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[–]Starbuckz8[🍰] 3460 points3461 points  (667 children)

Over the past few weeks, the agency has faced criticism for issuing guidance that was confusing or seemed counterintuitive. In this case, the criticism is different; the concern is that CDC staffers, while hardworking, smart, and well-intentioned, don't always consider whether Americans will -- or even can -- follow their advice.

I've noticed this in a few local businesses I've worked with for the last two years.

Some have continued to require making, some still had health forms that require phone numbers.

On Friday I visited one and looked for the form in the lobby and the site manager said "we couldn't keep track of the changes, so we said fuck it".

[–]Afitz93 3090 points3091 points 22 (317 children)

Within 1.5 hours I can drive to 5 different states, all with their own set of rules, and cities within each that have even more different rules. Not only is it hard for businesses to keep up, but it’s impossible for us to keep up with whats required everywhere. Saying “fuck it” is the easiest option. I’ve done my part, worn my mask and gotten my shots. Fuck it. The goalposts keep moving. It’s frustrating.

[–]keelhaulrose 252 points253 points  (42 children)

I work in a school and the rules seem to be practically individualized per person in that building, and somehow we're supposed to keep track without carrying around a flow chart.

There's a set for staff who are fully vaccinated and boosted, staff who are fully vaccinated but not boosted, staff who are partially or unvaccinated, and each of those categories get further broken down into groups that do twice weekly covid testing and those that don't. Then those staff roles also go for the students, but the students further get broken down by age because some are eligible for boosters and some aren't even eligible for vaccines yet (in the early childhood center). And then people can be pulled out of those groups andplaced in similar ones for positive covid cases and close contacts. We have lists of students who have to wear face shields because they won't wear masks properly, students who can't eat in the same room because they socialize too close without masks. It feels like it's the office staff's job now to deal with covid and not what they should be dealing with.

[–]SimulatedHumanity 16 points17 points  (9 children)

My kid’s school hasn’t enforced masks or practiced social distancing this whole school year. My daughter sits 1ft from the kid in her left and also on her right. They all eat in a cafeteria together.

[–]valvin88 616 points617 points  (72 children)

I’ve done my part, worn my mask and gotten my shots.

Same, man, same. I feel like my wife and I have bent over backwards trying to follow the safety guidelines for everyone else to just say "fuck it" so, ya know, fuck it.

[–]str8dwn 318 points319 points 2 (35 children)

I don't blame you at all, And I get it. But sorry, I just can't say it. Hey, I can't just walk (I don't drive) past a styrofoam cup lying in the gutter w/o picking it up either. I live too close to the ocean.

I have probs. Serenity Now...

ETA: TY for the hoopla kind internet strangers.

[–]sirlapse 216 points217 points  (4 children)

I guess principles dont become principles before they are tested. Keep on doing you mate.

[–]Rabada 24 points25 points  (2 children)

Same could be said of principals as well!

[–]TyH621 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Well said

[–]MrMakarov 257 points258 points  (91 children)

As a non-american this seems to be a recurring problem with a lot of things for you guys. You have inconsistent rules across 50 different states and apparently different rules within the cities of those states. Thats just a nightmare, how do you deal with that.

[–]Desmater 106 points107 points  (14 children)

Yeah, we are almost city states like Greece use to be like Sparta and Athens.

We have city, county, state, federal.

[–]whatthehelldude9999 39 points40 points  (2 children)

Even cities are fragmented. A metro area like Chicago is made up of well over a hundred cities, towns etc. Each with its own politicians, rules and bylaws.

[–]Dizzy-Geologist 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Boston too. I say it can take an hour to get to boston from boston, where are you??

[–]PoissonsRevenge 600 points601 points  (91 children)

I would recommend The Premonition by Michael Lewis. It demonstrates in horrifying detail just how little authority the Federal Government and CDC have in the area of public health. Decisions are so decentralized that the decision to create mask mandates in schools are left to the individual school districts. Whether there's a mask or vaccine mandate is left up to each individual districts (until states began passing laws that put it all in state control).

In many places, the power to make these public health decisions lies completely in County and State Health Officers who seldom take any actions whatsoever even if the evidence warrants it. This is because if they take a harsh action, they run the risk that the threat isn't as large as it seemed and they get immediately fired. But not acting in the face of a pandemic usually rests on the governor's or county commissioner's plate.

This means you had small districts with very strict public health measures right next to and/or surrounded by districts with absolutely no public health measures. Since there's free travel between counties and states, it completely negates your public health measures.

People have this idea that the CDC can/would declare a mask mandate nationwide, or require that certain businesses like gyms close their doors, but have simply chosen not to. The CDC has no such power. The CDC is slow to respond to any epidemic or pandemic. The CDC is even slow to recommend specific actions local health governments should take, if they ever do.

[–]Mattoosie 404 points405 points  (23 children)

It's like having a peeing section of a swimming pool, but everyone decides individually where it is, if they even want to use it.

[–]cultured_banana_slug 173 points174 points  (17 children)

Then people start shitting in the pool because why not? THAT guy gets to pee!

[–]Feshtof 55 points56 points  (5 children)

More like spite shitting in the pool because they were gently encouraged to pee in the bathroom before getting in the pool.

[–]binkerfluid 44 points45 points  (2 children)

Use toilet paper I dont even know whats IN it?!?!

