Aaron Rodgers, Erin Andrews Conduct Socially Distanced Interview, Then Share Maskless Hug
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes and sideline reporters across virtually all sports have been conducting socially distanced interviews to help keep the threat of transmission to/from each other as low as possible. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Fox sideline reporter Erin Andrews followed protocol Saturday night after Green Bay's narrow win over Cleveland.
Yet, after the interview was over, with Fox's cameras still rolling, the two went in for a maskless hug. The moment caught some flak on social media, with some fans and analysts pointing out the contradictory actions.
Here's the clip, via the NFL Network. After the interview concludes, around the 2:40 mark, Rodgers removes his headset. The two then share an embrace.
It's unclear at this point whether Rodgers is vaccinated, but all learned quite emphatically in early November that, at that point, he was not. Rodgers, back in August, told reporters he was "immunized" against COVID-19. After contracting COVID-19 in November, a report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport suggested he was actually unvaccinated. He later went on The Pat McAfee Show to explain that he'd tried an alternative treatment because, as he said, he was allergic to an ingredient in two of the three major vaccines.
The reaction on social media was about what you'd expect.
As for the result of the game itself, Green Bay's win puts the franchise in the driver's seat in the NFC with just two games left on the schedule. If they win both, the Packers will be the No. 1 seed in the conference. Cleveland, meanwhile, fell to 7–8 and will need to win its final two games to even have a shot at making the playoffs.
