Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s get ahold of these elected officials and address our concerns. This is something that can be hopefully rectified within the proper channels and communication.

Here are the emails for the decision makers, you may want to also research your local council member as a tax paying resident of a specific district.

councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov
gabriel.albornoz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Travis.Gayles@montgomerycountymd.gov
Earl.Stoddard@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Joy.Nurmi@montgomerycountymd.gov
Kristin.Trible@montgomerycountymd.gov
Lisa.Mandel-Trupp@montgomerycountymd.gov
Marc.Elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov
kgroff@visitmontgomery.com
Jerome.Fletcher@montgomerycountymd.gov
Tina.Benjamin@montgomerycountymd.gov

Please ask others on your child’s team to write as well. Given that they have only moved soccer and not lacrosse or field hockey into high risk I think there is reason to question this decision and it’s inequitable impact on local student athletes.

There are parents in this forum, FaceBook, etc. doing various protests, rallies, letters, etc. to demand MoCo & MCPS to open up businesses, public schools, private schools and other important services/activities. Do you think really Soccer is that important in the large scale of things to be concerned with right now during this pandemic?

Please don’t misunderstand me as being a troll. I have a U13 die hard travel soccer player. And I am a die hard soccer parent as I love practicing and watching her play. But so many things are still influx right now so it might be best that we see how the vaccines are in about 3-4 months.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s get ahold of these elected officials and address our concerns. This is something that can be hopefully rectified within the proper channels and communication.

Here are the emails for the decision makers, you may want to also research your local council member as a tax paying resident of a specific district.

councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov
gabriel.albornoz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Travis.Gayles@montgomerycountymd.gov
Earl.Stoddard@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Joy.Nurmi@montgomerycountymd.gov
Kristin.Trible@montgomerycountymd.gov
Lisa.Mandel-Trupp@montgomerycountymd.gov
Marc.Elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov
kgroff@visitmontgomery.com
Jerome.Fletcher@montgomerycountymd.gov
Tina.Benjamin@montgomerycountymd.gov

Please ask others on your child’s team to write as well. Given that they have only moved soccer and not lacrosse or field hockey into high risk I think there is reason to question this decision and it’s inequitable impact on local student athletes.

Anonymous wrote:Let’s get ahold of these elected officials and address our concerns. This is something that can be hopefully rectified within the proper channels and communication.

Here are the emails for the decision makers, you may want to also research your local council member as a tax paying resident of a specific district.

councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov
gabriel.albornoz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Travis.Gayles@montgomerycountymd.gov
Earl.Stoddard@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Joy.Nurmi@montgomerycountymd.gov
Kristin.Trible@montgomerycountymd.gov
Lisa.Mandel-Trupp@montgomerycountymd.gov
Marc.Elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov
kgroff@visitmontgomery.com
Jerome.Fletcher@montgomerycountymd.gov
Tina.Benjamin@montgomerycountymd.gov

Anonymous wrote:I am a data scientist. I work closely with medical colleagues. I have been following Gayles and his actions very closely. There are a lot of questionable ways of operating. The restrictions on soccer actually started weeks ago with a minor "update" to an order, but he swiftly put a cease and desist to Sam Soccer with no warning after approving. At our last 2 practices, we have seen police arrive to watch for 90 minutes!. Gayles does a lot of this and people will say, that doesn't impact me - well until it does.

One of his main points, is that we need to get the virus down to 8 new cases a day for Moco and he cites the CDC. The CDC has never said that. Most institutions - like Harvard Global Public Institute rank localities based on 100K. https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/

Moco population is 1.051 million. Saying 8 cases per 100k is a lot different than 8 cases per 1.051 million.

Keep in mind, that when cases are reported that is not necessarily have unique cases - i.e, many people test multiple times to get a negative test (often at request of employer). Also, the test has a lot of false positive. So getting to 8 new cases a day, is nearly impossible. Don't get me started that NH deaths continue to climb in Moco- which probably relates to cases, hospitalizations - but Gayles doesn't talk about that and that is 100% in his area to tightly monitor.

Gayles will also say we are doing poorly because of overall statistics, which on the surface may have some merits, but much of the high numbers last few weeks has been related to Baltimore.

All of this is to say, he will support his decisions by science and data, when his science and data looks a lot different than the nations experts. I could write a long long list.

I am 100 percent for safe opening and being smart. If parents standing on the sidelines without social distancing is the concern - enforce that. He will say that tracing pointed risk in outdoor gatherings - like Hogan mentioned. But they give no specifics on the type of outdoor gatherings - which is a very broad brush (i.e, shared bathrooms, tight space, people in and out of house). They can use outdoor as a risk and put it on soccer.

Write your council members -there are a lot of at large members. Some will listen to this. There already is concern. Write Hogan too. . There is a power battle going on. But there is a lot of over-reach going on in the name of science. I'm all for science - pick one or even two of the national recognized benchmark systems and go with it. Or Hogan, should really start to use state wide rules / benchmarks from his Hopkins team.

Anonymous wrote:Let’s get ahold of these elected officials and address our concerns. This is something that can be hopefully rectified within the proper channels and communication.

Here are the emails for the decision makers, you may want to also research your local council member as a tax paying resident of a specific district.

councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov
gabriel.albornoz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Travis.Gayles@montgomerycountymd.gov
Earl.Stoddard@montgomerycountymd.gov
councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov
Councilmember.Katz@montgomerycountymd.gov
Joy.Nurmi@montgomerycountymd.gov
Kristin.Trible@montgomerycountymd.gov
Lisa.Mandel-Trupp@montgomerycountymd.gov
Marc.Elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov
kgroff@visitmontgomery.com
Jerome.Fletcher@montgomerycountymd.gov
Tina.Benjamin@montgomerycountymd.gov

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, this virus will wax and wane for the next few years with likely opening and closing continuing. Our kids in moco will be the last to return to play.

