There are no two ways about it: In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Americans are going to have to limit their social interactions in a big way for the coming days, or possibly weeks.
The virus, which has already killed several thousand people worldwide, is moving quickly and stealthily throughout the global population. In order to curb the spread of the highly contagious virus, the world is going to need to avoid each other as much as possible, allowing the virus to essentially go hungry.
This has already lead to the suspension, cancelation, or postponement of nearly the entirety of the American professional sports world.
Now, thanks to new recommendations by the CDC, we could be waiting even longer to get back to the ball field.
The already-delayed professional sports seasons in North America could be on hiatus for significantly longer than first planned after federal officials said Sunday that they recommend all in-person events involving 50 people or more be called off for the next eight weeks.
That’s twice as long as the 30-day shutdowns that the NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer decided to put into place last week in response to the global coronavirus pandemic that has already made a deep impact on the U.S. financial markets and has been blamed for at least 64 deaths in this country.
Major League Baseball also was going with what essentially was a 30-day shutdown after canceling the rest of spring training and pushing back the start of regular season play for two weeks; opening day was to have been March 26.
The language was unmistakable.
“CDC, in accordance with its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers … cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States,” it said. “Events of any size should only be continued if they can be carried out with adherence to guidelines for protecting vulnerable populations, hand hygiene, and social distancing.”
And while COVID-19 is no laughing matter, some of the memes and social media posts regarding this lack of athletic competition have been downright hilarious.
Day 3 Without Sports: I have fully convinced myself that marble racing is the sport of the future pic.twitter.com/ofttKuSQsF
— Kevin Edwards (@keddie44) March 14, 2020
Day 4 without sports and you’re on your 6th straight episode of “Love is Blind” pic.twitter.com/pixFPpqH2P
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 15, 2020
Day 5 without sports, Starting to get real desperate #baseketball pic.twitter.com/RiOdbhAZMM
— Tanner Groeneveld (@TGroeneveld77) March 15, 2020
And while that last one is funny, let’s not forget that BaseketBall is one of the funniest films of the modern era.
