Would You Attend A Bills Game Without A Covid-19 Vaccine?

[Rochesterfan]

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Well, I could be shooting from the hip here, but judging by the number of candidate vaccines that have hurried into clinical trials, I'm not sure that's the case at all.  I know I looked at the thing's structure and said "hot diggity dog, what an epitope target!" which seems to be the reaction of my friends still working in industry.  I'd like to hear what your basis is for saying that, but the discussion should probably hop over to the Covid-19 discussion thread.

 

Agreed - do not want to take away from the other discussion.  I will just say in studying the other Coronaviruses - there seem to be a lot of good epitope and target sites, but few that seem to produce strong, long term antibody reactions in humans.  The immune response to the various Coronaviruses that cause the cold seems very small, limited, and they don’t last long.  Minor mutations allow it to come back year over year and make the same people sick even within the same yearly cycle.  This is with lots of live virus invading the body time and time again. 
 

I hope they find a vaccine that produces a good, powerful response and provides long lasting immunity - I just think that if the human body has not adapted to this virus to make antibodies in all of the years that the cold has been around and people have been infected and reinfected - the vaccine is going to be limited in its effectiveness also.  I think many trials will show some good signs, but like the flu vaccine - it will be very limited in its overall effectiveness and will really be useful to lessen the symptoms and help you feel better sooner - which is not a bad thing, but is not what most people think about with a vaccine.  
 

For example in this scenario presented by the OP - my feeling is the vaccine is not going to keep people from getting sick or spreading the virus - it will just make most people recover a bit faster and hopefully prevent what we are seeing in Italy, Spain, and NYC as a high concentration of cases.  Therefore, to me the vaccine would have little impact on my decision to attend the game with loads of other people.
 

I also think that a lot more people have been positive than the numbers suggest, but because of a lack of testing early and many more mild forms - they were missed, which is where the Ab testing would be great right about now.  Then we can see who has been infected and what kind of levels of ABs people have (which would help greatly with determining the effectiveness of the vaccine) and can tell us whether reinfection is likely and how cyclical this will be.  I am so curious from an epidemiological point of view to see this type of info.

[RyanC883]

15 hours ago, TroutDog said:

I’d love to say yes but I am 50 and have cancer. Can’t do it, unfortunately. I basically have no immune system. 

stay safe man!  And kick cancer's as$

[The Fiend]

17 hours ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

Although I was unable to be tested, my symptoms and my doc indicate that I probably had the ‘Rona already, so I’d like to think I’d be good to go whenever the season starts. 

 

There is no evidence that a recovery from COVID-19 confers immunity.

16 hours ago, TroutDog said:

I’d love to say yes but I am 50 and have cancer. Can’t do it, unfortunately. I basically have no immune system. 

 

AFAIK, unless you are undergoing chemotherapy currently, you are not immuno-comprimised. I might be wrong. I have thyroid cancer and was undergoing external beam radiation, but the doctors said I was not considered immuno-compromised, so I could go ahead and get the pneumonia and Shingles vaccines.

 

BTW, if you are not immuno-comprimised, talk to your doctor; you should begin the Shingrex sequence if you have ever had chickenpox (almost all people age 50 and older have had chickeknpox as children), since you are eligible at 50. Shingles is a horrible disease. If you haven't had chickenpox, get the varicella zoster test to make sure, then talk to your doctor about getting the varicella vaccine for chickenpox.

Edited April 11, 2020 by The Fiend

[The Fiend]

15 hours ago, PetermansRedemption said:

I voted no, but I don’t attend games anyways. Can’t beat the view and comfort from home. That being said, stadiums are huge. I can’t see why they couldn’t devise some social distancing capacity for these games. Ticket revenue is such a small amount of revenue for the NFL. If a stadium has a capacity of 70,000 maybe sell 20,000 tickets, all seats spaced out strategically. Only have a gate for a certain amount of tickets at a certain amount of time. Spread the entrance times out amongst 2 hours. If you have X section you go to X gate at X time kind of thing. It sounds more complicated than I think it would be. You section off seats. Skipping a row or some seats between people. On the ticket you print what gate they are to enter and at what time. An organization as large as the NFL shouldn’t have a problem figuring out the logistics. 

