Covid-19 and Nats/States

[IOnlyShoot3s]

So are all the state competitions cancelled now that nationals is gone?

[bernard]

So are all the state competitions cancelled now that nationals is gone?

No, you should still look to your state tournament for guidance.

[theskyisred]

I understand that a lot of people are sad for the state/national tournament cancellations, and frankly I'm feeling pretty numb about RI now, too, but the COVID-19 pandemic (yes it's categorized as a pandemic now) has a lot of other impacts besides cancelling scio season.

1. 2-4% death rate doesn't sound like much, but an estimated 10 million people could contract the virus within the next two years. That means almost 400,000 people could die from this.
2. What I hear a lot at school "we're young, so even if we get it we'll be fine" - anybody who has been exposed to the corona virus has the ability to spread it, and most people have parents or grandparents living with them that are at much higher risk. Iirc the death rate increases up to 5% for ages 60+, which means 1 in 20 people will lose an elderly family member if they are infected.
3. Lasting economic impacts - there is a lot that could be said about this, but the pandemic could cause a GLOBAL economic recession worse than what the US experienced in 2008. China has, or is projected to (idr which), lose 1 TRILLION dollars from COVID19. Other countries will lose large sums of money too.
4. The global recession means many many people losing their jobs, and thus losing their houses. 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and they would not be able to afford to pay for their mortgages if they were laid off.

The impacts are serious and tbh SO cancellations don't seem to be that big of a deal anymore when you consider the fact that many people will DIE or lose the ability to live stable lives.

Stay safe, and my heart goes out to any one else suffering from cancellation depression.

[JoeyC]

Texas state has been cancelled

[jaspattack]

Missouri State Tournament has been cancelled. I don't expect a rescheduling.

[bernard]

I've received a private message from a coach about cancellation of the District of Columbia "state" tournament. At this time DC does not have a Science Olympiad website, but I have verified that the message came from a coach of a team in DC.

[LittleMissNyan]

MD confirmation

[SilverBreeze]

I've received a private message from a coach about cancellation of the District of Columbia "state" tournament. At this time DC does not have a Science Olympiad website, but I have verified that the message came from a coach of a team in DC.

Just out of curiosity, how many teams participate in D.C. States? I've heard of States with ~7 teams per division, while here in SoCal we have ~30.

[bernard]

I've received a private message from a coach about cancellation of the District of Columbia "state" tournament. At this time DC does not have a Science Olympiad website, but I have verified that the message came from a coach of a team in DC.

Just out of curiosity, how many teams participate in D.C. States? I've heard of States with ~7 teams per division, while here in SoCal we have ~30.

Last season DC had 14 teams total which is enough for just one tournament.

[120241939151225]

While I completely agree that we need to keep health and safety over anything. We need to look at all the hard work and time students, coaches, mentors and volunteers has spent this year.

Think about 11'th graders who have been working hard all these years and has solely focussed on Scioly, they are at a HUGE disadvantage when it comes to their college application in fall this year.
Also, we need to consider about the students who are competing for the last time this year, their chance of winning a national medal has been taken away from them, FOR EVER.

All I am proposing is to think positive and be open to other options - for ex: wait until early April to make the decision of cancelling OR postponing regional, state tournaments to later April OR even postpone Nats to June, which gives time. Hopefully, with all the preventive actions everyone is taking, COVID-19 would not be a concern in May. If it continues to be, then we go to the final step of cancelling the tournament