Nick Saban’s Positive Covid-19 Test Points to a Flawed National Approach

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By Larry Daniels

Nick Saban is the head football coach at the University of Alabama. The 68-year-old is widely considered the best coach in the nation, and arguably, the greatest of all time. He’s a winner of 6 national championships (tied with Bear Bryant for the most in the modern era). Nick’s lifetime coaching record is a gaudy 246 wins, against 65 losses and one tie.

On Wednesday, October 14, 2020, Nick Saban and the Athletic Director of the University of Alabama, Greg Bryne, both tested positive for Covid-19. The Alabama Athletic Department’s top medical personnel, Jimmy Robinson, and Jeff Allen announced Saban’s initial diagnosis in a short statement on Wednesday: “Early this afternoon, we received notification that Coach Saban and (AD) Greg Bryne tested positive for Covid-19. Both immediately left the facility and went to their homes to self-isolate after receiving that information. At this point in time, the positive tests are limited to those two individuals. All individuals who are considered high risk contacts have been notified and will follow quarantine guidelines. We will follow the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force Protocol for testing asymptomatic positive.”

Alabama head athletic trainer, Jeff Allen, said Saban’s test came back negative one day later, on Thursday. If he tests negative again Friday and Saturday, Saban would be allowed on the sidelines for the Saturday night game with Georgia, according to conference rules. Allen said the PCR test Thursday was conducted by the SEC-appointed lab. He said Wednesday’s initial positive result came from an outside lab Alabama has “used to supplement the SEC-mandated testing.”
Okay. We have two individuals test positive on Wednesday, Saban negative on Thursday and AD Bryne tested positive AGAIN on Thursday. So, either Saban was false positive on Wednesday, with AD Bryne false positive on two separate tests, or neither test is 100% reliable. If Saban’s first test was accurate, I would bet the house that he did not recover in 24 hours.

This is a very tough week for the SEC. The LSU vs. Florida game, along with the Vanderbilt vs. Missouri game, have been postponed due to Covid-19 positive test results. Ole Miss reported football team members testing positive as well.

Conclusion:

Covid-19 testing is a problem in the US. There is not enough material to make a standardized test for the nation. Testing and tracing is done sporadically, at best. Different labs were used at Alabama. Not very scientific. We are seeing the damage as we open up schools, sports, and businesses. There is no national plan of attack. Covid-19 cases are trending upward nationwide as we enter the fall flu season. The Big Ten teams are scheduled to start play shortly. All of this serves as a call to address the pandemic with a firm hand. There is no virus in known human history that has been eradicated by community immunity. We could see a total of 400,000 deaths by the Spring.

Together we can fix this. One nation, one fight, with our lives at stake. Let’s go to work.

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