July 26

Page 8 Friday, July 16, 2021

Monday, July 26, 2021

Column: Here, here for Old Notre Dame Chris Becker Assistant Sports Editor

The Big 12 is on life support and could be 6 feet under soon, if it doesn’t act now.

There’s only one glimmer of hope for resuscitation, it’s time to call Notre Dame.

Oklahoma and Texas’ departures have been rumored before, but this time it seems the conference cornerstones are ready for a final goodbye, headed for the SEC. This divorce is all but final, one side living large, heading off to the strongest football conference in the country.

The other side has to decide whether they pull the plug and scatter into spare parts across the country or get stronger and bounce back better than before.

If OU and Texas both leave for the SEC, the Big 12 would be without its top two earning athletic departments.

In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Chris Becker

See Notre Dame on pg.5

As delta variant spreads, CDC is pressured to revise mask guidance Tribune News Service

Maddison Farris

A growing number of public-health experts are urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend that even fully vaccinated people wear face masks in public amid the resurgence of virus cases fed by the delta variant.

Doctors including former surgeon general Jerome Adams say the CDC acted prematurely in May when it announced that fully inoculated Americans would no longer need to wear a mask in most situations. That move was broadly seen as part of efforts to incentivize jabs. The different rules for the vaccinated and unvaccinated and the impression that Americans could let down their guard sowed confusion

that has led to a higher rate of infections, according to Adams.

“The execution was poor, and the results speak for themselves,” Adams, who currently practices anesthesia in Indianapolis, said in an email interview. “Low mask usage, slowed vaccination rates and exploding cases.”

COVID-19 fatalities in the U.S. surged 48% over the past week to a daily average of 239 and hospitalizations are also on the rise as the more transmittable version of the virus spreads rapidly.

The CDC says the delta variant now makes up 83% of all sequenced COVID-19 cases in the U.S., up from 50% at the beginning of the month.

Unvaccinated people account for 99.5% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. and See Delta on pg.2

Page 2 Monday, July 26, 2021

News

Kelly Kerr

Delta...

Continued from pg.1 97% of hospitalizations.

Although the vaccines are highly effective against the virus, there is still a small risk that vaccinated people will get sick.

There’s also a risk that fully vaccinated people will spread the disease to the unvaccinated, including to children who aren’t yet eligible for the jab. That’s why, despite being fully vaccinated, people may want to take extra precautions by wearing a mask indoors or in crowded areas.

“There has definitely been a shift in terms of perception of the virus, especially among those who are vaccinated,” said Krystal Pollitt, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.”It’s important for the vaccinated to continue masking, especially in places that have lower rates of vaccinations.”

Los Angeles County has revived mask mandates for its 11 mil-

lion residents, regardless of vaccine status, when they’re in indoor public settings. Daily case counts have risen 80% from the previous week.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said July 22 that the organization was sticking with its recommendations that fully vaccinated people don’t usually need masks, while allowing that wearing one may have some advantages.

“Communities and individuals need to make the decisions that are right for them based on what’s going on in their local areas,” she told reporters. “You get exceptional protection from the vaccines, but you have the opportunity to make a personal choice to add extra layers of protection if you so choose.”

The highly transmissible delta variant has prompted many countries to rethink their public-health strategies against COVID-19. Last month, Israel lifted most of its restrictions, but days later reinstated the requirement to wear masks indoors. On the other hand, England lifted all of its lockdown restrictions Monday, just as the U.K. saw the world’s biggest increase in infections.

The U.S. is the only country

in the world that has different mask rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated people, a framework that’s difficult to enforce, according to Monica Gandhi, an infectious-disease expert at University of California San Francisco.

“This has led to a lot of confusion,” she said.

[Contention over wearing masks in schools rises as academic year begins for some] Gandhi suggests the CDC use metrics such as hospitalization rates to set its recommendations, and said that mask wearing indoors and in public spaces needs to be normalized in areas where infections are widespread.

Noah Greenspan, a cardiopulmonary physical therapist in New York City who works with people suffering from the long-term effects of COVID-19, said it’s important to err on the side of caution, especially with surging cases across the country.

Although a large body of evidence points to masks protecting others, one of the biggest mistakes in CDC messaging was not emphasizing that masks also protect the wearer, according to Greenspan.

“The messaging is off and has been often off,” he said. “The lower we set the bar, the more we set ourselves up for more cases, for more severe cases, for more deaths and especially for more long-haulers.”

Roughly 55% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, but the pace of new inoculations is falling and the rate of uptake varies widely in different parts of the country. On July 1, the Biden administration announced the deployment of teams to encourage vaccinations in pockets of the U.S. with the lowest rates.

