Testing, Testing, Testing And Maybe Something More For Pro Golf's Return?

For those trying to imagine how professional golf will return, or those charged with trying to get the sport jump-started, a couple of weekend reads offered food for thought. While testing options and availability vary widely—I took part in LA County’s COVID-19 free testing this weekend and it worked incredibly efficiently—we know pro sports leagues will likely find a way to get tests.

But the big picture issues go beyond availability to optics and plans that provide assurance should testing no be available, or only seen as part of the solution.

From AP’s Tim Reynolds, who did touch on the PGA Tour’s return but focused largely on MLB, NBA and the NHL.

Some teams were sharply criticized for getting their players tested when the pandemic was beginning to take hold in March. The leagues want to avoid a similar blowback.

“The threshold question is the health question. That’s where we’re spending the most time,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “The ones that are the most worrisome are the ones that are beyond their control.”

According to Major League Baseball, 3,000 kits would need to be available for players, staff, broadcasters and others for every round of testing to get its season going and keep it going. Even if the NHL and NBA return with just 16 postseason teams on the ice and courts, those leagues would likely require tests for a minimum of 1,000 players and staff. And there’s no telling how often — Daily? Every few days? Weekly? — the tests would be required to be administered.

With tests still in short supply, that’s not a great look.

Pulitzer winner Laurie Garrett was featured in Frank Bruni’s Sunday NY Times column for her admittedly bleak outlook and vast history of coverage and predictions of past pandemics.

While she was speaking of the country and people who need to be tested, her comments should be noted by sports executives who are trying to imagine how they respect public and athlete safety in bringing their sports back.

And what America needs most right now, she said, isn’t this drumbeat of testing, testing, testing, because there will never be enough superfast, super-reliable tests to determine on the spot who can safely enter a crowded workplace or venue, which is the scenario that some people seem to have in mind. America needs good information, from many rigorously designed studies, about the prevalence and deadliness of coronavirus infections in given subsets of people, so that governors and mayors can develop rules for social distancing and reopening that are sensible, sustainable and tailored to the situation at hand.