The NCAA announced on Thursday that it has cancelled all winter and spring championships, which means that March Madness is being cancelled. This announcement was inevitable given the events of the past 24 hours.
“Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” the statement said.
As of Wednesday, the NCAA announced March Madness would be played without fans. Then one by one, conference tournaments started to get cancelled. Things snowballed when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus, posing a real threat to the NBA. As soon as that happened, things got serious in the sports world. The NBA immediately announced the suspension of its season. Several other sports leagues have followed, and individual schools began to announce that they would be ending their sports seasons.
By that point, it was only a matter of time before the NCAA made its announcement.
The big issue with the pandemic is how easily transferable coronavirus is. Although the virus may not pose a serious health risk to many members of the population, there are some, like the elderly and those with respiratory issues, who may be at greater risk than others. And the best way to protect everyone is to try taking preemptive containment measures before the problem gets worse and therefore affects many more people.
The nightmare societal scenario is having more people ill than the healthcare system can support, to the point that things like hospital beds and caretakers are outnumbered. Limiting large crowds and the ability of people to pass things along will help us contain the spread of the virus and allow us to get past this pandemic quicker. This disappointing news is a necessary step as we try to protect the health in society.
