My Two Cents
One of the first professional sports to return after a 3-month COVID-19 layoff was the PGA Tour. Now in its third week back in action, tour officials and tournament organizers were hit with the news that all the safety policies they’d implemented had not quite worked out the way they hoped.
The world’s fourth-ranked golfer, Brooks Koepka, talked Tuesday about the bubble he and his team were operating inside — even talking about the gym equipment he was taking from tournament to tournament and the precautions his traveling chef was taking while shopping and preparing their meals.
As many people were rolling their eyes about the gym and chef comments, we learned Wednesday morning that Koepka and his brother were among five players, and five caddies, to withdraw from this week’s tournament before it even began. As it turns out, Koepka’s caddie and another had tested positive for COVID-19 and suddenly that bubble didn’t look quite so secure.
Part of the problem at the golf tournaments is that players have begun to fall back into familiar routines. Observers have reported they are practicing close to each other, high fiving and hugging each other, and sharing clubs and other equipment — which are all prohibited by the PGA Tour’s extensive COVID-19 protocol.
They are small actions, which taken by themselves seem insignificant. But when more than 150 players, 150 caddies and several hundred volunteers and workers in one place all make small exceptions, it doesn’t take long to reach a tipping point.
“I think as weeks go on, it’s easier to get a little bit lazier and maybe get a little bit more lenient on what you know you should and shouldn’t do,” PGA Tour golfer Justin Thomas said.
As Thomas noted, it’s easy to slip up and fall into small bad habits.
In his book Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell writes about how small actions grow into trends. In the book he writes about what makes some actions or messages catch on while others do not. He provides example after example of how a trend will often catch on because of a very small change in its content, the people who spread it or the environment in which it is being spread.
On the simplest level, Gladwell’s book Tipping Point is about how small changes can have enormous societal effects.
It’s been sitting on my bookshelf for a while. Turns out it’s a pretty timely read.
Earlier this week I was speaking to a friend from another town who was telling me about a small gathering to meet a political candidate. No one there was wearing a mask and following the candidate’s lead, everyone shook each others’ hands. Even the doctor who has been leading that county’s COVID-19 response removed his facemask after walking into the room and noticing he was the only person wearing one.
Peer pressure is a strong force, but what if the doctor in the room had kept his mask on and declined to shake hands? What if Koepka and the other golfers had followed the tour protocol and rather than huddling up around a golf bag, encouraged their playing partners to socially distance? Could those small actions have been the tipping point for the people in those settings and caused them to change their behaviors?
As we continue to push ahead in the name of restarting our economy, and with little leadership coming from the people we’ve elected to office, it’s going to be up to individuals to do our part: Washing our hands, practicing social distancing and wearing a facemask.
Following these small, simple recommendations could lead directly to the tipping point.
Bill Crist is the publisher of The Snyder News. Comments may be emailed to publisher@thesnydernews.com.