 

There is no way to social distance with football. 22 men on the field, plus sidelnes packed with players, coaches, trainers, hydration techs, TV personnel, etc.

 

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I am pretty sure there won't be a season this fall. Too many governors do not want to lift shelter-in-place orders for fear of an upsurge of infections, which would happen. There probably won't be any school either. That brings many questions: will there be a draft in 2021, and in what order for the teams? Do players get credited for a season on their contracts?

15 hours ago, MAJBobby said:

Yep.  Fought the 'Rona and won, now I have the immunity.  It was an easy fight actually felt like the flu, I am going to attribute that to all the unknown shots the Army gave me for 20 years.  

 

I know I have given a ton of plasma already

 

How do you know you have immunity?

14 hours ago, JMF2006 said:

 

By September this should be just a bad memory....hopefully.

 

It will not just disappear until and unless a vaccine is developed. Maybe there will be effective treatments by then, but that is very uncertain.

Edited April 11, 2020 by The Fiend

[The Fiend]

14 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

No. I have high risk family members that I’m in frequent contact with and I am higher risk myself. I don’t see myself attending any crowded events until there is a vaccine. I couldn’t live with myself if I gave this to one of my family members and they died.

 

There will be no crowded events until a vaccine is developed or there is an effective therapy for it with widespread instant testing available.

[chongli]

14 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

I think we will see tons of folks with masks on ( somehow rigged so we can still drink beers)

 

You mean like this:

 

 

[The Fiend]

10 hours ago, driddles said:

I run a site and we post medical info, but we pay $5K a year for errors and omissions insurance.  If I ran this site I'd be blocking all medical advice, unless they have the insurance.

 

Anyone who relies on a site like this or a comments section from a news article is nuts.

10 hours ago, Boatdrinks said:

 

Fans will be more starved for live sports programming in September than they are already. The networks won’t need to resort to phony piped in noise or graphics to draw viewers. Play by play is fine and cameras won’t do the obligatory panning  around the stadium. 

 

As I said earlier, if fans are not allowed for safety reasons, neither will players. 22 men on the field and , plus 7 officials, plus packed sidelines full of other players, trainers, coaches, TV personnel, etc. will be too much.

[The Fiend]

10 hours ago, Boatdrinks said:

Maybe, maybe not.  I think it’s possible that a stadium could be open in one state but not in another.

 

The NFL will take an all or nothing approach. Either all stadiums will allow fans, or none will. You cannot give certain teams an advantage. But, as I said earlier, if no fans are allowed, neither will teams be. There will be no games until a vaccine is discovered, or cure is discovered along with rapid testing.

10 hours ago, Sherlock Holmes said:

Us military folk are probably immune to almost everything...sure had enough vaccines tested on us... Gah I feel terrible as I was responsible for giving so many immunizations.

 

Except there was a huge outbreak of sailors with COVID-19 on a US military ship in Guam recently:

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/coronavirus-outbreak-diverts-navy-aircraft-carrier-guam-all-5-000-n1169726

Edited April 11, 2020 by The Fiend

[PetermansRedemption]

2 hours ago, The Fiend said:

 

Anyone who relies on a site like this or a comments section from a news article is nuts.

 

As I said earlier, if fans are not allowed for safety reasons, neither will players. 22 men on the field and , plus 7 officials, plus packed sidelines full of other players, trainers, coaches, TV personnel, etc. will be too much.

Assuming availability of instant testing, that part is easy to overcome though. You treat every game as an away game, meaning both teams enter a hotel Saturday. Before coming together, each coach and member undergoes a rapid test. They are cleared and allowed into the hotel. They don’t have contact with anyone but team/staff/coaches until after game day Sunday. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by PetermansRedemption

[The Fiend]

7 minutes ago, PetermansRedemption said:

Assuming availability of instant testing, that part is easy to overcome though. You treat every game as an away game, meaning both teams enter a hotel Saturday. Before coming together, each coach and member undergoes a rapid test. They are cleared and allowed into the hotel. They don’t have contact with anyone but team/staff/coaches until after game day Sunday. 

