Mules coach 'hit pretty hard' by virus

Instead of being on the bench when his team opened the season last Saturday, Poplar Bluff boys basketball coach William Durden was alone in a room of his house.

Nearing the end of his quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, Durden was forced to watch the game online. The Mules won, then upset top-seeded Cape Central two days later with Durden on the bench wearing his face covering.

“After having it, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Durden said Friday afternoon.

“I know everyone has different symptoms. I didn’t have any underlying (medical issues) and I’m a young, healthy guy. It hit me pretty hard.”

Durden said he got sick the week of Thanksgiving and is not sure where he might have been exposed.

“I was pretty sick there for a few days,” Durden said. “Honestly, the after effects — my whole body hurts, all the time. My knees and my feet. I shake all the time. Technically I’m over the virus but I don’t think there’s enough information to know what it does to our bodies.

“I still can’t smell anything and I can barely taste.”

Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, trouble breathing, sore throat, muscle pain and a loss of taste or smell. Most people develop only mild symptoms, but some people, especially those with other medical issues, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.

Others can not have any symptoms, spreading the virus without knowing it. Because this group may not get tested, the actual number of cases is likely higher.

Face coverings can help prevent the spread.

Durden and his coaching staff wear their face coverings during school and practice.

“No one was affected after I was, the whole family tested negative, a coach tested negative,” Durden said. “In that sense, the mask probably helped. If I had it any time, I didn’t pass it on anyone.

“I wore my mask all the time. It’s kind of frustrating that I did get it.”

A study published last week and reported on by the Associated Press, found a case in South Korea in which a person’s only contact to the virus was for five minutes of exposure from more than 20 feet away in an indoor dining setting.

With high school sports moving indoors for the winter, protecting athletes, coaches and officials during contests the risk to exposure will be greater than an outdoor event.

After covering basketball games the past few weeks at various gyms, there does not seem to be much consistency. That has to do with the fact that each school district has its own rules, as does each county.

Since the state will not mandate face coverings, leaving it up to the local governments, there could be 115 different sets of rules.

Should there be two rows for the players’ bench? Should the number of spectators be limited or restricted altogether? Are face coverings required in seating areas? Will that be enforced with ejection?

MSHSAA, and really the state government, has passed the buck.

“There is not any discussion for additional restrictions or mandates from MSHSAA outside of what a local health department or local government has put in place,” said Jason West, communications director for MSHSAA in an email Friday.

Like the NCAA, which gives member schools and conferences the power to manage their regular seasons, MSHSAA does have the ability to control the postseason. Hence the changes to wrestling and swimming announced Friday.

Will there be any consideration for mandates or size of venues to accommodate social distancing when it comes to hosting basketball playoff games?

“There are a few minimums a host site will need to reach before being able to host a contest,” West said. “But none of those requirements have anything to do with face coverings.”

At one gym recently, there was a sign that said face masks “required” in this area and very few people wearing them. It looked like any other game from any other season I’ve covered, minus the post-game handshakes.

Poplar Bluff is one school district that is mandating they be worn to athletic events this winter.

“It makes you feel a little safer when you’re in a gym and you see everyone wearing a mask,” Durden said.

Face coverings work better when everyone wears one and does it properly — over the nose and mouth. It reduces the risk for the person wearing it and anyone sharing that same space.

“If we had to play in them, the kids would play in them because the kids just want to play,” Durden said. “They want to get through the season.

“Whatever we can do to help that, I think we should.”