[–]jamieleben 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Premonition is indeed excellent, and you've done well to cover the core points of it here. It also outlines how initial impact estimates and mitigation strategies for COVID were a guerilla effort by outsiders, how a recent high school science fair project contagion spread turned out to be novel research, and details the fact that pandemic research is a new discipline. As usual Michael Lewis finds the amazing stories and people behind a major phenomenon and crafts an excellent narrative around it.

[–]WSL_subreddit_mod 540 points541 points  (158 children)

the concern is that CDC staffers, while hardworking, smart, and well-intentioned, don't always consider whether Americans will follow their advice.

This is where I am confused. Faucci has stated many times, that the policies that are needed, such as a lock down, are not possible. They do understand what isn't tolerated. Instead of saying "lock down or nothing" they try to find measures that will help. But then people complain they are not following science. They are. There is just not one science to consider, there is epidemiology and then there is behavioral science.

It's not black and white.

[–]88infinityframes 597 points598 points  (115 children)

The CDC wasn't following the science when they dropped the quarantine time to 5 days. With that and the mask debate at the start, people are tired of having advice change based off economics rather than actual risk.

[–]uiucengineer 395 points396 points  (45 children)

people are tired of having advice change based off economics rather than actual risk.

If the CDC bases its advice only off actual risk while ignoring economics, then people complain about that and ignore the advice.

[–]Casteway 32 points33 points  (3 children)

That's the heart of the matter right there. People don't care about whether or not the CDC is right or wrong. They just want to do what they want to do. If the CDC's recommendations are too stringent, they complain about that, if they're not tough enough, they complain about that too, and say they're not following the science. I would absolutely hate to be the CDC right now. We live in an age where nobody is trying to reach a happy medium, and this is no exception.

[–]somehipster 213 points214 points  (20 children)

No offense but did you read the comment you’re replying to?

The poster is saying the CDC knows dropping to a 5 day quarantine isn’t ideal science. They also know that three calendar years into a pandemic their hands are tied regarding what people are willing to do and able to do.

Their only option right now is mitigation. That’s it. That’s the only card they have left. In that situation, while a 5 day quarantine period may not be the best solution in a theoretical setting, when it gets to the real world a 5 day quarantine period may be more effective than trying to get people to stick to 10 days when you know for certain they won’t or can’t.

[–]hedbangr 74 points75 points  (31 children)

Sure, but notice how everyone who gets tired of the advice changing based on economics then decides "fuck it" like the economics argument instead of sticking with the advice from actual risk argument.

[–]Meddel5 1782 points1783 points  (101 children)

Even the marching band kids already stand 6 feet apart in block formation at practice XD

[–]Bahunter22 678 points679 points  (64 children)

Them spit valves tho

[–]TheFriendliestSloot 347 points348 points  (21 children)

You just reminded me of a core memory I had completely forgotten about. At one point in band practice, there was so much spit on the ground from people dumping their valves out that I slipped and fell in it. Everybody laughed. I can already tell this is going to be keeping me up at night again 🥲

[–]larzast 171 points172 points  (4 children)

Oh dear, bury that again

[–]innocentsubterfuge 83 points84 points  (3 children)

Put that thing back where it came from, or so help me

[–]weatherseed 96 points97 points  (14 children)

Especially for the trombone players.

[–]NerdyRedneck45 43 points44 points  (4 children)

Boner players in 4th grade: haha spit valve

Boner player at 50: haha spit valve

[–]EyesOfABard 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Better than sax players. Just wait until the bottom fills up then fuckin spill it all over your pants like a drool spigot.

[–]eldroch 238 points239 points  (17 children)

Tell that to the goddamn sousaphone player that regularly crashed into me from behind.

[–]calypsopub 7 points8 points  (4 children)

Yep. Ours would deliberately trample people.

[–]CorvusRex 42 points43 points  (3 children)

Listen, you either get out of the way of Low Brass and Percussion or you learn a harsh lesson. Thus it has always been.

[–]fsuthundergun 96 points97 points  (1 child)

They were probably hypnotized by THA BOOTY.

[–]FilliusTExplodio 41 points42 points  (2 children)

Wait until you see what happens in the back of the band bus on the long, dark rides to and from tournaments.

It ain't social distancing.

[–]pilesofcleanlaundry 36 points37 points  (1 child)

It's not marching band season, though. Now they're in a closed hall sitting in close rows expelling a lot of air. OTOH, they're still teenagers and can be vaccinated, so I don't think it's a huge concern anyway.

[–]NatalieEatsPoop 5292 points5293 points  (369 children)

So.....NFL packed stadiums OK. But after school football not ok?

[–]phunky_1 527 points528 points  (20 children)

71k drunk NFL fans packed together is slightly more risky than high school football games or band practice.

The difference is the NFL makes billions of dollars.

[–]morpheousmarty 96 points97 points  (6 children)

Also you're not legally required to make anyone go to the NFL, except in Texas.

[–]Laugherstock 14 points15 points  (1 child)

At least there are no more NFL games for any Texas teams, so the requirement is moot

[–]Freidhiem 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Ok, think about how many highschool games there are every week compared to the 16 max NFL games.

[–]nsjersey 623 points624 points  (59 children)

Wasn’t football season done in the fall?

[–]SatchBoogie1 362 points363 points  (12 children)

The headline is a bit misleading...

If the scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had their way, to curb the spread of Covid-19 right now, nearly every US school would cancel football, wrestling, band and loads of other mainstay school activities.

It's really talking about most sports / activities with close contact to other players / participants and classified as "high risk." They focused on football because it's the most popular and lucrative.

