Coronavirus and the new season

[karne]

I saw that and am sorry it is something you looked forward to. I was actually shocked that things are being cancelled next year already. And I disagree it was necessary. If people would wear masks, we could get this under control in 4-8 weeks. Per the CDC I believe

You cannot trust people to do the right thing. In the US a security guard was murdered after he told someone to put a mask on. That person drew out a gun and shot him. Because there's a huge contingent of people who refuse to wear masks because "FREEDOM!".

Even here it is not working as they should. We don't have mask orders. When it spiked in Victoria, and everything started shutting down, people were told to stay home. Instead, selfish Victorians fled. When they announced they were closing the border to NSW, Victorians scattered everywhere they could get to, including NSW. Now there will be a spike in Sydney, because selfish Victorians have brought it out with them and defeated the purpose of the border closure.

We need the vaccine, because the human race is too deeply embedded in selfishness to rely on everyone doing the right and correct thing.

 

[RemyRose]

Autumn Classic has been postponed. From SC website:
https://skatecanada.ca/event-schedule/

 

[ancientpeas]

Autumn Classic has been postponed. From SC website:
https://skatecanada.ca/event-schedule/

This is not surprising as we don't even have free travel between all the provinces yet and are closed to many countries.

 

[Edwin]

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news...or-olympics-go-ahead-in-2021-tokyo-chief.html

The only English language news source I could find right now of this new interview with the head of Tokyo OC from today.

No vaccine, no Games. But having a vaccine is only one thing, enforcing its use and checking its effectiveness in any participant, official or spectator is quite another matter.

 

[macy]

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news...or-olympics-go-ahead-in-2021-tokyo-chief.html

The only English language news source I could find right now of this new interview with the head of Tokyo OC from today.

No vaccine, no Games. But having a vaccine is only one thing, enforcing its use and checking its effectiveness in any participant, official or spectator is quite another matter.

this whole situation is just heartbreaking. imagine being one of these athletes trying to qualify for their first OG, maybe (and probably) their only shot, and they might not even get it. i could not imagine...you spend your entire life training for one competition and the opportunity is ripped right out of your hands. everything you worked for is gone. my heart goes out to all of these athletes continuing to train for something that may not even happen.

 

[TallyT]

What was the date by which the decision on the GP series needs to be made? Because the figures at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ are not looking good.

 

[karne]

What was the date by which the decision on the GP series needs to be made? Because the figures at https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ are not looking good.

August 3, aka Monday.

We're toast.

 

[surimi]

Here is something the ISU could be doing to keep fans interested, if they decide the GP is unsustainable: go through their Youtube archive and tidy it up. I have taken to watching old JGP videos becase I can watch full, several hours long blocks, and feel like I'm watching a competition. Yesterday I randomly decided to watch 2018 Linz JGP ladies, and to my surprise the SP footage (the full-length thing) was missing altogether (surely it can't be that difficult to edit out copyrighted music for some select skaters?), while the LP segment's sound and image got so out of sync some time into the 2nd group, it's almost unwatchable. =_=
ISU, please at least give us a lot of stuff to watch if skating can't be performed in competitions

 

[Alex D]

Here is something the ISU could be doing to keep fans interested, if they decide the GP is unsustainable: go through their Youtube archive and tidy it up. I have taken to watching old JGP videos becase I can watch full, several hours long blocks, and feel like I'm watching a competition. Yesterday I randomly decided to watch 2018 Linz JGP ladies, and to my surprise the SP footage (the full-length thing) was missing altogether (surely it can't be that difficult to edit out copyrighted music for some select skaters?), while the LP segment's sound and image got so out of sync some time into the 2nd group, it's almost unwatchable. =_=
ISU, please at least give us a lot of stuff to watch if skating can't be performed in competitions

It can be a lot of work sadly, even with the auto mute feature.

Each country has different rules for YT, so that a piece of music which might be blocked in the UK, won´t be in the US, another is blocked in Germany, but not in Italy and so on. You could end up having to edit out a huge amount of music so that you might have only very few pieces of music left, which might not be that fun to watch at all. These rules also change a lot, a song that is fine today, can be blocked tomorrow and in 2 months be ok again, while another is blocked.