 

Good idea, but I am worried about it. A player can still acquire the virus by simply walking through an inected area where there are still aerosolized droplets or droplets on a surface. And the minute someone gets it, there will be a scandal in the NFL with all kinds of people and politicians condemning them. Bad publicity for the NFL. And I can't see our governor, Gavin Newsom of California, allowing any NFL games in the state. The games will also inspire fans to gather at a person's house, violating social distancing. I cannot see it happening.

Edited April 11, 2020 by The Fiend

[Billsfansinceday1]

There will definitely NOT be a vaccine by this season, but possibly next year.   It is possible, however, that there will be reliable testing and/or therapeutics by this Fall.  Those will be the determining factors for when life can get back to relative normalcy to include football.

[PetermansRedemption]

49 minutes ago, The Fiend said:

 

Good idea, but I am worried about it. A player can still acquire the virus by simply walking through an inected area where there are still aerosolized droplets or droplets on a surface. And the minute someone gets it, there will be a scandal in the NFL with all kinds of people and politicians condemning them. Bad publicity for the NFL. And I can't see our governor, Gavin Newsom of California, allowing any NFL games in the state. The games will also inspire fans to gather at a person's house, violating social distancing. I cannot see it happening.

I feel like the first part is being scared of a boogeyman in the closet. It’s such a small chance that the same hotel you chose to stay at (where probably no one has been staying because no one is vacationing) happens to have remaining particles. And if the governor of California doesn’t want games I am certain the NFL will have no trouble finding another venue. 

[Doc Brown]

My best guess at the moment is they start  in October and they'll play games without fans.  All coaches, players, refs, necessary medical personnel, and broadcasting crews will be tested outside of the stadium on game day before being allowed in the stadium.  It's going to be strange but it's better than nothing.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Doc Brown

[machine gun kelly]

9 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

Ben's a retired neurosurgeon, not an epidemiologist.  He's not an expert.  

 

But let's say he's right.  If you get this highly contagious disease, there's a 1 chance in 50 you die.  It's a significant enough possibility that I avoid people outside my own immediate family, wash my hands a lot, carry hand sanitizer with me at all times, and wear a mask when going to public places.  

Another concern...  Under normal circumstance, according to the data collected thus far, an infected person will typically infect 2-3 others.  I don't want to inadvertently get someone else sick and potentially kill them.    I'm not going to any games.

Hondo, good points and putting watching a game over you’re life and the lives of others is foolish.  People can do what they want, but I don’t have to participate.  Btw- As of a report this morning, the death toll exceeded now 100,000 worldwide and not stopping.  Hydroxichloroquine seems to help some but with a high risk of permanent eye damage and coronary issues.  Given that the elderly and sick are at the greatest risk, they are also at the highest risk for adverse events.

 

Do what you want guys, but I’m not hurting myself, my loved ones because of my illness and couldn’t forgive myself if I could do something about it and made three others sick or worse.  Given that we don’t exhibit symptoms until we a,ready have it, you don’t know it until after the fact.  Is going to a game really worth it when you can watch in the safety of you’re own home.  I hate this too, and as I acknowledged on another thread, I’m one of the ones laid off, and in my field in medicine there is currently a hard hiring freeze.  Having said that, these quarantine measure are the best we can do now until there is a vaccine, or effective reproducible treatment options that doesn’t have these extreme risks.

[The Fiend]

1 hour ago, PetermansRedemption said:

I feel like the first part is being scared of a boogeyman in the closet. It’s such a small chance that the same hotel you chose to stay at (where probably no one has been staying because no one is vacationing) happens to have remaining particles. And if the governor of California doesn’t want games I am certain the NFL will have no trouble finding another venue. 

