Hearst's / Greenwich Time sports columnist is upset that high school athletes didn't wear their masks “properly” while competing

yearning to breathe free

Because that was the rule, by gosh, and rules must be obeyed!

Here’s the intrepid reporter, someone who clearly was the kid back in grammar school who raised his hand at the end of class to remind,“teacher, you forgot to give us a homework assignment”, sneaking around gymnasiums (and, probably, locker rooms):

On Feb. 11 and 12, I went on a little reconnaissance mission to count masks worn during games. A girls varsity game. A boys junior varsity game. A boys varsity game. Seemed like a decent sample size. Approximately 60 players appeared in those three games. You know how many wore their masks over their nose and mouth?

None.

About 75 percent wore them only over their mouths. The other 25 percent wore them as chin diapers, possibly to collect all the excuses their adult superiors will make if questioned.

Clearly, no one has had to take responsibility. …..

But those are the rules [!]

The rules almost nobody seems to be following.

On Saturday, I covered the State Open indoor track meet. The good news is that almost all the fans and most of the athletes when not competing wore their masks properly in a packed Floyd Little Athletic Center that could have been a COVID breeding ground [“could have been”, but wasn’t, duh] . The bad news? Among the hundreds competing in the running events requiring masks — there had to be some I missed — the only one I saw with mask properly worn was Joel Barlow’s terrific hurdler Mariella Schweitzer in a GameTimeCT photo. Officials watched carefully for improper relay handoffs and false starts. Chin diapers? Not so much.

Lungarini told Hearst Connecticut Media earlier this month that according to its own report, less than 1 percent of the more than 2,700 athletes who tested positive for COVID during the first six weeks of the CIAC winter season contracted it during games or practices.

That’s 27 athletes. Only 27 of 2,700.

Exactly how this was deduced would be interesting to dissect. How can you tell the difference from when COVID was transmitted on a shared soda walking to the gym, to changing in the locker room to exchanging sweat in games, to the bus ride home?

I do believe playing the games is considerably safer than feared in 2020. Yet if those numbers are correct, the only thing safer than chin diapers in games is playing solitaire in quarantine.

No, the dreaded flu bug is not transmitted by “exchanging sweat”, you moron, and instead of questioning how only 27 out of 2,700 student-athletes testing positive for COVID could be traced to virus transmission while the kids are actually playing, why not ask how many of those 2,700 healthy, young kids actually got sick? (Probably zero.) How many hospitalizations? (definitely zero). How many deaths? (again, zero).

But, but, rules!