Crimson Corner: How Long are We Going to Keep Doing This?
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How long are we going to keep doing this?
Wednesday felt like the start of a new pandemic for sports media. On top of widespread cancellations of games due to COVID-19's new Omicron variant, the College Football Playoff announced new guidelines for the playoff structure should teams be forced to opt out due to having too many players contract the virus.
For sports writers that covered the Alabama beat, it was even more newsworthy. On top of Alabama basketball having to alter its opponent at the C.M. Newton Classic literally days beforehand due to positive cases on the Colorado State team late last week, news broke on Wednesday that both Alabama football offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien and line coach Doug Marrone had tested positive and will be in quarantine until they recover.
The funny part? Neither O'Brien nor Marrone were exhibiting any symptoms and had taken the tests voluntarily.
Prior to the news breaking on Wednesday for the CFP protocols, media members were already required to not only be vaccinated in order to attend the upcoming Cotton Bowl, but they were also going to be required to wear masks for the duration of every single practice, press conference and event throughout the week. This remains the same.
At least now things have all shifted over to digital, so I doubt that wearing a mask will be required in my hotel room.
Ironically, fans in the stands don't even have to show proof of a negative test much less wear a mask. At least, that's currently the case. Non-vaccinated fans are "encouraged" to wear masks, but we all know how effective that is at getting people to wear them.
This brings us back to the original question: how long are we going to keep doing this?
In the positive news spectrum, an article written on Wednesday by the New York Times revealed that three research teams across two continents had announced that Omicron infections appear to be far milder than its Delta variant counterpart. With over 200 million Americans having received the vaccine and 63 millions having received booster shots, the effects of the virus seem to have dramatically declined.
Not only that, but scientists also believed that Omicron cases might have already peaked worldwide. It spread like wildfire early on due to its highly contagious nature, but the vast majority of people that tested positive were completely fine.
We've all had to make sacrifices throughout the pandemic. We've been forced to give up activities that we took for granted beforehand. We've been forced to alter our entire lifestyle due to the virus. In many cases, we were forced to lose our jobs.
Early on when little was understood about the virus, that was understandable. The full picture of COVID-19 had not been painted yet, and we were asked to remain indoors while scientists not only figured out the full effectiveness of the virus but also developed a vaccine.
Well, both of those have been taken care of now, and yet here we are. Pfizer even recently released a pill, a drug known as Paxlovid that can treat the symptoms of the virus and is expected to be effective against Omicron.
So why are we still seeing games cancelled and complete overhauls of schedules due to a virus that there has been proven to cause incredibly mild symptoms in vaccinated individuals but is also perfectly treatable?
I can't answer that question without saying anything highly controversial, but one thing is clear: this pandemic has turned into a revolving door of sorts. Every time we seem to be coming out of it, some new detail or variant emerges that once again starts the cycle over. To this writer and to millions of people out there, this is growing old.
If there were a new variant that caused widespread harm, this would be a completely different story. However, it's not. It's time that we all get back to our lives.