 

I hope you are right. This is the Bills year.

[TroutDog]

6 hours ago, The Fiend said:

 

There is no evidence that a recovery from COVID-19 confers immunity.

 

AFAIK, unless you are undergoing chemotherapy currently, you are not immuno-comprimised. I might be wrong. I have thyroid cancer and was undergoing external beam radiation, but the doctors said I was not considered immuno-compromised, so I could go ahead and get the pneumonia and Shingles vaccines.

 

BTW, if you are not immuno-comprimised, talk to your doctor; you should begin the Shingrex sequence if you have ever had chickenpox (almost all people age 50 and older have had chickeknpox as children), since you are eligible at 50. Shingles is a horrible disease. If you haven't had chickenpox, get the varicella zoster test to make sure, then talk to your doctor about getting the varicella vaccine for chickenpox.

Thanks for the info. I am absolutely immuno-compromised but can still get vaccines as they aren’t ‘live’ versions. My oncologist stresses emphatically every time I see him that fact. Ugh. 

[PetermansRedemption]

1 hour ago, Doc Brown said:

My best guess at the moment is they start  in October and they'll play games without fans.  All coaches, players, refs, necessary medical personnel, and broadcasting crews will be tested outside of the stadium on game day before being allowed in the stadium.  It's going to be strange but it's better than nothing.

This is how I see it happening as well

[MAJBobby]

7 hours ago, The Fiend said:

 

There is no way to social distance with football. 22 men on the field, plus sidelnes packed with players, coaches, trainers, hydration techs, TV personnel, etc.

 

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I am pretty sure there won't be a season this fall. Too many governors do not want to lift shelter-in-place orders for fear of an upsurge of infections, which would happen. There probably won't be any school either. That brings many questions: will there be a draft in 2021, and in what order for the teams? Do players get credited for a season on their contracts?

 

How do you know you have immunity?

 

It will not just disappear until and unless a vaccine is developed. Maybe there will be effective treatments by then, but that is very uncertain.

it is a Virus. Like any virus you get it and get better you now have the antibodies build. Now if it mutates that is a different thing but a non mutated virus will not take hold. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

7 hours ago, The Fiend said:

 

There will be no crowded events until a vaccine is developed or there is an effective therapy for it with widespread instant testing available.

 

Or until our benevolent government issues us papers.

[GimmeSomeProcess]

Don’t need a vaccine but antibody and rapid tests are a must 

[SoCal Deek]

Oh great! The Bills finally get Brady out of our division and the league cancels the season? Stupid Patriots! 

[GottaRun]

Who holds the hammer for declaring the season will start?  Goodell and the owners or the players union? 

 

Does the fact that a deal is done mean the players have to go back if the league says they are playing or will the union have a say in things?
 

[foreboding]

23 hours ago, MAJBobby said:

Yep.  Fought the 'Rona and won, now I have the immunity.  It was an easy fight actually felt like the flu, I am going to attribute that to all the unknown shots the Army gave me for 20 years.  

 

I know I have given a ton of plasma already

Ima wear a color rush hazmat.

[Sherlock Holmes]

7 hours ago, The Fiend said:

 

The NFL will take an all or nothing approach. Either all stadiums will allow fans, or none will. You cannot give certain teams an advantage. But, as I said earlier, if no fans are allowed, neither will teams be. There will be no games until a vaccine is discovered, or cure is discovered along with rapid testing.

 

Except there was a huge outbreak of sailors with COVID-19 on a US military ship in Guam recently:

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/coronavirus-outbreak-diverts-navy-aircraft-carrier-guam-all-5-000-n1169726

Well there was a problem with all the touching going on I'm sure

[Boatdrinks]

7 hours ago, The Fiend said:

 

As I said earlier, if fans are not allowed for safety reasons, neither will players. 22 men on the field and , plus 7 officials, plus packed sidelines full of other players, trainers, coaches, TV personnel, etc. will be too much.