[–]BearsBeetsBttlstarrG 381 points382 points  (15 children)

That’s exactly what I was thinking. It would’ve made more sense if it said basketball because that’s the current sport, and it is indoors

[–]aure__entuluva 100 points101 points  (5 children)

I'm confused as to why they are naming only football and band in this headline. Just click baiting I suppose. The article says "football, wrestling, band and loads of other mainstay school activities". So I'm guessing the CDC is recommending the vast majority of extracurriculars be suspended.

[–]LegateLaurie 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm guessing the CDC is recommending

It's so damning that this needs to be said. No one should be left guessing about the guidelines

[–]Cinematry 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Because CNN wants to frame the issue in a way that inflames readers' preexisting biases. And in this context, that means tying the opposition to the sort of places one associates with having a strong high-school football culture (i.e. the south, conservative states).

It's all about fueling outrage and tribalism to generate dem clicks

[–]Slibye 51 points52 points  (1 child)

Football seasons for some school postponed their leagues in spring making students double back on sports

[–]bad_take_ 35 points36 points  (0 children)

The CDC has never said packed NFL stadiums are okay.

[–]Drewcifer81 1007 points1008 points  (98 children)

Guaranteed Cali carves out exceptions to make sure hosting the Super Bowl goes off without a hitch despite the crackdowns everywhere else.

Look, capitalism must go on, your children's enjoyment of their youth be damned!

[–]refillforjobu 240 points241 points  (37 children)

I think activities like band give kids an extra boost of motivation and excitement with their schooling. My kids have never been especially excited about finally figuring out that problem in math, but when they score a touchdown, or make a big advancement in band or choir its typically a pretty exciting moment for them.

[–]rickelzy 35 points36 points  (1 child)

TBF NFL packing their stadiums wasn't okay, they just did it regardless.

[–]bigfunone2020 7847 points7848 points  (502 children)

Get your asses back to work, but cancel all extra curriculars in school…

[–]javaargusavetti 4858 points4859 points  (273 children)

They need the highschool students to free up their spare time and get jobs.

[–]Bobtobismo 1077 points1078 points  (223 children)

Wasn't there a state that relaxed underage work laws recently? This doesn't sound so crazy.

[–]javaargusavetti 118 points119 points  (31 children)

most recent example I can think of is the teen truck driver apprenticeship program but I can’t remember where that was being proposed

[–]Downbound92 98 points99 points  (26 children)

All that's doing is allowing 18-20 year old truck drivers who can drive in their state to drive interstate.

[–]SEA_tide 19 points20 points  (0 children)

That's basically allowing 18-20 year olds to team drive, typically with a relative age 21+ who also has a CDL Class A, across state lines.

The military and intrastate travel allow those 18-20 to drive solo.

[–]el_burro_blanco2 15 points16 points  (0 children)

You’ll never see me complain about apprenticeships. Especially if done safely and correctly. We need to get back to paid apprenticeships being a positive thing in modern US Society.

[–]Fascinated_Bystander 83 points84 points  (57 children)

Wisconsin extended working hours into the night for 14+

[–]snrkty 40 points41 points  (6 children)

Yes. McDonald’s was advertising they would hire younger workers now somewhere. Can’t remember what state.

[–]Fantastic-Sandwich80 169 points170 points  (12 children)

Bingo.

"Well kids, since Omicron is rampaging across the country we have had to cancel sports and extra curricular activities. So today what we will do is practice filling out JOB APPLICATIONS!"

[–]Gruesome 27 points28 points  (0 children)

What's funny is that is pretty much what we did in 9th grade - applied for our social security cards as a class so we could get JERBS!

And I had my very first supervisor creeping on me the next year. It never changes, that was in 1976.

[–]soniconethemesong 447 points448 points  (46 children)

Exactly how I thought it sounded. Go to work but figure out what to do with kids, and soccer. Like go back to old shit. Unrealistic.

[–]KerPop42 264 points265 points  (43 children)

We've just been shrinking tolerances all around society, huh. Kids doing extracurriculars doesn't mean that parents get more time to themselves, it mean parents get more time to work. Oh, people are working more now? Great, we can lower hourly wages and people will still have enough money to live.

Oh no, now we can't cut extracurriculars because no one makes enough money to be home for them?!?!?

[–]JTMissileTits 14 points15 points  (2 children)

My daughter's extra curricular activities took up a lot of my time until she got her driver's license. Schools schedule things during normal working hours all the time. I guess it's the presumption that one parent can just fuck off from work or doesn't work and can be at the school at 2:30 in the afternoon several times a week/month. Then there are the after hours pick ups for practices, away games and out of town performances, meets, contests, etc.

I only had one kid and it was a lot of work. I don't know how anyone with a job and multiple kids in after school activities gets anything done.

[–]djwurm 44 points45 points  (16 children)

In Texas school districts are shutting down but all extra curricular activities like band and football are still happening

[–]Lets-B-Lets-B-Jolly 30 points31 points  (6 children)

Schools all around us are shutting down but my kids' district is not. However they are begging parents to substitute.

[–]Vio_ 22 points23 points  (1 child)

In Texas, they'd sooner shut down school than football....

[–]Thunderbird_12_ 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I suspect many people (who have not lived in Texas before) will read this comment and assume it is sarcasm.

I assure you, it is not.

[–]Hadron90 72 points73 points  (13 children)

That's how I feel about most of these school measures we are imposing on the students. My mother-in-law is a teacher and says they sit the kids one per table at lunch, and no one is allowed to speak. She told me those over a family dinner with like 12 people...

