oconee County, Clarke County, Dougherty County (Albany) and Bibb County (Macon) have also shut down schools and Muscogee County (Columbus) has suspended Spring Sports thru 4/6. President Trump just concluded a press conference declaring a 'National Emergency'
Effective at 6am today all extracurricular activities including Spring Sports were suspended/cancelled. After speaking with a major Timer this afternoon and Fast Feet, all meets had been cancelled thru at least 3/27 in Georgia. Apparently with schools being closed no official practices, meets, activities can be held on school grounds or with the team's head or assistant coaches off grounds. Individuals of course can work out alone, but not with their coach or on school grounds.
The Coronavirus
The Coronavirus (also known as COVID-19, SARS Cov-2, and the novel coronavirus) is a viral respiratory infection with symptoms and severity that is similar to the flu. There have been many different percentages reported as far as how deadly this infection can be, but the safest approximation is to consider it a flu like illness that spreads more rapidly and is more dangerous to the elderly than children or adolescents. The numbers vary, but we estimate that 10-15% of people becoming infected will have severe symptoms, and roughly 5% will require medical care beyond an outpatient medical office visit. Health officials state the situation is going to get much worse before it begins to get better. Currently, there are 2025 confirmed cases and 48 deaths from coronavirus in the USA.
Key Points:
•FLU like symptoms
•Rapid spread among communities
•Many people will be asymptomatic or have mild symptoms but still capable of spreading the virus
Second, what's the big deal about social distancing and other measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (the CDC)? While COVID-19 is viral illness that is not any more deadly than those we see regularly this time or year, there are several factors that make this particular illness dangerous. We do not have any effective vaccines or treatments for COVID-19, meaning those that get seriously ill require extended periods of supportive care such as hospitalizations and even intensive care units. Also, there are few people with existing immunity as there have not been previous episodes of this virus affecting the community and therefore no one has developed a resistance to the infection. Therefore, when this virus gets into a community, it has the potential to spread rapidly and overwhelm our ability to care for the small percentage that get seriously ill.
Key Points:
•This virus has a unique ability to spread rapidly in communities
•Rapid spread leading to large numbers of cases happening at once can overwhelm healthcare resources
•The most effective strategy we have is to try to slow the spread to a rate that can be managed by our system's resources