I think the NFL will have a plan for such a situation. It’s very possible , maybe even likely that what’s allowable will vary widely from state to state and locality to locality. Neutral site or even just more road games for teams in areas with more restrictions ( as WNY could be ) might happen. I think I recall a past season where the Raiders played an excess of road games for some reason , I don’t know why. Anyway, the NFL will think outside the box here. I don’t think there will be a Nationwide standard , and a stadium in West Virginia might be “safe” while at the same time in Orchard Park NY it’s not “ safe”. 

7 hours ago, The Fiend said:

 

The NFL will take an all or nothing approach. Either all stadiums will allow fans, or none will. You cannot give certain teams an advantage. But, as I said earlier, if no fans are allowed, neither will teams be. There will be no games until a vaccine is discovered, or cure is discovered along with rapid testing.

 

I disagree here. You actually can have certain teams play more road or neutral site games. It’s not perfect, but they will make it happen if they can. You’re talking about billions of dollars here in an all or nothing context , so I don’t think nothing is very high on their list of options. 

[Boatdrinks]

3 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

My best guess at the moment is they start  in October and they'll play games without fans.  All coaches, players, refs, necessary medical personnel, and broadcasting crews will be tested outside of the stadium on game day before being allowed in the stadium.  It's going to be strange but it's better than nothing.

This is a possibility, and I’m sure they have some plan that includes this scenario or similar. 

[BillnutinHouston]

23 hours ago, PetermansRedemption said:

I voted no, but I don’t attend games anyways. Can’t beat the view and comfort from home. That being said, stadiums are huge. I can’t see why they couldn’t devise some social distancing capacity for these games. Ticket revenue is such a small amount of revenue for the NFL. If a stadium has a capacity of 70,000 maybe sell 20,000 tickets, all seats spaced out strategically. Only have a gate for a certain amount of tickets at a certain amount of time. Spread the entrance times out amongst 2 hours. If you have X section you go to X gate at X time kind of thing. It sounds more complicated than I think it would be. You section off seats. Skipping a row or some seats between people. On the ticket you print what gate they are to enter and at what time. An organization as large as the NFL shouldn’t have a problem figuring out the logistics. 

 

You do know that 60,000 season tickets have already been sold, right? 

[BillsfaninChicago]

22 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

Leon, that’s called a bender.  Bud I’m just kidding as too easy.  I’m glad you’re ok, and if you did, maybe you had a mild case.  Seriously on Easter weekend, happy you’re ok.

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha Oh yeah I definitely also had the Irish Flu for a couple days after that trip! ?

[wagon127]

On 4/10/2020 at 10:16 AM, PetermansRedemption said:

I voted no, but I don’t attend games anyways. Can’t beat the view and comfort from home. That being said, stadiums are huge. I can’t see why they couldn’t devise some social distancing capacity for these games. Ticket revenue is such a small amount of revenue for the NFL. If a stadium has a capacity of 70,000 maybe sell 20,000 tickets, all seats spaced out strategically. Only have a gate for a certain amount of tickets at a certain amount of time. Spread the entrance times out amongst 2 hours. If you have X section you go to X gate at X time kind of thing. It sounds more complicated than I think it would be. You section off seats. Skipping a row or some seats between people. On the ticket you print what gate they are to enter and at what time. An organization as large as the NFL shouldn’t have a problem figuring out the logistics. 

How do those 20,000 fans maintain the social distancing that would be required for the 3-4 hours they would need to. Yeah their seats are 1 or 2 seats away from another person, but when you go in line for food or to use the rest room, there is just no way this would work. We either can attend a sold out stadium in september, or the games will be played in front of nobody. There isn't an in between.

[Meatloaf63]

On 4/10/2020 at 1:51 PM, hondo in seattle said:

Until the Covid 19 storm blows over, I'm avoiding all public places as best I can.  First of all, I'm 61 and my lungs have been screwed up since the Gulf War (oil fires?  chemical agents?). 

 

Plus, I don't want to become a carrier who gets other people sick.

 

Like BisonMan, I'm not expecting a vaccine or effective treatment by the 2020 NFL season.  

