Nothing is going to stop the virus, of course. The point is to minimize the spike in cases that is coming soon so the healthcare system in general does not get overwhelmed. My take is that anything that furthers that end is good, and the fact that not every industry is acting with the same speed to take action along those lines (frequently for very good reasons I am sure) does not mean that those that do should be criticized – actually, the opposite.
(To clarify: I’m agreeing with you).
When emergency workers in essential services are left with the choice of doing their jobs or staying home and protecting their families in the event of calamity, we’ve got problems.
Italy is a more cohesive society than that of the United States.
South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and even China have done exponentially better in handling this outbreak. They learned from SARS and other previous infections. The CDC and NIH did not. They were unprepared and have repeatedly made the wrong decisions, especially regarding testing. That’s where we are right now.
I think the idea is that there is danger to traveling there, having the virus spread at the tournament through close contact between players, then it being taken back to many places to infect others
That would obviously be a bad situation, but what is preventing that from happening without basketball? Aren’t players at a higher risk of exposure on a college campus or at home in a public place? Unless one of the players or staff members has coronavirus right now, I don’t see how playing in a game where there are maybe 50 people present who aren’t infected is going to cause the scenario you’re describing.
There is no way of telling who has coronavirus right now because we haven’t been testing, and the incubation period makes it possible to be contagious without showing symptoms.
Poor Coach B can’t get through anything this year. 
My point is, the response so far has been a half-measure. Cancelling a tournament that you’ve already limited exposure to so the participants can return to environments that put them more at-risk is nonsensical. It’s not a necessary step towards accomplishing the goal you’re attempting to accomplish.
So here are my two thoughts:
Looks like Duke put pressure on the ACC to cancel:
https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/duke/article241132426.html
Just before noon, while Florida State’s players warmed up on the court, Price notified his fellow ACC presidents and Swofford that Duke would suspend all athletic competition, including Thursday’s quarterfinal against N.C. State.
“We have been thinking a lot about athletic competition and even after the moves were made to protect the public, I remained concerned about the safety and welfare of our athletes,” Price told the News & Observer on Thursday. “Once the NBA players tested positive, by extrapolation, an incredible number of intercollegiate athletes were potentially exposed.”Price said Duke’s decision was made independently of the several other conferences that canceled their basketball tournaments before the ACC on Thursday.
And putting more pressure on the NCAA
It seems inevitable now that the NCAA tourney will get cancelled. Very sad.
Yup, though in a vacuum, an NCAA tourney without Duke sounds like the best of all worlds.
I agree.Playing in front of arenas that are empty is nothing at this joncture compared to other scenatious. I agree with your assessment. Your workplace is far more dangerous to you and the overall population right now then the big ten tourney minus fans.
Moving and canceling non-essential events should have the impact of placing pressure on workplaces to allow remote work, etc.
These college athletes literally “work” a school that did exactly that (canceling online classes). Having them play a national tournament made no sense.
It makes sense if the players want to participate in it. The same way they’re still allowed to stay on campus if they want to, even though their classes have moved online.