1/14 Given the @IHSA_IL is deciding soon on the fate of athletics this fall, it is a good time for a thread on the reasons they should be allowed. I'll cover:

2-6: Risk from CV19 in athletics
7-10: Liability and viewpoints
11-12: Benefits for athletes
13-14: Politicization

2/14 Adolescents are at little risk from CV19 and are not the primary vectors.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/reopening-schools.html

3/14 Teachers (and therefore Coaches) are not at a heighted risk per recent research out of Sweden looking at the Scandinavian region: https://twitter.com/InProportion2/status/1287523286524612614

4/14 Many places around the world have returned to school without major issues:
https://news.yahoo.com/german-study-finds-no-evidence-164704005.html

https://politico.com/news/2020/06/10/european-school-reopeningsreduce-virus-concerns-for-most-312595

https://wsj.com/articles/is-it-safe-to-reopen-schools-these-countries-say-yes-11590928949

https://cgdev.org/blog/back-school-tracking-covid-cases-schools-reopen

https://eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.21.2000903

https://reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-denmark-reopening/reopening-schools-in-denmark-did-not-worsen-outbreak-data-shows-idUSKBN2341N7

https://theguardian.com/world/2020/may/18/french-minister-tells-of-risks-of-missing-school-as-more-pupils-return-covid-19

https://medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.16.20062141v1.full.pdf

5/14 More than half of CV19 deaths are in nursing home settings and Illinois positive % has stayed low even with re-openings, contact tracing, and hotspot testing:

6/14 Moving sports to the spring could actually worsen the risk of CV19 exposure as seasonal fluctuations may indicate that CV19 spreads more in our latitude during the March-May period: https://twitter.com/malkusm/status/1285250379190546437

7/14 Many have said that liability is a major issue with returning to play in the fall. This reasoning seems to have no basis as many other states are going ahead with fall sports and have obviously found a way to manage CV19 liability (image from @NUICFootball):

8/14 Additionally, Iowa provides a pilot study of outdoor sports during CV19. They had thousands of baseball/softball games with limited fans and faced no major spike. 97% of softball and 96% of baseball teams were able to finish their season:

9/14 Furthermore, @IDPH and @GovPritzker are allowing Club/Youth sports to play this fall as it does not conflict with Illinois’ Phase 4 rules:

10/14 All around the country parent surveys indicate they want their kids back around other children. They understand it will be different but there is still a desire for some return to normalcy:

11/14 Athletics is not just about entertainment, for many children (especially those with difficult home environments) involvement in athletics can reduce harm from suicide, gun violence, drugs, etc.

12/14 Cancellations hurt low-income athletes as they can’t always afford club sports.

Additionally, athletes may be more exposed to CV19 from cancellations as they will instead hang-out, play club sports, play pick-up games, etc. They will not just be staying home alone.

13/14 For months, head of the @IHSA_IL, @cahome25, has been in high-level meetings with experts, public health officials, and politicians. He has NO hesitation about letting his son play football this fall.

14/14 Sadly, much of this issue in Illinois is political and not based on science or protecting adolescents. The decision making process from @govpritzker’s office uses inaccurate information to bully the @IHSA_IL