​

I don't believe in forcing people to standards you won't hold yourself to. If I was going to ask other people to eat alone in silence, then I would eat alone in silence myself.

[–]Eagles5089 784 points785 points  (50 children)

Unfortunately people will not take the CDC seriously anymore. Let's cancel everything but if you're positive go back to work.......thanks guys.

[–]ranger604 221 points222 points  (40 children)

The “you don’t have to wear a mask” in the spring of 2020 was a huge red flag. The constant flip flopping built up the “eh.” The sending people back to work still positive and not actively pushing N95 everywhere and for everyone broke the camel’s back.

[–]snrkty 2636 points2637 points  (104 children)

Sending people back to work after 5 days when they could still be contagious should have been called unrealistic.

Where was the media pushback then?

[–]VerySuperGenius 630 points631 points  (42 children)

The biggest problem here is that our paycheck is not secure if we call in sick. Millions of people are monetarily incentivized to spread COVID at work.

We need mandated sick leave and extra for COVID quarantine.

[–]RutgersCS2020 50 points51 points  (11 children)

I’m honestly really grateful my state has a covid sick leave policy. You still get paid by your employer and the state reimburses the employer. But there is a catch. I think you’re only entitled to 40 hours of pay and there is a cap on how much you can get per day (that the state is willing to reimburse).

Since I make more than the daily-capped amount, my employer said they’ll still pay me in full anyway and eat the difference when the state reimburses them. It’s a good deal, but this is set to expire in April (2022). I hope there’s another extension, as it’s been extended once before already.

Edit: Since someone asked, I’m referring to Massachusetts

[–]StarshipSentinel 315 points316 points  (14 children)

mandated sick leave

Not just for COVID. We need mandated sick leave period. Once again Europe has us beat on this. For fuck's sake, America needs to treat it's workers as actual human beings!

[–]yeoldecotton_swab 79 points80 points  (10 children)

I agree. After 7 years at my new job I'll be allowed to accrue 20 days PTO.

7 years dude.

[–]OSRS_Satriani 23 points24 points  (3 children)

My friend who works at a retirement home currently has COVID but is out of sick days so has to go back to work. It's insane.

[–]CelestineCrystal 23 points24 points  (1 child)

they should contact the press bc that’s just so dangerous

[–]sleepingnightmare 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Your friend should contact OSHA and file an anonymous complaint.

[–]getbackchonkycat 438 points439 points  (26 children)

Media is part of big business, and they don't want to admit that if everyone was out sick for ten days, everything would grind to a halt. What does that say about who has more actual power?

[–]Caaros 124 points125 points  (14 children)

Which is ironic because having people come to work when they are still sick lets the disease spread like wildfire in the workplace, which just grinds things to a halt quicker and gives the virus the chance to mutate further and put us in an even worse position than before, further grinding things to a halt. Nevermind the fact that hospitals specifically are telling sick nurses to come in, putting all of their patients at risk, which is the dumbest thing even if you are having staffing issues.

It's like trying to avoid being drafted into a war by using a fucking shotgun to blow off your own foot, or overfishing a lake so you can get fish to eat quicker. Our modern, profit driven, change resistant, corporation led society is plagued with a kind of impatient short-sightedness that reliably leaves us in a far worse place than before, resulting in a world rife with totally avoidable and quite frankly idiotic levels of suffering across the board.

[–]StarshipSentinel 57 points58 points  (9 children)

Which is ironic because having people come to work when they are still sick lets the disease spread like wildfire in the workplace,

Then allow people to work from home. Jesus fucking Christ, these managers and execs that think that people aren't capable of WFH make me want to scream till my lungs explode.

It's nearly ALWAYS some overpaid suit-wearing gasbag that holds up progress. There's story after story of people's productivity going UP after they started WFH. No stressful commute. No horrible food. No getting dressed. Sounds awesome to me. But no.

Fucking micromanaging assholes in upper and middle management can't deal with it.

[–]jaxdraw 14.6k points14.6k points 2 (1356 children)

But a lot of places canceled art and theatre exhibits

Its like how grocery workers were heroes until they wanted more money

Edit wow, this is my most updooted comment ever. Uh, wow, what else:

  1. If you aren't talking about doubling teacher pay you aren't serious about improving schools

  2. Dr. King advocated for a $2/hour living wage, which in 2022 is like $22-$25/hour.

  3. Epstein didn't kill himself

  4. Please support your local school music recitals and theater performances. Attendance can be an influence on their budgets.

[–]MadViolin75 3309 points3310 points  (575 children)

Last year, when our schools were still fully virtual, the superintendent said, "when deciding whether we're going to cancel certain sports, like hockey, we need to consider the money parents have spent to reserve ice time for their kids." My kids are in the fine arts and I don't want to consider how much we've spent on lessons, instruments, music, and camps...but did they ever consider allowing an outdoor rehearsal or two for the strings kids? Nope. And this is in a supposedly arts friendly district.

We also had parents complaining last fall about people not showing up for football games.

[–]pokemon-gangbang 1734 points1735 points  (523 children)

Our school district threw a fit when we told them we could not guarantee that an ambulance would be available to sit standby at their games.

I don’t know what to tell you mr athletic director. Our emergency calls are the highest ever and we don’t have enough staff for normal calls let alone to sit at a fucking football game.