It’s probably too late to quickly turnaround the surge in delta variant infections, but any steps to slow transmission could save lives, according to Adams.

“Instead of looking for the easy out, declaring mission accomplished, and saying this is a pandemic that now only matters to the unvaccinated, we have to be honest with all Americans,” Adams said.

“We are going to be living with COVID for a while.”

news.ed@ocolly.com

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Page 4 Monday, July 26, 2021

sports

2021 Big 12 preview: West Virginia Ben Hutchens Staff Reporter Don’t let dramatic memories from 2018 fool you.

West Virginia is mountains away from the thrilling OSU fans remember in a 45-41 shootout in Stillwater three years ago.

2018 WVU team averaged 40.2 points per game, the tenth highest mark in college football. In 2020, the Mountaineers average fell to 26.5 points, good for 82nd in the country. This season West Virginia has a

young coach and a new strength: defense.

“I thought we had one of the best defensive units in the Big 12 Conference last year and nationally, and our statistics back that up,” coach Neal Brown said.

“Really, that’s going to be the unit with the most experience. That’s going to be the unit that will lead us again.”

The Mountaineer defense topped the Big 12 in yards and points allowed.

Brown said the defensive prowess starts up front with his defensive line and senior defensive lineman Dante Stills. Stills is West Virginia’s only player on the All-Big 12 preseason media team.

The Mountaineers will return their veteran starting safeties

from last season, Sean Mahone and Alonzo Addae. This group will attempt to keep the WVU secondary, which allowed the fewest air yards per game in all of college football last season, operating at an elite level.

Even with the defensive juggernaut Brown has assembled, the most important position for him to get right is quarterback.

Senior Jarret Doege solidified himself at quarterback last season and returns in that role this season.

“For us to make a step in our league… we have to be more productive on (the offensive) side of the ball.

(It) starts at quarterback,” Brown said. sports.ed@ocolly.com

Head coach:

Neal Brown (Third season) Sam James - Junior - Wide 2020 record: 6-4 (4-4 Big 12) Receiver Key players:

Dante Stills - Senior - Defensive Line

Stills enters 2021 leading the team in career sacks with 10, and tackles for loss with 18.

Sean Mahone - Senior Safety

West Virginia enters 2021 expected to finish in the middle of the Big 12.

Brian Bahr

Mahone had 34 solo tackles, a fumble recovery and interception this past season, and was named to Phil Steele’s All-Big 12 preseason second team.

James made 31 receptions for 300 yards and two touchdowns in 2020, and looks to breakout this season as a reliable pass option.

X-factor:

Jarret Doege - Quarterback

WVU’s success will rely on Doege’s arm. In 2020, he threw for 2,587 yards and 14 touchdowns, completing 63.9% of his passes.

sports Notre Dame...

Continued from pg.1 Texas was the richest athletic department in the country and Oklahoma ranked sixth. The next highest Big 12 school was TCU at 27th.

Without the two money producers in the conference the Big 12 could fall apart in catastrophic, and quick, fashion. Not only does it strip the conference of key revenue, but drops the number of teams to only eight.

Notre Dame is the best new money producing top dog the Big 12 needs to bring it back from the grave.

Expanding the Big 12 would be made increasingly difficult from a cash flow standpoint to find a school with the revenue and the willingness to leave it’s conference.

But Notre Dame doesn’t have a full-time conference.

In typical years Notre Dame does not hold a full-time membership in any conference. In football its an independents, other sports compete in the ACC and men’s ice hockey in the Big 10.

The ACC and other conferences have tried to lure the Fighting Irish into full-time membership, each failing, but they haven’t had what the Big 12 can, and should, offer.

The keys to the kingdom.

With the Longhorns and Sooners leading the charge in reshaping the college football landscape, the calls will no doubt ring louder for the Fighting Irish this year than in normal years and they should be led by the Big 12.

Notre Dame has twice publicly rejected joining the Big 10 as a full time member, and has yet to join the ACC despite the growing interest of the conference. Last season, when Notre Dame was in the ACC for football it bolstered its chances to make into the College Football Playoff.

With the playoff possibly expanding to 12 teams, Notre Dame stock would already be high, but would be made even higher if it was in a conference, especially as a top dog in the Big 12.

With the success of Notre Dame in recent years and Oklahoma and Texas out of the door, Notre Dame could compete for a conference championship year in and year out.

