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Dr. Fauci: COVID-19 Will “Make Decision” For NFL
May 11th, 2020 at 8:36am CST by Zach Links
If the NFL goes ahead with its 2020 season, they’ll have to take drastic measures to keep players safe. In an interview with Peter King of NBC Sports, Dr. Anthony Fauci gave his thoughts on how the league might approach the coming campaign in the social distancing era.
[RELATED: NFL Lays Out Plan For Reopening Facilities]
“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,” Fauci said. “Those who are free: Get in there and play.”
And, for absolute certainty, the NFL would have to test hundreds of athletes daily – possibly multiple times per day. Even with social distancing measures and limited practices, players would likely be in close proximity to each other throughout the week.
“If I test today, and I’m negative, you don’t know if I got exposed tomorrow,” Fauci said. “There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get exposed and be positive the next day. To give you an example, you’re probably reading in the newspapers that there’s an infection in the White House. I was exposed to that person. So I immediately got tested. I am negative. So, I’m negative yesterday. I don’t know if I’m going to be negative Monday. Understand? It’s almost an impossible situation.”
Then, there’s the obvious risk of in-game transmission. The virus isn’t known to transmit via sweat, Fauci said, but breathing means viral shedding, and heavy breathing in close quarters has the potential to be dangerous.
“To be 100 percent sure, you’ve got to test every day,” Fauci said. “But that’s not practical and that’s never going to happen. But you can diminish dramatically by testing everybody Saturday night, Sunday morning, and say OK, only negative players play.”
At the same time, Fauci stressed that he cannot predict the fate of the 2020 NFL season. “The virus will make the decision for us,” the infectious disease expert said, stressing that he is sharing his educated opinion, rather than a surefire forecast. In my uneducated opinion, I believe that the potential safety measures will be balanced with public relations concerns. If testing is not widely available by September, the NFL will have a hard time justifying tens of thousands of tests for athletes and key personnel. And, without rapid and constant testing, football won’t be feasible.
May 11th, 2020 at 8:36am CST by Zach Links
If the NFL goes ahead with its 2020 season, they’ll have to take drastic measures to keep players safe. In an interview with Peter King of NBC Sports, Dr. Anthony Fauci gave his thoughts on how the league might approach the coming campaign in the social distancing era.
[RELATED: NFL Lays Out Plan For Reopening Facilities]
“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,” Fauci said. “Those who are free: Get in there and play.”
And, for absolute certainty, the NFL would have to test hundreds of athletes daily – possibly multiple times per day. Even with social distancing measures and limited practices, players would likely be in close proximity to each other throughout the week.
“If I test today, and I’m negative, you don’t know if I got exposed tomorrow,” Fauci said. “There’s no guarantee that you’re going to get exposed and be positive the next day. To give you an example, you’re probably reading in the newspapers that there’s an infection in the White House. I was exposed to that person. So I immediately got tested. I am negative. So, I’m negative yesterday. I don’t know if I’m going to be negative Monday. Understand? It’s almost an impossible situation.”
Then, there’s the obvious risk of in-game transmission. The virus isn’t known to transmit via sweat, Fauci said, but breathing means viral shedding, and heavy breathing in close quarters has the potential to be dangerous.
“To be 100 percent sure, you’ve got to test every day,” Fauci said. “But that’s not practical and that’s never going to happen. But you can diminish dramatically by testing everybody Saturday night, Sunday morning, and say OK, only negative players play.”
At the same time, Fauci stressed that he cannot predict the fate of the 2020 NFL season. “The virus will make the decision for us,” the infectious disease expert said, stressing that he is sharing his educated opinion, rather than a surefire forecast. In my uneducated opinion, I believe that the potential safety measures will be balanced with public relations concerns. If testing is not widely available by September, the NFL will have a hard time justifying tens of thousands of tests for athletes and key personnel. And, without rapid and constant testing, football won’t be feasible.
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