Is playing cricket in COVID really a welcome distraction?

A politician who lied? What a novel concept!

Peter Lalor is tweeting that the IPL covid bubble's been breached.

I have felt for a while that on moral grounds the "entertaining distraction" argument has run its course. But that is just my opinion. This is all a bit of a non-argument anyway as the people who determine whether the comp ends are seemingly the very organisations who benefit from its continuation (judging form what Roarers with on the ground contacts have said).

The massive explosion in COVID certainly happened after the tournament started. Which is why so many of the players felt okay heading over there. Though I believe, from what's come out, that there was a fair bit of dishonesty from the Indian government in pretending things were a lot better than they actually were. Pretty sure Modi actually declared that India had defeated the Pandemic earlier in the year, then held crowded election rallies and things. My guess it they were trying to convince people they'd done a good job so they would vote for them and they could win the election before everyone realised they'd been lied to.

Maybe WA could manage it :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: I'd love to see that idea pitched to Lord McGowan.

I guess they didn't see the increased outbreak coming, it didn't really surface in large numbers 'til after the tournament started, did it?

I suspect the easiest would have been the UAE again where they did last time. But other options would be fine also. Just need to play basically in the Indian time-zone. So playing in QLD would mean basically playing through the middle of the night to be in prime-time in India. Maybe WA could manage it. Would probably be easier to play somewhere west of India though, so they just play earlier in the day to get games on at prime time in India rather than playing really late into the night. But yes, there would have been plenty of better options out there than playing in India. Basically anywhere!

Yeah, positivity rates that high are incredible. The positivity rates are a good indicator of how good the testing is. The more widespread the testing, the lower the positivity rates. When rates are that high it generally suggests that the only people tested are likely people who are already very sick with it and they are pretty sure already have it and therefore pretty much guarantees that the actual rates of infection are dramatically higher. When you have situations like Australia where the percentage of positive tests is less than 1% then it's reasonable to believe that a very high percentage of infected people have been tested and thus the numbers are likely quite accurate. I heard one suggestion that the reality in India could well be closer to half a billion infections and the actual COVID deaths more than 5 times higher than the reported number.

How does the US ‘get on top it’ with a policy of unchecked refugee caravan streaming in via Mexico. According to Johns Hopkins, South American countries have a higher than average infection rate and higher than average mortality rate from covid and the Biden administration is encouraging unaccompanied minors to be prioritized. All of whom are being stacked and racked in cages which they claimed to be inhumane when 10 times fewer were held there under Trump! The percentage of asymptomatic carriers is higher in children as well. The Biden administrators have started a misinformation campaign blocking Border Forces from commenting not only on the numbers entering, but those who are infected. Meanwhile they are railing against the ‘irresponsibility ‘ of Florida allowing spectators at UFC indoors and MLB crowds outdoor. All this while vaccine rollout is stifled in Democrat States because the numbers must conform to racial and gender quotas. So Jeff, the new regime policies in the US are coming with inherent political biases, just as those they supplanted had. Meanwhile the mainstream and social media bias in the US gives foreign observers just as skewed a view of actual events as the Indian situation. Who is determining what ‘covid normal ‘ is? We have been quickly conditioned to believe lockdowns and cessation of life as we know it is prudent, but in what we’re told is a fast paced world, here we are 18 months later with the same ‘policy’ in place with all the knowledge of actual infection & death rates and the anomolies from different locales.

What a thoughtless tasteless comment.

Excellent article. Agree with lot of comments here. I am an Indian myself residing in US. My cousin and his family in Bangalore were infected with Covid and they just recovered last week. It's true that hospital systems are strained in northern parts of country(Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai as well), cities like Chennai and states like Tamil Nadu are not overwhelmed yet. It's going to be tough phase from here on as it spreads to other parts of country. Having said that just because my cousin got covid, he didn't stop watching IPL. All the time I get to hear that its a stress buster. Yes I'd agree that someone who lost their dear and near wouldn't be in the position other than to grieve. I am of the opinion that as long as IPL is not straining any resources that's meant for treatment of patients, I think it should be fine. But are these IPL bubbles safe? What if some one contracts covid tomorrow? Thats the question we need to raise right now. I also get information that India may move towards complete lockdown post the state election results on May 2. India being so vast, there are approximately close to 10% of population who have the luxury of working from home(mostly software engineers, BPO's, consultants, lawyers and management executives) and approximately there are 37% of population(laborers) who live hand-to-mouth. Globally, the pandemic shows no sign of easing, with the virus devastating country after country. It's important for Cricket as well as for the Global community that India emerges stronger from this outbreak.

There is a lot to consider there in your comment Gurlivleen. My very brief consideration and responses would be: 1) Democracy: I'm not even sure what this is in the 21st century; in the second of half of the 20th century we talked about America as the bastion of democracy and India as the world's largest democracy (with the common denominator being a democratic "global village", enhanced by unrestricted trade of goods and ideas) - nationalistic policies promoted by those with authoritarian leanings (as you say, "strongmen") is rapidly reshaping geopolitics and global foreign policy. Yet they seem to be getting the "popular" vote when they initially present themselves. 2) Related to 1) above - agreed that "free speech" is now more censored (or attempted to be more censored by the nation-state) than it has ever been in the last 50 years; a somewhat ironical juxtaposition given the explosion of social media which at its core promotes the ability for any individual to present and amplify their message. 3) "The system is thriving" - this is probably one of my key issues; does the general populace (does any of us) actually know what the "system" is and why we are pursuing its "growth", when the definition of growth is quite narrow. At times it feels like "look at this, not over there" in terms of chasing short term milestones (KPIs), without thinking about what this may deliver in 20 or 50 years from now. The fractures in "the system", which have been apparent in the U.S. since the 60s, have been brought in to sharp focus and contrast re the dichotomy of objectives/outcomes of the population in the last decade (this year's Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Nomadland, captures this well IMO, as a snapshot).

