The Pandemic - your area

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

There's a certain sense to it: that the less time the competitors spend in proximity to each other, the better.

That one's ridiculous. Swimming and diving, the competitors don't even get close to each other, nor are they manipulating an object like a basketball. And even if they picked up something on their hands, swimming is continuously washing them.

I could see clearing out the audience, though. Still, the high humidity inside a pool room is not conducive to airborne virus transmission.

My guess is that you have never been at an NFHS swim meet.

While those who are actively swimming at any point in time, may not be in perilously close proximity, the pool deck is a completely different story.

Teams average about 50 athletes each.
A dual meet, 100 +/- athletes
A tri-meet, a quad meet, do the math.
Then there are Invitationals which involves 5 or more teams.

Those who are not currently swimming but are up "next", are lined up behind the starting blocks 4 or 5 deep. 8 to 10 lanes, do the math.

Those who are "not next" are bunched up on bleachers or team areas on the pool deck. Not a lot of available real estate.

Not to mention coaches and officials, you have a lot of humanity in shoulder-to-shoulder proximity. Then add the heat, humidity and bacterial opportunities, it is a very close and uncomfortable environment, even under the best of circumstances.

So, this makes more sense than probably any other sport.