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When the NFL schedule came out last week, it was an exciting time, but most people had the same reaction. ‘If there is a season’ was a common thought among football fans. ‘Assuming things start on time’ was another line people used after discussing their favorite matchups.
No one knows what’s going to happen over the next few months. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the rest of the NFL may have a plan, but Mike Tyson’s famous line applies in this situation.
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Mike Tyson
No one knows how many more punches COVID-19 will have, especially as restaurants, salons and other retail stores begin to re-open in Ohio this week.
Dr. Anthony Fauci helped shed some light on the NFL’s chances of having a season and why football is different than other sports in an interview with Peter King.
“If people are in such close contact as football players are on every single play, then that’s the perfect set up for spreading……..I would think that if there is an infected football player on the field—a middle linebacker, a tackle, whoever it is it—as soon as they hit the next guy, the chances are that they will be shedding virus all over that person. This is a respiratory virus, so it’s going to be spread by shedding virus. The problem with virus shedding is that if I have it in my nasal pharynx, and it sheds and I wipe my hand against my nose—now it’s on my hand. You see, then I touch my chest or my thigh, then it’s on my chest or my thigh for at least a few hours. Sweat as such won’t transmit it.”
Dr Anthony Fauci
Testing is the key to getting players on the field. The unknown of COVID-19 is what makes it so hard to guard against. The NFL would have to know who had the virus and who didn’t. If teams had enough kits to test each player, coach and staff member multiple times per week, the chances of having football in the fall increase dramatically.
“By the end of August, we should have in place Antigen testings…….You could test millions of people, millions of people. But again, we have to make sure that the companies that are doing these tests actually produce them. Which given the country that we have, such a rich country, I would be very surprised if we can’t do that…….If you really want to be in a situation where you want to be absolutely certain, you’d test all the players before the game. And you say, Those who are infected: Sorry, you’re sidelined. Those who are free: Get in there and play.”
Dr Anthony Fauci
Testing is supposed to increase by the thousands in Ohio over the next few weeks. Any sports league is going to need thousands of tests at their disposal to return to the field or court safely.
The NFL is worth billions of dollars. All 32 franchises are valued at $1.9 billion or more according to Forbes.
Ensuring that teams have enough tests at their disposal should be a realistic expectation for the most powerful sports league in North America.
“Even if the virus goes down dramatically in June and July and August, as the virus starts returning in the fall, it would be in my mind, shame on us if we don’t have in place all of the mechanisms to prevent it from blowing up again………In other words, enough testing to test everybody that needs to be tested. Enough testing so that when someone gets infected, you could immediately do contact tracing and isolation to prevent the infection from going to a couple of infections to hundreds of infections. That’s how you control an outbreak…..So, practically speaking, the success or failure, the ability or not, to actually have a football season is going to depend on just on what I said… but what I’m really saying is it’s unpredictable depending upon how we respond in the fall.”
Dr Anthony Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci: Football offers “the perfect set up for spreading”
Calamity Jane