As the calendar turns to July, a month that is slated to bring the opening of college football preseason camps, social media feeds of coaches and administrators across the country have been filled with messages imploring fans to wear masks if they want the season to begin on time.
But the campaign to mask up is more than just a public service announcement. Instead, it’s a warning whose seriousness has started to dawn on weary athletic directors: If the current trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic does not change in the next two weeks, playing the college football season as scheduled is in significant peril.