what about that garbage court between South Quad and the Beta house?
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My understanding is that everyone in the AD is under a quarantine order.
Hereās what the memo outlined:
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Thanks Ethan for staying on top of this story and keeping us updated.
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I doubt they provide another update until at least 7 days have passed and they can do a full week of testing.
They could have been doing a full week of testing while still playing basketball, just like theyāve been doing this whole time.
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https://twitter.com/bfquinn/status/1354116857729605634?s=21
I was told maybe in 4-5 days, whatever, there are new numbers that come out that maybe give the school some level of āhey, can we bring this team back, can we bring this team backā and start making proposals. Thatās possible, Iām not saying likely. So donāt think that Michigan basketball is playing next week. Iām not saying that at all, but, like, Iām saying thatās really the only scenario that would give Michigan any rope to go back to the state on this thing and try to re-initiate anything.
-Quinn
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One good start would be nailing down with absolute certainty the language appropriate about who makes the call. The state says they made a strong suggestion/recommentation. The school says it faced penalties for non-compliance, which suggests something else. Admittedly I have not done an exhaustive sweep of coverage so maybe thatās out there, but it would be nice if all coverage was really clear on that point. Donāt let the bureaucrats get away with planting their chosen terminologies in these stories.
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To me, that makes the most sense. They shut down the athletic department because of the big increase in the new strain within a short period of time, and it was between multiple teams. Because there are some shared facilities - and Iām sure they have protocols about social distancing and masks and all that, but weāve seen how āgoodā coaches and players are about following these guidelines on live tv (fwiw, I donāt blame them. A lot of protocols are for show when these people are spending so much time together) - they shut it down. Because you could be infected and not test positive until a few days after you contract it, they shut everything down out of caution. After a few days, if whole teams are still testing negative, it makes sense to let them back. We can debate on whether it was the right action, overreaction, or under reaction but I donāt think any of us will really be able to say the other is right or wrong. But I can at least see the logic in the steps the AD has taken. Doesnāt mean itās still not hypocritical overall. And doesnāt excuse them letting someone travel abroad without quarantining. But two wrongs donāt make a right and all those other cliches.
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The impression I get is that this was not done at a level where itās an order and technically would not result in consequences to violate, but that it easily could accelerate in severity if violated. And Michigan is not interested in a PR war with the state even if there were no consequences.
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Same. And I can see the value of making sure both sides agree on a process, and I canāt imagine Michigan telling off the state. Still ā would be good to be absolutely clear on how this will need to work.
Iām hoping that the pause in the athletic department can help turn it into a clean bubble moving forward.
Locking down the city or the county is not realistic. Contact tracing is being attempted in the community, but that is gonna be a challenge. Itās easier to lock down the athletic department, as student-athletes are already held to a higher standard than the rest of the student body and the general population.
Cases of new strains may end up spiking in Michigan in the coming months, but it might be these two weeks that insulate athletics from the next outbreak.
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The issue is that the AD isnāt and was never a bubble together. Teams have been bubbled as teams. Iām sure SAs are following guidelines very differently when they are in season versus out of season.
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I read in the @freep, or maybe @Mlive, that a representative of MHHS was point blank asked if there were penalties involved if UofMAD didnāt follow the āorderā. The rep said it was not an āorderā but a ārecommendationā and that, NO, there are no penalties associated with following the recommendation or not. But the reality is that once the State recommends the isolation it would be difficult and maybe career ending (for some UM official) to not follow the recommendation for fear that the whole AD would blow up with variant cases. It makes me wonder if, or what kind of negotiation there was behind the scenes between the State and the AD before the ārecommendationā was issued.
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Right. Potential liability issues are more of a consideration IMO than consequences from the state. Not following the recommendations from the state leaves the University standing alone holding the bag if things go bad.
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These last two posts are precisely the kind of questions Iād like to see reporters press officials on. We canāt pass judgement on the right thing to do, but some degree of scrutiny over the process would be good. I agree that itās the liability that you would think the university administration would respond to, but theyāve already left themselves exposed if someone who gets B117 alleges that the school was lax in taking precautions ā at least in the court of public opinion it was.
My own personal experience is that the approach to liability is incredibly inconsistent. The university sends academics to all four corners for research, and at times Iāve seen it woefully unprepared for what that means in some places, and specifically in regards to health care and infectious disease. We should not assume competence even if itās a reasonable expectation.
Tom, I think youāre nailed it. This all about liability and potential consequences. I believe OSHA is rewriting the criteria for the COVID health and safety standards for the new administration. Those guidelines will dictate who is responsible for employee and public safety. I believe the UM administration is taking the advice of their legal teams.
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One thing I find strange about the memo from Dr. Kalhdun, chief medical executive of MHHS, to members of U of M staff is that Darryl Conway, who is Michiganās senior associate athletic director and chief health and welfare officer, was not c.cād. Heās also part of the Big Tenās Return to Competition Task Force medical subcommittee. (For what itās worth). How was he not in the line of communication? When is there going to be some, ANY, communication to the public?
Maybe some updates that, hopefully, no student athletes in the WBB or MBB programs have tested positive for the wild or variant virus.
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In a situation of such astonishing complexity, Iām a little amazed at the confidence with which people second-guess Warde, the administration, the health department. Without looking at the chain of command, all of the established guidelinesāinternal, external, plans to reconcile them, knowing to what degree the AD is required to bow to the Presidentās office, etcetera. . . we all touch our piece of the elephant and shout eureka, but. . . My take is always to start with the assumption that most people tend to try to try to act altruistically, and that that likely goes for Warde. . .
But after watching the back and forth here for the last few days I do think that a clarification of the chain of command and process is going to be necessary to provide transparency. A bit of a reckoning/review. I donāt think it will tamp down a basic paranoia that seems to be free-floating out there, but still necessary.
Who knows, they may well be stumbling; they are certainly being required to improvise. Making mistakes is a given in such a complex environment.
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Or in a simpler and not complex situation, to be frank. I donāt know anything about the stateās health department and have no comment about its competence, but, speaking of the university itself, I have my own little pile of puzzling experiences and disappointing observations about some of the organizations within it that I have seen up close, and this tracks.
Iām also not convinced this is by necessity a complex situation. Thereās a template out there and it can be followed. If countries with millions of people and multiple entry points can do it, an athletic department that oversees hundreds of people can do it. Or, if you donāt think all that is feasible or necessary, certainly components of that template can be followed and clearly should have been.
I agree with you in bringing up a chain of command that Warde exists within. I donāt know how that would have prevented him from ensuring an international arrival from a hotspot dosnāt quarantine for at least a few days, but itās a good point. I donāt assume ill will or rank stupidity from any one individual, or think itās required to arrive at points like this.
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This was a REALLY good, open and honest discussion about the situation, from beginning of the pod to the end.
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