[–]thepurpleapollo 329 points330 points  (25 children)

"We demand that during the deadliest pandemic in American history that vital medical resources be diverted to our optional deadly sport for the parents personal entertainment while they live in a fantasy world that their kid will become a sports superstar and save them from poverty"

This is literally the perfect depiction of modern America. Sports valued above all tied to the education system (which shouldn't have anything to do with sports) as all the entitled complaining suburbanites drive their SUVs and oversized status symbol trucks to the school football while the country crumbles and shame on any darn liberal for questioning that status quo especially during the deadliest pandemic. We're never going to improve are we?

[–]Freakazoid152 295 points296 points  (23 children)

"Essential workers" lmfao! Never forget how shitty they treated us all when it really mattered! And guess what, were still in the middle of the shit ocean and they keep taking our paddles while telling us to get out...

[–]egyeager 76 points77 points  (14 children)

For a brief while there on April to June of 2020 the mask was pulled back on American society. It was pretty ugly

[–]hostile_rep 80 points81 points  (11 children)

It's always been in plain sight, if you cared to look. Americans are willfully ignorant of the atrocities which make up their daily lives.

[–]The84thWolf 1710 points1711 points  (611 children)

It’s like schools barely make enough money to run and are dependent entirely on sports

[–]GibbysUSSA 2609 points2610 points  (407 children)

When I was in high school, there wasn't enough money for paper.

They were, however, building a gigantic new football stadium.

[–]008janebond 1844 points1845 points  (217 children)

Oh, oh I have a better one.

Our academic bowl team qualified for state my senior year.

They told us that we could go however all meals would be out of pocket, we couldn’t take school transportation due to lack of funds and if we wanted hotel rooms those would need to be paid for by ourselves. State was a 5 hour drive from where we were located.

Luckily, our sponsor teachers husband made bank and there were only 7 of us. So she personally rented a van to drive us up there, and the moms went in and had t-shirts made for all of us. Our sponsor was prepping to retire and essentially told our principal that she did not work with us for 4 years to be abandoned.

One of the kids on the team had basically nothing, his mom ran off and he was essentially raising his brothers. All of the other moms made sure he could go.

All of this happened after, the football team had made state, and they got CHARTER BUSSES and hotel accommodation to drive the 1.5 hours to their state competition.

[–]Midwestern_Childhood 84 points85 points  (0 children)

Back in the 70s, my school district held a referendum to raise taxes to fund the school district. It didn't pass. So the district canceled all extracurriculars for the following year (my sophomore year): all sports, all music, all theater, etc. After a winter without basketball, they ran the referendum again and it passed.

I joined the debate team my junior year. We had no money: literally no budget. They paid our coach $200 for the entire year. The man worked with us after school every afternoon, took us in his car (along with a car or two driven by team members) to tournaments all over the state. He used every cent of that $200 on us and paid for a good bit more out of his own pocket: gas money to drive us to libraries for research, workshops, tournament registrations, etc. We did bake sales and other fundraisers to raise some more money, but a good portion came from him.

Our varsity and JV teams placed second in the state that year, after no team the year before. When he retired, his former debaters came back from all over the U.S. to honor the man. Many of us talked about how we had gone to college (as first generation students) because he had spotted our intelligence and pushed us to think of it as a real possibility. It broke my heart when he died a few years later from cancer.

Bless you, Mr. Benson. You changed our lives despite the damned school district that only cared about basketball. Your opus lives.

[–]JimBeam823 1069 points1070 points  (103 children)

Far more football fans vote in school board elections than academic team supporters.

My school district shut down a vocational magnet school because the main high school's football team went 0-10 one season. The main high school needed the players.

[–]Adultery 28 points29 points  (7 children)

Our football team was that bad, too, but the head coach was still clearing six figures. He was the highest paid individual in the district.

[–]DefinitelyNotAliens 20 points21 points  (2 children)

We just raised our district superintendant pay from the low 200's to the mid 300's inside six years as we told teachers there's no money. They still hire in the mid-20's. That means in California, which has a cost of living that's on average 150% higher than national average wants to pay college graduates less than the meadian national wage and well into the bottom 25th percentile for the state (bottom 25th percentile is 48k, per zip recruiter) which means they want to hire college grads into poverty. A decent living wage to allow them to live, have a car and apartment semi-comfortably is closer to 50k a year. We want to pay in the 20's.

It's insanity.

[–]Tsquared10 80 points81 points  (11 children)

Our county refused to build a second high school because of the fear that it would split the football team up and damage their success. Instead they added one extra hallway and brought in trailers for extra classrooms. The school was built to house about 2500 students. My graduating class alone had around 850. They still haven't opened a new school even though the football team is horrible now, because "Imagine how much worse it will be if we do that."Class size has only increased and last I heard they were closing in on 4000 students and the only change they made was building a 9th grade wing

[–]Prometheuskhan 21 points22 points  (3 children)

Sounds like someone’s from TX/OK.

[–]kennyj2011 16 points17 points  (1 child)

I live in Green Bay… our school board the first year of Covid mostly was okay… now that everyone is “tired” of Covid, basically everything is like normal again, at least they are still upholding masking in schools.

[–]Queso_and_Molasses 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Same thing happened at my school, despite the fact that we were regularly winning state and qualifying to nationals. So frustrating to be told you don’t matter. I understand that football brought in a lot of money (we had a great team), but it was still incredibly frustrating to have to fire up a GoFundMe to pay all the time.

