MEMPHIS, Tennessee — The love of basketball runs deep in the Bluff City, but this year it can pose as a danger as COVID-19 cases surge nationally.
One coach said suspending the season is taking away more than just a game from students.
“I know that we’re making every precaution we can and we’ve done fine so far,” said Christian Brothers High Schools basketball coach Bubba Luckett. “We haven’t even had anybody get it. Most of our situations are kids getting it from outside of school.”
Luckett said it's not up to him to decide how long his team will get to play but he's hoping they'll be lucky despite this pandemic.
“I’ve seen the faces of the Shelby County Schools kids, we had a few that came to our game the other night,” he said. “These kids are depressed and I know that the government is doing what they believe is right to keep people healthy.”
Last Friday the Shelby County Health Department released restrictions which included another recommendation that schools suspend all school-related close contact sports.
“If just one person is positive the entire team can get infected,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. Manoj Jain. “I know this is a difficult time but the best way to avoid infection is to avoid contact sports at this time.”
Jain said school children together without masks in closed indoor settings is high risk.
Meanwhile, Coach Luckett commented that suspending sports would cut-out an important part of students’ lives.
“It’s kind of their escape from everything going on around them. When we played that game the other night we felt like it was the first time since march we forgot about the pandemic for a few minutes.”
Luckett said the CBHS team takes several precautions like using three rows of benches, keeping chairs six feet apart, spraying each chair between games and assigning seats.
“Kids are going to be kids,” said Dr. Jain. “It’s hard to stay apart 6 feet and then still be on the same team and play."