Thank you for your service? Stay healthy!!!

[Kirby Jackson]

 

[PetermansRedemption]

45 minutes ago, wagon127 said:

How do those 20,000 fans maintain the social distancing that would be required for the 3-4 hours they would need to. Yeah their seats are 1 or 2 seats away from another person, but when you go in line for food or to use the rest room, there is just no way this would work. We either can attend a sold out stadium in september, or the games will be played in front of nobody. There isn't an in between.

Eh, all the same anyways. I watch from home. 

[stuvian]

by vaccine you mean placebo?! I won't be taking it either way

[Punching Bag]

53 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

 

 

Are you COVID-19 is punishment for listening to televangelists?

Possible.

[fansince88]

On 4/10/2020 at 9:28 AM, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

Although I was unable to be tested, my symptoms and my doc indicate that I probably had the ‘Rona already, so I’d like to think I’d be good to go whenever the season starts. 

Same here. Sore throat. Spiked a fever and Bronchitus within hours. Good ole salt water, gse and vitamins brought me through it 

Edited April 11, 2020 by fansince88

[The Fiend]

11 hours ago, TroutDog said:

Thanks for the info. I am absolutely immuno-compromised but can still get vaccines as they aren’t ‘live’ versions. My oncologist stresses emphatically every time I see him that fact. Ugh. 

 

You will make it. I am sorry for what you are going through.

[purple haze]

I think I might have had the virus in February.  All the symptoms people describe: fatigue, chills, fever, super congestion and labored breathing, the WORST cough I've ever had.  And it lasted a good 2 weeks.  Cough was so bad I couldn't sleep through the night most nights.  I thought it was the worst flu ever had or maybe pneumonia.  I told my wife I had some type of bionic flu.  She wanted to take me to urgent care a couple different times, but I wouldn't go.  At the time I had never heard of Coronavirus.   

 

Several co-workers had similar experiences before and after me.  Of course we all missed a few days of work then dragged our asses back in because no one wants to keep missing work.  Dragged being the operative word.  Folks should be very careful about rushing to get back to "normal."  Reports out of South Korea are stating people who recovered from the virus are beginning to test positive again.  

[Not at the table Karlos]

On 4/10/2020 at 1:35 PM, Leonhart2017 said:

I think I already had it from when I went to Vegas back in January. I had a brutal dry cough and fever for about 4 days even had to miss some school and work. It eventually went away though but it was so random and so brutal it made wonder.

I had something that matched the symptoms at end of january. Dr and hospital refused to allow me on to premises but I was cleared for travel to Vegas from feb 7th to 11th over the phone. 
 

I would absolutely attend a game today if I could. My uncle passed earlier this week from it after having heart surgery. Sucks but life must go on. 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Not at the table Karlos

[PetermansRedemption]

36 minutes ago, purple haze said:

I think I might have had the virus in February.  All the symptoms people describe: fatigue, chills, fever, super congestion and labored breathing, the WORST cough I've ever had.  And it lasted a good 2 weeks.  Cough was so bad I couldn't sleep through the night most nights.  I thought it was the worst flu ever had or maybe pneumonia.  I told my wife I had some type of bionic flu.  She wanted to take me to urgent care a couple different times, but I wouldn't go.  At the time I had never heard of Coronavirus.   .  

This exact thing happened to me in December. First of all, I rarely ever get sick. I maybe miss one day a year. I never miss more than one day. The sickness in late December knocked me right on my ass. Missed a week of work. Had it for around 7 days including the weekend. Fatigue, chills, fever, and a cough that sounded like bronchitis. Went to urgent care. They tested for strep, it was negative. They didn’t test for the flu but that was my diagnosis. I guess I’ll find out for sure once they can run the antibody test. 

Edited April 12, 2020 by PetermansRedemption

[Kirby Jackson]

2 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

Are you COVID-19 is punishment for listening to televangelists?

Possible.

Not sure what you’re saying. I’m just glad he was able to blow it away.