[Pedestrian]

I'm getting rather tired of spoiled athletes:

'Failure to abide by public health measures' leads to postponement of Cal-USC game
Ron Kroichick
Nov. 9, 2021
Updated: Nov. 10, 2021 10:10 a.m.

Cal’s football game against USC was postponed Tuesday after more Bears players tested positive for the coronavirus, making them unavailable to practice this week or play on Saturday.

Cal officials subsequently said the game had been rescheduled for Saturday, Dec. 4 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

The postponement, and the circumstances leading up to it, sparked immediate backlash from Bears players. Senior defensive lineman Luc Bequette expanded on quarterback Chase Garbers’ earlier frustration with University Health Services, shortly after the school announced the postponement.

. . . there are 44 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases within the Cal football program, adding “cases emerged in an environment of ongoing failure to abide by public health measures.”

[Mathai] Chakko [of Berkeley Public Health] specifically said people in the program did not get tested when sick, stay home when sick or wear masks indoors.

“These simple measures keep people safe,” Chakko said in a written statement. “Failing to do so results not only in individual infections, sickness and worse, but also threatens the safety of all around them — especially those with compromised immune systems.”

Berkeley Public Health “continues to work closely with University Health Services to help contain and respond to the major outbreak,” according to the statement. Cal-OSHA’s workplace safety rules define any workplace environment with 20 cases as a “major outbreak,” Chakko said.

Cal officials have said 99% of the football team is fully vaccinated. In his videoconference with the media, Knowlton said two people in the the program — which he said includes 117 players and staff — are not vaccinated, and both “have COVID.”

A spokesperson for University Health Services did not return voicemails seeking comment.

The news came the day after [Quarterback Chase] Garbers lashed out at school health officials on social media after the loss of 24 players, including himself, to COVID-19 protocols for last Saturday’s game against Arizona.

Garbers, in a post Monday night on Twitter, lamented what he characterized as a lack of communication during a meeting earlier in the day.

“City and university officials spoke to us today, they really had no answers for us,” Garbers wrote. “They just beat around the bush and deflected our questions.”

The issue seems to hinge on whether regular coronavirus testing of Cal players, including those who are vaccinated, is required or “highly recommended,” as Garbers put it. He said players were told Monday that testing is only highly recommended.

But Garbers suggested the university previously had “told us it was mandated and we could not participate unless we tested.”

Wilcox acknowledged after Saturday’s 10-3 loss that players tested positive last week, leading to the absences for the game in Tucson, Ariz. The consequences of a positive test are clearly spelled out on UC Berkeley’s website: “When someone tests positive for COVID-19, they are required to isolate for at least 10 days per public health isolation order, regardless of vaccination status.”

That’s why players who tested positive would have been unavailable to play against Arizona, even though several reportedly later tested negative.

“We have worked too hard to have someone take this all away from us,” Garbers wrote to end his post. “It is wrong. We deserve answers and transparent communication.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/c...h-16606485.php

IMHO, Mr. Garbers, you're a whiney b*tch and don't deserve sh*t. 44 cases out of 117 "players and staff" means something isn't being done right. You don't like getting tested why? Because you know you or other players are likely to test positive? And you think the people in whose faces you are likely to get on the field and in locker rooms don't deserve to know?