Pritzker keeps youth football on sidelines
Guv blames GOP for failure to aid states, cities in pandemic, appeals to congressional delegation
Gov. Pritzker held the line against opening high-school football this fall at Wednesday’s coronavirus briefing. (Illinois.gov)
By Ted Cox
As the Big Ten Athletic Conference ran a reverse and declared its college teams ready to play football on Wednesday, the governor and leading state health experts held the line against high schools donning helmets and shoulder pads this fall.
Pointing out that the major universities across the Midwest, including the University of Illinois, have resources to test for and deter the spread of COVID-19, even in contact sports like football, Gov. Pritzker insisted their situation is “much different from high-school sports — it just is.”
Speaking at a coronavirus briefing at the Thompson Center in Chicago, Pritzker insisted, “All over the world, youth sports have proved to be very problematic.”
After previously voting to delay the football season to spring — same as the Illinois High School Association — the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously Wednesday to resume play the weekend of Oct. 23. But it emphasized it was also adopting “significant medical protocols including daily antigen testing, enhanced cardiac screening, and an enhanced data-driven approach” to monitor competition both in practices and in games.
“I don’t know how many high-school teams or grade-school teams would have the ability to provide that level of daily testing,” said Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike.
“Contact team sports, such as football and hockey, can become superspreading events very easily,” said Dr. Michael Lin, an expert in infectious diseases at Rush University Hospital. He agreed high schools do not have the resources of major land-grant institutions to monitor and prevent the spread of outbreaks. “Postponing contact sports,” he said, “will prevent infections and save lives.” He called that “an act of love and sacrifice to our fellow human beings.”
Pritzker said parallels with pro sports that have resumed play also did not apply, pointing out hockey and basketball players are residing in “bubbles” with minimal social contact — a policy to be followed in the baseball playoffs as well — while baseball and football players are closely monitored and subject to daily testing.
“That’s not what’s available to the vast majority of young people who play sports in Illinois,” he said.
Pointing out that an outbreak tied to youth sports in Wayne County left 100 players quarantined and found 37 testing positive for COVID-19, he said, “Under no circumstances will I put children and their families at risk.”
“The time to relax is not now,” Lin said, “especially as we head into the fall and winter season with so many lives at risk.”
“The time to relax is not now, especially as we head into the fall and winter season with so many lives at risk.”
Dr. Michael Lin (Illinois.gov)
Pritzker heard complaints from reporters at the news briefing, just as he’s heard complaints from players and their families, but he was adamant about the risks. “Living together in a free society means neighbors protecting each other so that we can all enjoy freedom and safety,” he said. “This deadly virus should remind us that there are some individual choices that have enormous life-changing impact on others. While parents might choose to send their children out onto the playing field, I can tell you that someone else who becomes ill because of that decision wouldn’t call that ‘your personal choice.’”
Pritzker said it is paramount to keep schools and businesses open.
On that note, he renewed appeals for states and local governments to receive critical federal COVID-19 relief to make up for revenues lost in the ongoing pandemic. “We’re trying very hard just to address the failure of resources that was created by COVID-19,” Pritzker said.
“State and municipal budgets across the nation and here in Illinois are being decimated,” he said, “and Republicans in Washington have so far decided that sending trillions of dollars to corporations is more important than providing support for public safety, human services, mental health, and senior care, among others.”
Pritzer said he’d sent a letter to members of the Illinois congressional delegation pointing out the “potentially bleak picture for our schools, our firefighters, our law enforcement, our universities, our health-care system — all of our middle-class, working-class, and poor families — if the Republicans don’t work with the Democrats on behalf of our national economic recovery.” He warned of “massive service cuts that will have immediate effects on residents.”
House Democrats passed the $3 trillion HEROES Act in May, with almost a third of that set to go to state and local governments, but it’s been ignored by Senate Republicans. They recently tried to pass what they called a “skinny” relief package of less than $1 trillion, but it failed to get the votes to clear the Senate.
Repeating threats that he could potentially have to institute across-the-board budget cuts in all state agencies of 5 percent in the current fiscal year and 10 percent next year, Pritzker said, “Without help from Republicans in Washington, that translates directly into potential layoffs and a massive reduction of essential services for families across our state. That will deepen our economic recession and cause pain for all Americans.”
Pritzker said he also sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections pointing out the state faces an unprecedented number of requests to vote by mail in the fall general election, while also facing a shortage of thousands of election judges — posts usually staffed by retirees and older residents, who also are more at risk of dire consequences from COVID-19. He called on ISBE to use $4 million in funding from the Help America Vote Act to arrange secure drop boxes for ballots and to recruit election judges. He insisted the time to act is now, not to rue what might have been done the day after the election Nov. 3.
Ezike announced 1,941 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide Wednesday, bringing the total to 266,151, while 35 deaths took the state toll to 8,367. But with more than 50,000 new tests conducted, the statewide seven-day positivity rate stood at 3.7 percent.
Pritzker pointed out the positivity rate in Metro East, Region 4 in the plan to Restore Illinois, had dropped under double digits to 8.9 percent, evidence “mitigations can work if they’re followed,” as the region has had to suspend indoor dining and bar service.
He applauded Region 7, which has faced the same restrictions, for lowering its positivity rate to 6.4 percent — below the 6.5 percent threshold allowing the region to reopen indoor bars and dining, if it can sustain that level for three consecutive days. “Will and Kankakee counties are so far getting the job done,” Pritzker said, “and we’re rooting for them.”