Orgeron: 'We need football' amid coronavirus pandemic

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron believes that football is the "lifeblood" of the U.S., and he doesn't think shutting it down during the COVID-19 pandemic is the right thing to do.

"I don't think we can take this away from these players, take this away from our state and our country. We need football," Orgeron said Tuesday at a roundtable with Vice President Mike Pence, according to Steve Gardner of USA Today.

Orgeron added, "Football is the lifeblood of our country in my opinion. It gets everything going, it gets the economy going, the economy of Baton Rouge, the economy of the state of Louisiana."

Despite the recent coronavirus outbreak among LSU players, Orgeron believes the virus "can be handled," according to ESPN.

In June, at least 30 LSU players were reportedly isolated after contracting or coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. That was after several Tigers went to a string of nightclubs where over 100 people later tested positive for the coronavirus.

After the incident, Orgeron thinks his players learned a lesson - and he praises LSU's staff for that.

"We spent a week educating them on COVID-19. I don't think any other team in the country was more educated than we were," he said. "We have not had one kid catch the virus working out in our training room. It's sterile. We clean it every day. Everybody gets tested."

As of July 15, Louisiana has registered 82,042 reported cases of the COVID-19 virus and 3,337 deaths, according to the state department of health. Louisiana's total number of confirmed cases increased by more than 2,200 from Monday to Tuesday, according to the New York Times.

While the Big Ten and Pac-12 recently announced they will play conference-only schedules if football happens during the fall, the SEC has yet to make an official decision.