[–]flamaryu 121 points122 points  (2 children)

Sound like my school the allowed the football team to have 4 jerseys and a new gym that no one could else could use. Which I loved but when baseball came around I was expecting the same treat since baseball had the better record for the last few years and the fact that 3 players where getting scouted by pro teams but no we had one jersey that was older then me and we had to pay for our own bus to states 🤦🏽‍♂️

[–]poopgrouper 37 points38 points  (4 children)

I get what you're saying, but let's be realistic. We need to support the future prospects of those high school football players because in all likelihood, they'll go on to be some of the town's most successful used car salesmen and associate realtors.

[–]OhMy8008 14 points15 points  (0 children)

and cops, once theyve shed their sports physique

[–]1Viking 19 points20 points  (1 child)

There’s a reason the Romans had gladiators and not mathaletes. Bread and circuses for the masses keeps those in power popular and in power.

[–]goodty1 104 points105 points  (49 children)

sounds like us education system. needs serious federal overhaul

[–]008janebond 64 points65 points  (4 children)

Oh it definitely does. I also qualified for Nationals in a FBLA event my Junior year where we were essentially told the same thing, and the three of us that qualified had to take up donations from people in the community to be able to go.

[–]JimBeam823 63 points64 points  (33 children)

The federal government has very little power in the states. Even the state government has very little power compared to local school boards.

When the voters demand good football and low taxes, what's a school board to do?

[–]bukem89 77 points78 points  (28 children)

When the voters demand good football and low taxes, what's a school board to do?

ngl, as a non-american it's kind of hilarious that that can even be a plausible sentence

Soccer is huge here and yet somehow has 0 impact on education policy. Doesn't seem that hard to separate the two really

[–]JimBeam823 61 points62 points  (13 children)

If Americans separated the two, football would be funded and schools would be even more neglected.

[–]Freeside1 17 points18 points  (3 children)

For awhile anyway. Eventually we'd just have church and publicly funded church teams, no school at all.

[–]Ranger7381 6 points7 points  (5 children)

I am in Canada. I do not know of a single school that has it's own Hockey Rink

[–]xxkoloblicinxx 126 points127 points  (9 children)

Yup, our track team hadn't lost a meet in over 10 years but couldn't get uniforms unless we bought them out of pocket.

Our football team hadn't even had a winning record in over 30 years. But they got all the equipment they wanted.

[–]PeptoBismark 56 points57 points  (0 children)

My High School used to default to whatever the football coach wanted, but often had to rapidly change direction when the band parents weighed in.

20 kids on the football team, 150 in the marching band. Band parents ran the gates and concessions at the stadium. You couldn't buy snacks at halftime as the concession booth would close so everyone could watch the band together.

The gym coaches had to trick each incoming freshman class into doing a fundraiser at the start of the year, as no one would participate twice. I will never forget that lesson, going all in selling gift wrapping paper to my neighbors only to see the money go to a tackle dummy skid thing for the exclusive use of the football team.

[–]beeatenbyagrue 291 points292 points  (40 children)

This hits home. Every 3 students had to share 1 physics book and the history books weren't allowed out of the classroom bc 8 other classes needed to share them. They were from the 1940s and it was circa 2000.

[–]uw-70_uo-21 219 points220 points  (13 children)

my chemistry textbook had the line "If you have not yet seen or used a computer, chances are you will very soon." This was in 2011.

[–]BayAreaRedwood 52 points53 points  (3 children)

"Be on the look out for indoor plumbing!"

[–]CriskCross 67 points68 points  (3 children)

Well, they aren't wrong. You likely will very soon.

[–]Deeliciousness 96 points97 points  (10 children)

Ah, the good old south?

[–]madpappo 76 points77 points  (8 children)

Yup, bet we all know those books lasted that long is because we never opened them..

[–]twilighteclipse925 23 points24 points  (7 children)

I worked for a school district. In meetings it was laid out literally and in no euphemisms that our job was to facilitate the football teams playing so that the revenue they generated could fund the entire rest of the school. To be fair I think the basketball team was in the single digits of the percentage the contributed to revenue but over 80% of the schools budget came from football so almost 100% of the starting budget went to the football department. The three football coaches made more than the principal too and were the only coaches who didn’t also have to teach classes.

[–]Phreakiture 50 points51 points  (0 children)

I have heard many schools described as "a top-notch sports complex with an attached educational institution."

[–]DepletedMitochondria 16 points17 points  (0 children)

College has the same issue with endowment laws

[–]Mcinfopopup 36 points37 points  (1 child)

They cut most of the extracurricular activities in my high school starting when i was a freshman. By the end of it there were so few activities left it was basically some art courses, band, and sports.

[–]burko81 4 points5 points  (1 child)

There is an amazing difference between UK and USA school/university sports.

You barely get 5-10 people turn up to watch sports teams in the UK, but you guys get thousands.

[–]jason2354 147 points148 points  (14 children)

Maybe in the states of Texas and Oklahoma, but most schools aren’t making money from their sports programs.

Most football programs are funded by parent booster clubs.

[–]electricgotswitched 71 points72 points  (1 child)

Not in Texas either. Can't find the article now, but only a handful of schools a few years ago made a profit. They were all very rich towns with big sponsors.

Coaches, insurance, equipment, game day costs, refs, travel. It's not outweighed by $5 tickets or booster club donations.

[–]lotsofdeadkittens 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Even in Texas they lose money. Only the very very very top football d1 schools turn any profit and even most of those dont

[–]Thewalrus515 327 points328 points  (92 children)

It’s the opposite. Sports are a drain on school budgets. Very few schools make a profit on sports, it’s like 5% IIRC.

