A way to reduce covid cancellations.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

As we have seen fit young men in sport struggling to recover fitness having caught Covid it would suggest it would give most of us a kick in the nether regions if you got got it.
The quicker way forward is more likely to be the Oxford Vaccine (cheaper & easier to transport & store)
Some of the best stuff I have read re the whole situation has been in the bits written in Private Eye by "MD".
The problem with the current situation is the way many countries didn't do what NZ, South Korea did & effectively get rid of it before opening up again, if you start from a base level of zero its easier to deal with a handful of new cases.
Wolves have stopped their players & families going to supermarkets to reduce risk.

[TigerFeetSteve]

1. I made this thread to discuss a possible way of getting games on, not debate if we are in a deadly pandemic.

2. No Mullins Never stated we're using it wrongly an old quote of his has been widely misquoted
https://fullfact.org/online/pcr-test-mullis/

3. All I stated was that hospital bed usage was currently very high. Given it's currently high 80's % I consider that high.

4. I generally go with the scientific community for things like this. Such as friends I have that are doctors or a brother in law who works in medical research.

[Scott1]

As we have seen fit young men in sport struggling to recover fitness having caught Covid it would suggest it would give most of us a kick in the nether regions if you got got it.
The quicker way forward is more likely to be the Oxford Vaccine (cheaper & easier to transport & store)
Some of the best stuff I have read re the whole situation has been in the bits written in Private Eye by "MD".
The problem with the current situation is the way many countries didn't do what NZ, South Korea did & effectively get rid of it before opening up again, if you start from a base level of zero its easier to deal with a handful of new cases.
Wolves have stopped their players & families going to supermarkets to reduce risk.

The vast young men in sport didn’t even know they had it mate until they were tested!

[Scott1]

1. I made this thread to discuss a possible way of getting games on, not debate if we are in a deadly pandemic.

2. No Mullins Never stated we're using it wrongly an old quote of his has been widely misquoted
https://fullfact.org/online/pcr-test-mullis/

3. All I stated was that hospital bed usage was currently very high. Given it's currently high 80's % I consider that high.

4. I generally go with the scientific community for things like this. Such as friends I have that are doctors or a brother in law who works in medical research.

There’s more room in the hospitals than this time last year! Figures to back it up too. And you do know that the NHS guidelines are to run the tests at 45ct too?

[Tigerbeat]

Please can we stick to the topic which was as said, to find a way of getting games on.
Politics and sport do not mix very well and would respectfully ask that discussions are kept on a sporting line.

[Tiglon]

How to reduce cancellations? Require every club to register two separate groups of players, essentially two 23's plus any extras, that do not mix at all. Positive case in group one? No problem, group two plays today. Not enough players? I'm sure there are enough sitting at home in the Championship who could be loaned for the season and whose low wages BT Sport could easily cover to ensure they get some matches to broadcast to their customers.

Don't like that idea? Just allow Premiership clubs to loan in Championship players at short notice - again, BT Sport could cover their wages for the week, I'm sure there are plenty available who could play safely in the Premiership and whose wages would be insignificant to BT.

It seems crazy that there are so many professional rugby players sat at home twiddling their thumbs while we call off matches because a club doesn't have enough players available. Let's help them out with some opportunities and allow more matches to go ahead.

[Cardiff Tig]

Surely the way forward is to just cancel all contact training sessions this season. I'm assuming that most cases of self isolation are because of a contact session e.g. scrum practice means that if the hooker tests positive then 1 or 2 sets of props are then forced to isolate. Then move testing to a Friday (would mean no Friday night games though). Would almost eliminate the issue of games being called off.

[jgriffin]

Thanks Tigerbeat for your wise words. Having a daughter who is working extra shifts to help cover COVID wards, and has seen her old consultant die of it, let alone personal experiences, entertaining conspiracy rubbish when we are considering serious ways to continue safe sport was upsetting, enraging and disgusting.

[JP14]

It is annoying when matches are cancelled, but that’s just life at the moment, unfortunately whilst some players do have antibodies they are still spreading the virus around so that should be avoided as much as possible. I know everyone on this forum loves rugby, but the prevention of someone vulnerable getting Covid is much preferable to trying to prevent disruption in the league, there is a right to life but not a right to be un-inconvenienced.

In my view, had the Devonians kept their traps shut and thought of other people for a change (although given their blatant refusal to rebrand demonstrates their shocking lack of consideration anyway), we could have cancelled the 19/20 season like the French had done and start the 20/21 season when it should have started, thus giving time to being able to fit in postponed fixtures. I know I was desperate for the 19/20 season to be finished, but that’s because I didn’t want Leicester to finish 11th when I knew we were capable of finishing higher and I also expected Premiership Rugby to get their act together for a restart in the start of July not the end of August by which time there was no point in restarting.

[fentiger]

JP, I'll raise your 'Premiership Rugby', 'their act together' and include 'RFU" as words that don't exist in the same sentence

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

JP, I'll raise your 'Premiership Rugby', 'their act together' and include 'RFU" as words that don't exist in the same sentence

Neither outfit should could include Professional either.

Unfortunately its difficult to discuss this subject without causing "moderator palpitations", whilst sport & politics should not usually mix..(apartheid being an exception...not a great example for Rugby unfortunately...), anything Covid related is tied to advice, rules etc. I personally find it slightly odd that elite sport gets a "pass", it would appear that the ECB method in the summer is the only, as close to fool proof method to use, but not practical in a "league" scenario.

[teds]

In the spirit of the thread title I wonder if there may be an argument for vaccinating top tier participants sooner than their age and health would otherwise dictate. This would help life get back to a bit of normality for all of us. Tigers on Boxing Day was the only thing I was looking forward to watching on tv this xmas.

I could see an argument for suspending the premiership for three weeks and vaccinating all players perhaps around Easter or whenever the second wave begins to recede so the last few rounds could be played out in full.

[JP14]

JP, I'll raise your 'Premiership Rugby', 'their act together' and include 'RFU" as words that don't exist in the same sentence

Yes very true I’m afraid.

[mol2]

It would be hard for most teams to keep two 23 man squads fit in normal times, let alone when a number of them could easily be withdrawn because for a positive covid test.

Test and trace is not an effective control method when numbers are high so that's not going to provide a way out in the short term. If anything testing will take more players out in the short to medium term.

Previous infection and positive antibodies should mean that the individual is unlikely to get a significant infection in the immediate future but, to be blunt Covid hasn't been around long enough to know this with certainty. It may just be that they can still get asymptomatic infections and could pass it on.

A mass roll out of vaccinations should be the way out but we have only just begun that program and it will be a significant time before that is enough to put out the fire.

Until that time we will have to rely on testing to be reasonably sure that a game is safe to go ahead.

The price of covid has been high. However the return to normal life is tantalisingly close. Until that point crowds at sports events are not going to happen.

For those who cite there being more empty beds than normal in the hospitals should not forget that in normal years bed capacity is at best marginal as is intensive care capacity. To "create" these beds quite a lot of major surgery that might need ITU care is being delayed. There may be Nightingale hospitals but the nurses and Drs with the training and skills to man them are simply not there. You can't simply redeploy a psychiatrist to operate a ventilator. Returning life to normal over the winter would result in more infections that Covid increasing, all the other normal winter viruses that put the elderly in hospital will increase too.