According to a report from USA TODAY, COVID-19 cases were on the rise in every Power Five conference’s footprint last week. This comes as students return to campus and three of the Power Five conferences — the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 — have decided to forge ahead with plans on playing this fall.
It also comes in the midst of Big Ten parents, fans, administrators, and media members slamming the conference and Commissioner Kevin Warren. Many believe the conference jumped the gun by postponing the fall football season and also lacked transparency and communication throughout the decision-making process.
It’s still early, but the data collected from the Emory COVID-19 Health Equity Dashboard and analyzed by Pooja Naik, a master of public health candidate at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, suggests moving ahead without caution may put student-athletes in harm’s way.
The seven-day average of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents grew at least 25% during the past week in counties with Power Five colleges while several campuses had students moving back. The average fell 9% during the same period across the country.
County-level data suggests bringing back college football too soon might put Power Five conference players in harm's way.
This visual story displays the facts. https://t.co/qQZMjxtxpn
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) August 31, 2020
Again, it’s too early to really draw a ton of conclusions, but it is the first time in August that locations with Power Five schools showed an increase in their seven-day moving averages per 100,000 residents.
We didn’t write the memo, we’re just passing it along as another side to all of this. Do with it as you will. We’ll continue to see how all the data trends.