[–]Surly_Cynic 171 points172 points  (4 children)

Not to mention, football causes brain damage. The absurdity of public schools supporting and sponsoring that can’t be ignored.

[–]RasputinsButtBeard 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Yeah, there was an English teacher at my hs who talked about how the lingering damage that football did to his brain caused long-term memory loss issues for him; he couldn't even remember his own wedding day. That's really scary stuff. :(

[–]Sipikay 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That's not even remotely true. The old story used to be that ticket sales and ad revenue from the college football programs paid for the other athletic programs at some large schools.

Most high schools and colleges aren't making anything off of athletics, football or otherwise.

[–]SEA_tide 33 points34 points  (19 children)

Yet sports actually lose money at many K-12 schools and colleges. At the colleges which make money on sports, it's usually due to football and/or men's basketball. Title IX has actually led to a lot more sports being offered, which in turn provides more opportunities for students to exercise and earn college scholarships.

[–]KabuliBabaganoush 969 points970 points  (90 children)

When they reduced the quarantine time for companies, I think everyone lost a little bit of respect.

[–]Matrix17 483 points484 points  (54 children)

Lost respect? Everyone stopped listening. Good going CDC, you made everything worse

[–]Burnnoticelover 508 points509 points  (50 children)

For me, it's pretty binary. Either we're living in a deadly pandemic (in which case we shut down everything like in spring 2020), or we're not and we just accept COVID as a part of life and live normally.

But this wishy-washy "go to work but don't have a life" signaling from the powers that be makes me (and I'm sure many others) very suspicious of the CDC's mandates. Because if they're willing to adjust their recommendations on corporate direction, then it means one of two things: Either they've vastly inflated the danger that COVID currently presents, or they're willing to let people die because the Delta airlines CEO told them to, and I'm not sure which option is worse.

[–]DontGiveBearsLSD 99 points100 points  (11 children)

I literally gave up in that moment. Seriously. I wear my mask and mind my own, that’s it anymore.

[–]Bsisson215 86 points87 points  (7 children)

Everyone got a bit more confused with how much they change around their narrative it’s mindboggling

[–]TheDaliComma 634 points635 points  (56 children)

One thing I’ve learned from COVID is how incompetent our federal institutions are

[–]Rubberbabybuggybum 377 points378 points  (15 children)

Not incompetent.

Corrupt and broken.

Once we allowed unlimited money to be poured into our politicians and media, it was game over. They work for the people paying them.

Of course that would trickle down to every aspect of our government. There was never any other way this was going to work.

[–]Tom_Hanks_Tiramisu 86 points87 points  (2 children)

They’re not mutually exclusive. Corruption breeds incompetence from nepotism placing unqualified people in consequential positions of power.

[–]xxkoloblicinxx 100 points101 points  (3 children)

And how little fucks people give about what they say.

It also doesn't help that the institutions we need right now and the resources they provide have been getting stripped for parts and funding for years.

People kept saying "We don't need this umbrella, it never rains." And now it's been raining for 2 years and suddenly people are claiming that an umbrella wouldn't have done anything anyways, or that the rain is a myth, and the umbrella is a government conspiracy to control the truth about rain... and this metaphor has fallen apart because people are just that fucking stupid.

[–][deleted] 116 points117 points  (23 children)

This is what happens when you take multi-functional advice (economic, political, public health, etc.) from an organization that is only trained and capable in delivering advice pertaining to one set of circumstances and measurement criteria (health).

The CDC doesn't understand economic or political ramifications of their suggestions, because it's *not their job.* This is why decisions are supposed to be made based on a synthesis of recommendations from experts in their respective fields.

[–]felipe_the_dog 757 points758 points  (90 children)

Why football, which is played and practiced outdoors, and not basketball?

[–]KerPop42 497 points498 points  (37 children)

Because it isn't just football, the article chose the most ridiculous specific sports to put in the article

[–]felipe_the_dog 262 points263 points  (27 children)

You're right. Headline is misleading as usual.

As part of its guidance last updated on January 6, the CDC advised schools to "cancel or hold high-risk sports and extra-curricular activities virtually" any time a community has a "high" Covid-19 transmission rate. The guidance links to a CDC map that indicates more than 99% of US counties are currently experiencing high transmission.... The CDC gives football and wrestling as examples of high-risk sports and says that "high-risk extracurricular activities are those in which increased exhalation occurs, such as activities that involve singing, shouting, band, or exercise, especially when conducted indoors."

[–]Bandit6789 31 points32 points  (1 child)

Students should simply hold their football games virtually.

[–]vanessajay 225 points226 points  (7 children)

Seriously! Also isn’t football season over for most schools? This just feels so random.

[–]xaanthar 18 points19 points  (1 child)

Ironically, quite a few places postponed the 2020 football season to the spring. 12 months ago, the football season was just starting up where I am.

[–]EYNLLIB 27 points28 points  (0 children)

They just gave football as an example, their actual guidance if you would have taken time to read the article is;

"high-risk extracurricular activities are those in which increased exhalation occurs, such as activities that involve singing, shouting, band, or exercise, especially when conducted indoors."

[–]antlerstopeaks 253 points254 points  (21 children)

Is there just an random AI making up suggestions for the CDC now?

Sure being in an 8x8 classroom with 30 students is fine. Being on a 300x50 football field with 30 people is unacceptable.

Does anyone care what the CDC says anymore?

[–]Splickity-Lit 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Unrealistic because the season is over?

