Why public health is the most important thing right now — even more so than sports
Fred Hoiberg had been coughing and wiping his brow more often than I wanted to see — considering the global health crisis — Wednesday night during the first round of the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament in Indianapolis. The Nebraska head coach leaned back into the scorer’s table in need of its support before wiping moisture off his face.
“He looks awful,” I said to another reporter, motioning to Hoiberg while sitting approximately 6 feet behind him. “Why the hell is he coaching?”
Seriously, though, why the hell was he coaching? And why the hell were the fans still in attendance?
The Big Ten had already determined fans wouldn’t be allowed in the remainder of the Big Ten Tournament (which was canceled 14 hours later) and the planet was stirring with concerns about the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19. Two days later, the president would declare a national emergency.
But hey, as long as we get to watch basketball.
And I get it. I fully understand the sentiment that we need sports to distract us from our day-to-day lives when our day-to-day lives aren’t going perfectly. But now is not the time for that. Now is the time to work together to ensure we can get through a pandemic with as little damage to society as possible — even if that means canceling the biggest sporting events of the season.
For some people, that means avoiding getting sick. For others, it’s avoiding death. That’s what some need to understand. This may not be a life-or-death situation for those with fully functioning immune systems, but that’s not everybody. If you need an explanation on why that’s the case, I’d implore you do research on the impact of COVID-19 on the elderly and others with compromised immunity.
We need to ensure those people are not put in a position where their lives are at risk through no fault of their own. They can self-quarantine all they want, but if a sibling, grandchild, friend or whoever else wants to visit and unknowingly has the virus, they’re now exposed.
That’s why we need to be careful and make sure we aren’t putting other people at risk, especially when we know we’re sick — whatever the illness might be.
Which brings me back to Hoiberg.
Why coach a basketball team when you’re sick enough to point it out to people before tip-off, like Hoiberg did to Indiana head coach Archie Miller? From my seat four feet behind his team’s bench, I could easily see how sick he was.
Alas, there he was, urging his team on from the sideline.
Until he wasn’t.
With 3:53 left on the clock in the second half and the game in a media timeout, I scanned the bench for the Nebraska head coach. He wasn’t there. Suspicion increased within 20 minutes after Indiana put the finishing touches on its win over Nebraska. Then an announcement was made.
Hoiberg wouldn’t be talking and neither were his players. Not long after, word spread rapidly that he was taken to the hospital for treatment. It was easy to see why people jumped to the conclusion they did. Hoiberg was sick with flu-like symptoms while a virus that looks eerily similar to the flu was bringing the sports world to a halt.
We knew why he went to the hospital, we knew what they would test him for. The next questions were even more obvious. What do we do if he tests positive for COVID-19? Are we at risk?
Then, another ominous sign. The entire Nebraska men’s basketball team was still at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, in its assigned locker room, under quarantine until Hoiberg’s results came back.
I was only there to get some prep work done on Penn State’s first opponent in the Big Ten Tournament. But I found myself in an arena with an entire basketball team quarantined because of its head coach.
And it wasn’t just me. Anybody who came in contact with Hoiberg was concerned. The tension would’ve been palpable if not for the intrinsic nature of those in the media room to add levity to the situation.
Fortunately for us, the situation subsided. Hoiberg was released from the hospital after testing positive for Influenza A, and Nebraska was allowed to get on its team bus and leave the arena. The media went on its way and the night came to a conclusion.
That doesn’t change how reckless it was for Hoiberg to coach. If Hoiberg had tested negative for influenza and instead tested positive for COVID-19, an entire arena of people would’ve been exposed to a virus that has caused a pandemic.
We know how easy it is for the virus to spread. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus can be spread “between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet)“ or “through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.”
That’s why we have to cancel large gatherings, including sporting events, and that’s why we have to be cautious when we get sick or are around someone who’s sick.
If you don’t get to go out like you wanted to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or don’t get to go to the Blue-White Game, then so be it.
I won’t be visiting my grandmother or my parents, and I won’t be golfing or going to the movies for a while.
My fun isn’t more important than protecting public health.
And neither is yours.
This story was originally published March 14, 2020 at 4:58 PM.