With no nationally prominent program, the Big 12 can offer Notre Dame the money OU and Texas would have earned as top dogs, give them the lead in the conference and the limelight, and save the sinking ship of the conference.

Notre Dame provides the national prominence, marketability and most importantly money lost by OU and Texas’ departure.

In 2019, Forbes reported Notre

Dame had a three year average total revenue of $120 million and a total profit of $76 million. In the 2019-2020 year, Notre Dame ranked eighth nationally in total revenue.

Notre Dame brings new TV markets and a large number of new fans into the Big 12. In the 2020 season, Notre Dame had five games broadcasted on NBC in which they registered a Total Audience Delivery Average (TAD) of 4.8 million viewers, which was up 121% from 2019 according to a release from NBC. Notre Dame’s game against No. 1 Clemson was the second-most watched Notre Dame game on ABC on record.

The path goes both ways.

Not only does adding Notre Dame benefit the reeling Big 12, but also provides benefits to Notre Dame.

Since the onset of the College Football Playoff winning a conference title has been a deciding factor between getting in or being left out. Notre Dame currently, with the exception of 2020, does not have an opportunity to win a conference title, meaning one less game than those who do.

Notre Dame has been against joining a conference with their football team, but the Big 12, now without a top dog, could make a strong push to let Notre Dame become the face of the conference the same way OU and Texas were.

The problem with adding only Group of Five schools such as Houston, BYU or UCF, is they are

just spark plugs, the Big 12 needs a whole new engine.

However if you throw in a couple of Group of Five teams with a powerful Notre Dame, the conference could have a revival.

Houston and SMU would help regain some of the Texas TV market that would be lost from the Longhorns departure, and some of the money lost, although not a significant chunk of it.

The Big 12 must act promptly in this manner because with OU and Texas with one foot, or more, out of the door the remaining teams are already reaching out to other conferences. If the Big 12 continues to slow play this with the hopes of wooing Texas and OU back which will not happen the conference will take its last breath with the 2021 football season.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby will have to pick up the phone with the attitude OU and Texas are no longer in the future plans of the conference and find a new cash cow.

Without prompt action from the Big 12 front office, the conference will perish into a simple memory of the past.

The clock is running out, and they are down to two options, bring in a national powerhouse, Notre Dame, or give up and send the remaining schools to the salvage yard. sports.ed@ocolly.com

Page 6 Monday, July 26, 2021

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7/26/21

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

DOWN Reynolds Wrap 2 Rapper Nicki caught “Cats” 5 Gets down to a 6 Discontinued 7 Penpoint 8 Roadside assistance org.

9 Tequila source 10 May follower 11 Rainbows, e.g.

©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Daily Horoscope Nancy Black Tribune Content Agency Linda Black Horoscopes

Level 1

2

3

4

Today’s Birthday (07/26/21). Love and partnership grace this year with sweetness.

Coordination, communication and consistency strengthen your connection. Summertime brings social fun before a professional shift redirects springtime attention.

Deepen romantic and family connections this winter, for springtime breakthroughs around your work, talents and capacities. Savor delicious moments together.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Aries (March 21-April 19) — Today is a 7 — Focus on existing projects. Don’t music or a connection with nature.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) — Today is an 8 — Teamwork can win long-lasting improvements. You may need to make a mess. Keep agreements and appointments.

Provide leadership or worker bee power as needed.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) — Today is an 8 — Focus attention on professional projects. Apply diplomacy and tact. Strategize with the team. Take advantage of an unexpected opportunity now and clean up later.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Today is a 7 — Expand your boundaries. Dig into the nitty gritty details. An educational opportunity looks promising. Broaden your horizons. Learn through art, culture and music. conditions and assess what’s needed. Avoid expensive pitfalls. Invest wisely for the long-term. Research purchases. Collaborate and contribute together. together and develop creative ideas. To advance, you may need to make messes.

That’s OK. Provide comfort and good sense.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Today is an 8 — Hit the ground running. Maintain a promises and bargains.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Today is an 8 — Fun, romance and playfulness come naturally. Discover more options than you knew you had. Relax and make creative messes. Enjoy your inner circle.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — Today is a 7 — Domestic projects can add up.

One leads to another. You may need to tear something down to build back better.

Make repairs and upgrades. brilliant and creative. An unusual plot twist carries you away. Don’t be afraid to change things. Think outside the box.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — Today is a 9 — Stick to the budget. Don’t count practical objectives. Provide excellent service.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Today is a 9 — Grab an opportunity to shine. Don’t worry about appearances. Tap into your own authentic identity and self-expression.

Take advantage of a lucky break.

7/26/21 Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

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