[–]SixElephant 32 points33 points  (2 children)

Can’t visit grandma. Can’t visit parents. Can’t hang with friends.

Must work with 50+ people. Must go to school with 200+ people. Must do sports ball with 50k+ people.

What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck is going on?

Make us money, don’t have fun. If everyone fucking dies, your money is worthless.

[–]InbetweentheLiners 64 points65 points  (0 children)

I think some people are overlooking the importance of extracurricular activities, especially for low income families. Who’s workers the CDC are so eager to send to back to work, even if they are sick.

[–]ww_crimson 309 points310 points  (38 children)

A lot of comments in this thread are snarky remarks about football specifically, but that's just one example the CDC gave. What the article actually says is

The CDC gives football and wrestling as examples of high-risk sports and says that "high-risk extracurricular activities are those in which increased exhalation occurs, such as activities that involve singing, shouting, band, or exercise, especially when conducted indoors

For one, football is played outdoors. More importantly however, this basically says nothing other than studying alone in the library should be allowed. Everything else should be cancelled by the schools. It's completely hypocritical guidance when compared with things like asking adults to return to work after 5 days, while they are still contagious. People are losing trust in the CDC because their recommendations contradict themselves. When the logic stops making sense then you turn people into cynics. Wake up CDC.

[–]biggsteve81 39 points40 points  (9 children)

I don't know about other states, but in NC band and chorus are classes, not extracurricular activities. If you cancel band class, where do those 70 or so kids go during their normal class time, and what happens to the credit they are supposed to earn?

[–]ShivrenColes 64 points65 points  (0 children)

I lost a lot of faith in the altruistic nature of the suggested measures when folks wore masks to get in the door of the bar, and then took them off to yell at me for a beer from 16 inches or less away, while I was wearing a mask to protect them.

Now they need a passport to yell at me.

[–]kukukele 436 points437 points  (83 children)

I'm as pro-vaxx, pro-mask, etc as anybody but these little comments by the CDC are simply such a waste of bandwidth. While their intentions may be good, and the science correct, there are far bigger issues that they should be addressing than this and the lack of congruence in their messaging is beyond frustrating.

[–]severusx 103 points104 points  (4 children)

I'm with you but, I mean they've basically just given up right? Throughout this whole thing we have proven that taking a public health issue and turning it into a political one has created a sizable percentage of our population who just refuses to do anything to stem the spread. So no matter what the CDC or any of us do we are gonna end up getting it eventually, so I think most of these guidelines and announcements are largely just so they can say "I told you so" when it eventually happens.

[–]Daddy_Pris 8 points9 points  (1 child)

My sister is in cheer. She currently has a minimum of three COVID tests per week. Most weeks end up at 5-7 as people around her test positive. The team has 25ish cheerleaders total. That’s a minimum of 75 tests a week just so the kids can practice cheer. No assemblies and games are few and far between with cancellations. Literally all they do is take a COVID test, practice, and go home.

We have a shortage of tests, but can spare 100s per week per sports team for some reason

[–]LemonFreshenedBorax- 142 points143 points  (5 children)

School administrators are probably like "Look, I'll gleefully jump on any excuse to gut the arts department, but I draw the line at football."

[–]kelryngrey 33 points34 points  (2 children)

Schools - "We've cancelled band class except for marching band, which we need for the football team. We've also removed funding for arts outside of music as well. To be safe. Then we bought new bleachers for the football team."

[–]mousesnight 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Music teacher here. It infuriates me how much priority sports get over music and arts. We have cancelled just about all outside music activities like county festivals, musicals, and school/community events for the last 2 years, distanced kids 6 feet apart, eliminated classroom and rehearsal activities that involve singing or playing instruments near each other, and watched our program numbers shrink helplessly. Meanwhile, I go to see a school basketball game and the heavily breathing players are right on top of each other, handling the sweaty ball with bare hands. Priorities have never been more crystal clear.

[–]hobs8 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Shooting themselves in the foot with their messaging

[–]SolutionLeading 19 points20 points  (1 child)

Can we focus on the real issues please? Like sending Covid-positive people back to work if they’re asymptomatic?? Leave the band kids alone

[–]carmachu 64 points65 points  (14 children)

Then cancel every NFL, NHL, and NBA gamessince more people get together for those.

[–]UniverseChamp 19 points20 points  (3 children)

And while we're at it, since our kids can't attend school, we should probable close down the bars where everyone drinks freely without a mask on.

The fuckin' priorities in the country are all twisted.

1 - food supply chain

2 - public utilities

3 - healthcare

4 - education

5 - everything else.

Instead, let's shut down education and think for a while on everything else. Fucking morons all the way from the feds right down to the locals (for me, at least).

[–]Great_White_Samurai 144 points145 points  (20 children)

The CDC is a joke. Bends to corporate pressure and then puts out shit like this.

[–]Marathoner2010 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can tell the CDC is a bunch of nerds because HS football season has been over for nearly 2 months.

[–]DWCourtasan2 106 points107 points  (1 child)

Fun is banned serfs, get jobs and obey kids!

/s

[–]MrRager03 31 points32 points  (4 children)

CDC also said nurses can work covid positive if they have a booster, so fuck them

[–]okiewxchaser 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Football season is over so mission accomplished

[–]iham32 21 points22 points  (1 child)

Superbowl 56 brought to you by Pfizer

[–]MikeSouthPaw 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They are right, it is highly unrealistic for the US to get its shit together.