I am writing this from Bangalore. The situation is much worse than reported - the deaths are easily under-reported by multiple of 5 and the number of cases perhaps even 25 (conservative modeling by epidemiologists). The situation has been made much worse by the anti-science governance, as is the case with the US, Brazil, and India. Add to this the projection of strongman politics - and you get disasters amplified. Democracy is flawed (different laws apply to those in power, those in power lack the acumen to handle disasters, the pillars of democracy, be it courts, media, election commissions can be bought et al.), but in its tenuous state, most old-school politicians would resort to advice from experts. But this avantgarde politics of strongmen fueled by macho images in social media - we have politicians whose only concern is managing their image. Even now, the Indian media is working hand in glove with the govt. to prevent damage to the image, the start ministers are enacting laws to curb anyone to raise voices (in the name of preventing fearmongering ofc). Indian democracy right now is like the functioning of BCCI - 1. Puts the ends before the means 2. It is preordained who will rule 3. Those in power have captured all sister organizations to prevent any change 4. Us vs. others - no collective goodwill and wisdom 5. But what people do like about this - in conventional terms, the system is thriving, whatever may be the cost. The system is efficient and puts the interest of "India" first. The definition of India is whoever part of the majority. So it is not worldwide cricket or trying to grow the pie - rather just the narrow-mindedness of dog eats dog world. Coming to IPL, I think it is not taking resources away from the current situation. The only concern is that it is in bad taste, and a few of the players would rather be with their families. Oth, it is providing some respite to those who are quarantined. The revenue is much needed for domestic cricketers among other staff, who don't play in IPL and rely on BCCI. The players are free to leave - foreign players made a choice, and the situation outside doesn't change it - they will still find a way via charter flights to get back home in time. Domestic players are still playing.

Sure, though the OP wasn't specifically referencing personal loss. In any event, JobKeeper and CashBoost are not concepts that carry over to India. The economic impacts will be far more devastating on a personal level in India than they have been in Australia. I'd also add that Australia's/Victoria's health systems never reached the point of being overwhelmed. India is already there and the impacts to both Covid patients and other patients impacted by unavailability of health care support will likely be significant.

The "politics" of Covid-19 in terms of central governments' claiming it isn't an issue and claiming victory laps at their management of the pandemic has perhaps been strongest in India (Modi), U.S. (Trump) and Brazil (Bolsonaro). For mine, it's no coincidence that these three countries have experienced massive 2nd/3rd waves. The U.S., when focused (e.g. change of President and policy), has the internal capacity (wealth/systems) to get on top of it. I'm not sure this will be the case for either Brazil or India. I suspect both nations may have gone past the "tipping point" for avoiding a long-term, systemic, health and economic crisis.

Spot on Jeff. Whether it’s the IPL or any other tournament continuing it plays into the narrative that the pandemic isn’t such a big deal being pushed by the powers that be, which is what got them into this horrible mess in the first place.

Spot on Chris, the 2009 IPL was moved from India to South Africa because of fears of political unrest due to elections. Could have quite easily played in a bubble in North Queensland with bugger all crowds.

Affected by it, is a long way from personal loss. Most of us Victorians knew people who had directly, or a degree of separation from a covid case, which the science shows 99.3% of survived. Most of those were more angry at restrictions on funerals than sport being played.

Stopped based on perception of anecdotal evidence of unease, or the scientific data of proportional infection and death rates to population and the fact that the players have been shown to be safe in a bubble?

So if I have this right there's a magic number of covid cases which makes sport seem less a distraction and more a disgraceful, unfeeling business as usual enterprise? David tells us that 'AFL football was a welcome distractor during the months of lockdown for Melburnians, but for the majority of them this was to distract from things like financial anxieties or even boredom, not death.....Had the city experienced the same level of mortality that, say, Mumbai is experiencing at the moment, it is inconceivable it would have continued.. At the height of Andrews Government bureaucratic disaster resulting in lockdown, there were 900 cases a day, or 0.02% of Melbourne's population reported as new infections. Eight deaths a day is 0.0001777% of Melburnians. AFL was moved from Melbourne to interstate hubs after a brief cessation. As of 15 hours ago there were 6950 new infections in Mumbai or 0.033% of the population, with 43 deaths or 0.000208% of Mumbians. I can hear people saying already that just one death is a tragedy, but the world death rate has grown by only 0.11% or 7600 annually from 2016 to 2020, with covid's effect only from the last quarter of 2019. A massive variety of industries have continued thru covid, it is purely because sportspeople work place is televised that they are being discussed and criticised. It may be appropriate to limit crowds to limit transmission and play in empty stadia, but public anecdotes of uneasiness don't change the small % actually affected in a massive city comparable to one a fifth of the size.