I fully support your post though, I actually enjoy watching full competitions most and would advice that you use a VPN to unblock videos. As for the unsync videos, if you have a smart TV, you can use sound-delay to fix the issues. Most Samsung TVs have that :thumbsup:

 

[visaliakid]

I am fully expecting the cancellation of the Senior Grand Prix Season. Preparing for individual Nationals where allowed and possibly only Europeans, Four Continents Championships, and Worlds next March. Going to be a bleak year of skating. I hope the ISU is prepared to support various virtual events to give elite skaters the opportunity to get scores for the dead season.

 

[karne]

I am fully expecting the cancellation of the Senior Grand Prix Season. Preparing for individual Nationals where allowed and possibly only Europeans, Four Continents Championships, and Worlds next March. Going to be a bleak year of skating. I hope the ISU is prepared to support various virtual events to give elite skaters the opportunity to get scores for the dead season.

I have almost given up on us being able to host 4CC. Even before Melbourne blew up, they were talking about not opening the international border until the end of the year. With Melbourne blowing up, and selfish idiots spreading it to other states - if Sydney or Brisbane don't blow up in the next two weeks it will be nothing short of a miracle - we have to start all over again to stop it. That will delay the opening of the international border. The only way the border will be opened is with a mandatory 2-week quarantine, which will just about put the nail in the coffin.

 

[NanaPat]

I have almost given up on us being able to host 4CC. Even before Melbourne blew up, they were talking about not opening the international border until the end of the year. With Melbourne blowing up, and selfish idiots spreading it to other states - if Sydney or Brisbane don't blow up in the next two weeks it will be nothing short of a miracle - we have to start all over again to stop it. That will delay the opening of the international border. The only way the border will be opened is with a mandatory 2-week quarantine, which will just about put the nail in the coffin.

You're probably right about the border, but don't despair because of new outbreaks. The BC Interior has been very lightly hit by coronavirus until the July 1 holiday, when a bunch of young covidiots came to vacation in Kelowna from the BC lower mainland and from Alberta. At last count, there are around 90 cases and over 1000 contacts in self-isolation! Yet it has not spread to an older, vulnerable people or into care homes, no one has died as far as I know, and the outbreak seems to be dying down.

The good thing that has come out of the "Kelowna cluster" is that more people in Kelowna and towns within a couple of hours drive are BEGINNING TO WEAR MASKS. An informal survey (my husband an I going to the same grocery store on different days and observing / counting samples) shows that mask usage is edging toward 50%. That's not exactly good, but it was less than 10% until quite recently.

People in the Interior were entirely too complacent, some even claiming "there's no covid here". Sure, there isn't. At least they aren't claiming that now.

 

[Harriet]

You're probably right about the border, but don't despair because of new outbreaks. The BC Interior has been very lightly hit by coronavirus until the July 1 holiday, when a bunch of young covidiots came to vacation in Kelowna from the BC lower mainland and from Alberta. At last count, there are around 90 cases and over 1000 contacts in self-isolation! Yet it has not spread to an older, vulnerable people or into care homes, no one has died as far as I know, and the outbreak seems to be dying down.

The good thing that has come out of the "Kelowna cluster" is that more people in Kelowna and towns within a couple of hours drive are BEGINNING TO WEAR MASKS. An informal survey (my husband an I going to the same grocery store on different days and observing / counting samples) shows that mask usage is edging toward 50%. That's not exactly good, but it was less than 10% until quite recently.

People in the Interior were entirely too complacent, some even claiming "there's no covid here". Sure, there isn't. At least they aren't claiming that now.

One of the problems in Melbourne is that as part of the community transmission that's happening, it has now got into the (privately-run sector) aged care system, so we're closer to a Quebec/Ontario scenario than a BC one unfortunately. We can only hope they've intervened early enough in NSW that the same doesn't happen there, but given Newmarch and the Ruby Princess debacle I'm not overly optimistic on that front.

