Dr. Fauci Fears That NFL Games Could Be The "Perfect Set Up For Spreading" COVID-19

Share this post:

“Sweat as such won’t transmit it. But 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.”“If I test today, and I’m negative, you don’t know if I got exposed tomorrow . . . 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. To be 100 percent sure, you’ve got to test every day. 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.”Fauci said the NFL hasn’t reached out to talk to him. But if Roger Goodell or chief medical officer Allen Sills did, Fauci said he’d say much of what he said here. And this, about sports in the United States this fall and winter: “It is uncertain. You’ll have to play it by ear according to the level of infection in the community.”“The virus,” he said, “will make the decision for us.”After the UFC had a successful return despite one fight canceled thanks to a positive COVID-19 test for Jacare Souza and his corner men, hopes have seemingly started to rise for other leagues to get back to business. Dana White even told TMZ that he has heard from other sports leagues since their show and he intends to share UFC’s 30-page document detailing safety precautions that they provided Florida and Nevada’s athletic commissions.

And while Dr. Fauci is more likely to be cautious than Dana White, it’s not necessarily the rosiest picture for football despite the sweat and blood flying in the UFC’s return to the Octagon. Fauci seemingly had a lot to say to Peter King in his “Football Morning In America” column but it seems to distill down to one thing: there are a LOT of dudes involved in football. Fifty-three-man game day rosters, practice squads, staff, equipment people, coaches. Even if they do things better or more thoroughly than UFC did, the sheer volume of guys making regular physical contact in different groupings could be exceedingly problematic.

From the first day I started to quarantine when Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test blew up the sports world, I’ve said one thing: I have no issue doing this in the hopes it gets football back in the fall. And that’s still how I feel in my heart. But between this thorough dissection from Dr. Fauci and NFL teams warning fans about the risk of ticket purchases with canceled games, there could be some real reason for concern.

Either way, let’s keep our most optimistic faces on. We’ve got three months to get our lives and a viral pandemic in order so I can burn a ton of money stacking up Joe Burrow and the Bengals in way too many lineups. Between that and my aspirations to never hear the phrase “virus shedding” again, it’s going to take all the power of positivity we can get. This should help:

Dr. Fauci Fears That NFL Games Could Be The “Perfect Set Up For Spreading” COVID-19

Share this post:

🔥 Hot from Side Action 🔥

More from NFL, Side Action

More in Joe Burrow

More News & Stories