Ohio State, Penn State and Covid-19

Four years ago, Donald Trump persuaded the Big Ten to play its football games in empty stadiums.

Why? 

Because everything Trump has ever done centers on but one question. What’s best for me?

In August and September 2020, polls showed him losing to, or tied with, Joe Biden across the industrial Midwest, the states once considered the “Blue Wall.” 

Trump desperately needed for the country to return to “normal” in order for him to win. And “normal” meant no masks, kids back in school, and businesses reopened.

And from the Federal Reserve to the Centers for Disease Control, from Federal Drug Administration to Health and Human Services, “normal” meant the entire Federal government became adjuncts of his re-election campaign. 

So did the Big Ten. Yet every Big Ten football game, unwittingly, became a super-spreader event.

Why? 

Because Trump didn’t understand the football culture of the Big Ten. You don’t need a ticket to have BIG TEN FUN on game day. There are parties in dorms and bars, homes and apartment complexes near its universities. And wherever else their tens of thousands of alumni live and work.

Lots of friends, food, and ‘refreshments’ are matched with hootin’, hollerin’, and hugging. It’s just like being inside the stadium but with two major distinctions. 

At Ohio State, for example, over 103,000 fans moved the party out of the stands and into their homes and apartments, alley ways and parking lots. So did their ticket-less fans everywhere.

And each Saturday for nine straight weeks as the pandemic grew in intensity, far smaller dens and living rooms replaced that open-air stadium. Big Ten fun!! Bigger Ten risks. Biggest Ten contagion events ever… and all brought to us by then-President Trump. 

On September 16, 2020, Trump tweeted:

"Great News: BIG TEN FOOTBALL IS BACK," Trump said on Twitter. "All teams to participate. Thank you to the players, coaches, parents, and all school representatives. Have a FANTASTIC SEASON! It is my great honor to have helped!!!"

National Public Radio continued its report by saying:

“The president, along with many fans and players, have been calling on the conference to return to the field, and Trump reportedly spoke with the Big Ten's commissioner earlier this month.”

"He made it very clear that he would help in any way that he possibly could to help us return to competition,"the [Big Ten] Commissioner Kevin Warren told The New York Times.”

As a result, the Big Ten’s 14 football teams were scheduled to play nine games. Due to Covid outbreaks on various teams, however, only 50 games were played and 13 were cancelled in 2020. 

So there wasn’t one super-spreader event. There were fifty televised super-spreaders atomized into thousands of mini-events… in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

So what happened in those eleven states during the predicted and predictable surge of the pandemic?

On September 18, 2020, John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center reported a cumulative total of 1.87 million confirmed cases… and 51,512 deaths… in those eleven Big Ten states… and two days after Trump’s tweet. So we have a baseline.

On March 17, 2021 — St. Patrick’s Day — John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center reported 5.15 million confirmed case and 146,346 deaths… a three fold increase in those eleven Big Ten states.

Trump got more than he bargained for: empty stadiums AND jammed packed parties. Those super-spreader events accelerated coronavirus infection and death rates in the Big Ten’s eleven states.

For instance, in just Ohio and Pennsylvania, from September 18, 2020 thru March 17, 2021, there were 1.42 million new cases and 31,639 deaths… just so Trump could claim to be #1 again.

So this Saturday, when Trump attends the Ohio State v. Penn State game in Happy Valley, can we remind folks that it is not the first time he has used the Big Ten to try to win an election?

Can we at remind folks of HIS box score: 14,842 dead in Ohio and 16,788 dead in Pennsylvania?

Can we explain that those deaths occurred between his BIG TEN FOOTBALL IS BACK tweet and his Fox News Primetime interview urging his followers to get VACCINATED on St. Patrick’s Day?

Can we mention that the coronavirus was rampaging through all fifty states plus the District of Columbia by then?

And can we interrupt the play-by-play announcers to provide Covid-19’s final score?

By March 10, 2023, when John Hopkins stopped collecting COVID-19 statistics, the United States had had 103.8 million confirmed cases… and 1,123,836 deaths from the coronavirus.

Trump never puts the American people first. He always puts himself first. He’s consistent.

In a little known fact, Trump was quietly vaccinated in January 2021. BUT he waited two months to tell his own followers to get the shots! 

Even then, his personal political prospects took precedence. “I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.” Adding “we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also.”

So much senseless, spineless blarney on St. Patrick’s Day. No wonder over one point one million Americans lost their lives.

Were it not for Trump’s political calculations and machinations, his incredible incompetence, and his oral incontinence, many a grand parent or parent, aunt or uncle, brother or a sister, child or grandchild might be watching Ohio State and Penn State battle for #1 in Happy Valley this Saturday.

Sadly, 31,630 of Ohio State and Penn State’s most loyal fans will never watch any game again.

So, “the great honor to have helped” is all yours, Mr. Trump.