But more worrying is that daily new case numbers seem to be increasing almost everywhere. The WHO is talking about the 'wave' pattern maybe not even being applicable to this virus after all - that it has no seasonal pattern, it won't die back and flare up again on a regional basis, and the only way it will decrease to manageable levels is through social distancing and public hygiene. And people have been social distancing for anywhere from four to six months now, they're tired, they're lonely, they're both afraid and numb, and they're desperate to feel a sense of normality, so social distancing and public hygiene habits are starting to slip...and the numbers go up.

But another hard lockdown would be catastrophic for many countries, and not just economically, so they're trying to keep things open and their people alive and their health systems operative all at the same time. Difficult to say the least. What it might mean for international sporting events, including figure skating, I have no idea...

 

[yelyoh]

Yeah Harriet in Manhattan where I live people were going crazy with isolation and long long supermarket lines and no access to anything. No socializing. Doctors have said because we are social beings. isolating for one day is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigs a day in terms of detriment to health. It sure felt that way. Now we can eat outdoors and play singles tennis and get our hair cut. So some semblance of normalcy and it feels great. I dread another downturn but NYers have been really responsible so...... I sure miss the theater and museums and parties.

 

[flanker]

Today ISU should decide about the 2020/21 senior GP if I'm not mistaken.

 

[TallyT]

Today ISU should decide about the 2020/21 senior GP if I'm not mistaken.

They can't go ahead if they give a damn or even want to be seen to give a damn about the skaters, they really can't. Not with Skate America coming first. Not with the numbers these last few weeks. Not when there's increasing signs that even if people recover, there could be long term effects including heart problems - including young people. Not when the chances that borders will be open are getting more distant every week.

I miss skating, I know how it is hurting the federations and the skaters economically, I worry. But it is not worth risking their health.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just read a story on the BBC's teletext service (in the Northrn Ireland Sport pages, of all places!) that China has "said that they would not host any international sporting events until 2021".

The story was actually about a revised calendar being released for the 2020-21 snooker season. So, it may just be snooker events that is being talking about. But, the way the story is worded sounded like this statement was not specifically about snooker but was about sport in general.

Here is the internet version of the story, so you can judge for yourselves:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/53638013

Bearing in mind that the coming season would be the last full season before the Olympics are in China, and that such seasons always feature practice events so that the the organisers can test out the venues and the personnel, this does not bode well for Beijing 2022.

As far as I know, there has been no calendar PDF issued by the ISU for the coming season yet. But, according to Wikipedia, there were to be 3 events held in China - the Cup Of China; the GP Final; and Junior Worlds. Of these, it was the GP Final that was due to be held in Beijing, so I assume that it was the test event. However, the GP Final seems a strange choice, given the small fields. Surely Junior Worlds would have been the more logical choice.

We still don't know if there will be a Senior GP Series. But, if this is right that there are to be no international sporting events in China until 2021, the GP Final wouldn't be happening in Beijing anyway. Which would mean major problems for the figure skating Olympic preparations.

They should have went for Junior Worlds...

CaroLiza_fan

 

[surimi]

It's sort of inevitable but it makes me so sad at the same time. I miss skating.

 

[AshWagsFan]

Any news about the Grand Prix? Are they planning to go virtual or just cancelling?

Edit: I believe this is the day it is decided.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Any news about the Grand Prix? Are they planning to go virtual or just cancelling?

Virtual skating?! That would never work.

Yes, various motorsports series held virtual races during the lockdown. And I actually enjoyed the virtual F1 and virtual MotoGP races (the virtual F1 was actually more exciting than the real thing!) But, racing is easier to replicate on computer games. I can't imagine that figure skating would be. In fact, I would imagine that it would be next to impossible to do, because there are so many intricacies to the sport. For a start, there are far more moves that a skater could do than there are buttons on the controller. Yes, you could use combinations of buttons, but that would make it far too complicated for the player to do at speed.

For that matter, are there even any figure skating computer games on the market that could be used? I've never heard of any.

Edit: I believe this is the day it is decided.

I think the decision was due today too. That's why I'm hanging about here.

CaroLiza_fan