If this it isn't categorized as medium risk now while they're debating, it won't get changed later.

The time is really now for this to be done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a data scientist. I work closely with medical colleagues. I have been following Gayles and his actions very closely. There are a lot of questionable ways of operating. The restrictions on soccer actually started weeks ago with a minor "update" to an order, but he swiftly put a cease and desist to Sam Soccer with no warning after approving. At our last 2 practices, we have seen police arrive to watch for 90 minutes!. Gayles does a lot of this and people will say, that doesn't impact me - well until it does.

One of his main points, is that we need to get the virus down to 8 new cases a day for Moco and he cites the CDC. The CDC has never said that. Most institutions - like Harvard Global Public Institute rank localities based on 100K. https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/

Moco population is 1.051 million. Saying 8 cases per 100k is a lot different than 8 cases per 1.051 million.

Keep in mind, that when cases are reported that is not necessarily have unique cases - i.e, many people test multiple times to get a negative test (often at request of employer). Also, the test has a lot of false positive. So getting to 8 new cases a day, is nearly impossible. Don't get me started that NH deaths continue to climb in Moco- which probably relates to cases, hospitalizations - but Gayles doesn't talk about that and that is 100% in his area to tightly monitor.

Gayles will also say we are doing poorly because of overall statistics, which on the surface may have some merits, but much of the high numbers last few weeks has been related to Baltimore.

All of this is to say, he will support his decisions by science and data, when his science and data looks a lot different than the nations experts. I could write a long long list.

I am 100 percent for safe opening and being smart. If parents standing on the sidelines without social distancing is the concern - enforce that. He will say that tracing pointed risk in outdoor gatherings - like Hogan mentioned. But they give no specifics on the type of outdoor gatherings - which is a very broad brush (i.e, shared bathrooms, tight space, people in and out of house). They can use outdoor as a risk and put it on soccer.

Write your council members -there are a lot of at large members. Some will listen to this. There already is concern. Write Hogan too. . There is a power battle going on. But there is a lot of over-reach going on in the name of science. I'm all for science - pick one or even two of the national recognized benchmark systems and go with it. Or Hogan, should really start to use state wide rules / benchmarks from his Hopkins team.

Thanks for this. You're 100% right. This 8 cases per day thing is patently ridiculous. The only time we were at 8 cases per day was in late March, when we were barely testing. By early April, we were well above that, even during our strictest lockdown.

MoCo is currently at 9.2 cases per 100,000. Looks like that would just about qualify us for the yellow category in the link you provided, which necessitates rigorous testing and tracing programs, but not stay at home orders. It's the lowest community spread level.

Anonymous wrote:As a NOVA parent, not having to drive to games in MoCo isn't necessarily a bad thing. It looks like leagues are moving forward and will work around areas that aren't open yet because plenty are

Anonymous wrote:I am a data scientist. I work closely with medical colleagues. I have been following Gayles and his actions very closely. There are a lot of questionable ways of operating. The restrictions on soccer actually started weeks ago with a minor "update" to an order, but he swiftly put a cease and desist to Sam Soccer with no warning after approving. At our last 2 practices, we have seen police arrive to watch for 90 minutes!. Gayles does a lot of this and people will say, that doesn't impact me - well until it does.

One of his main points, is that we need to get the virus down to 8 new cases a day for Moco and he cites the CDC. The CDC has never said that. Most institutions - like Harvard Global Public Institute rank localities based on 100K. https://globalepidemics.org/key-metrics-for-covid-suppression/

Moco population is 1.051 million. Saying 8 cases per 100k is a lot different than 8 cases per 1.051 million.

Keep in mind, that when cases are reported that is not necessarily have unique cases - i.e, many people test multiple times to get a negative test (often at request of employer). Also, the test has a lot of false positive. So getting to 8 new cases a day, is nearly impossible. Don't get me started that NH deaths continue to climb in Moco- which probably relates to cases, hospitalizations - but Gayles doesn't talk about that and that is 100% in his area to tightly monitor.

Gayles will also say we are doing poorly because of overall statistics, which on the surface may have some merits, but much of the high numbers last few weeks has been related to Baltimore.

All of this is to say, he will support his decisions by science and data, when his science and data looks a lot different than the nations experts. I could write a long long list.

I am 100 percent for safe opening and being smart. If parents standing on the sidelines without social distancing is the concern - enforce that. He will say that tracing pointed risk in outdoor gatherings - like Hogan mentioned. But they give no specifics on the type of outdoor gatherings - which is a very broad brush (i.e, shared bathrooms, tight space, people in and out of house). They can use outdoor as a risk and put it on soccer.

Write your council members -there are a lot of at large members. Some will listen to this. There already is concern. Write Hogan too. . There is a power battle going on. But there is a lot of over-reach going on in the name of science. I'm all for science - pick one or even two of the national recognized benchmark systems and go with it. Or Hogan, should really start to use state wide rules / benchmarks from his Hopkins team.

Anonymous wrote:Why is kayaking high risk? I mean, it is a high risk, but is there a COVID risk in a boat?

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how they rationalize putting soccer with football and wrestling in high risk and banning it while keeping lacrosse in medium risk. And in contradiction of the state guidelines. Why are they targeting soccer? Is it because it is played by more Latinos?

Anonymous wrote:As a NOVA parent, not having to drive to games in MoCo isn't necessarily a bad thing. It looks like leagues are moving forward and will work around areas that aren't open yet because plenty are