NFL Needs to Listen to Foremost COVID-19 Experts

The NFL was quick to respond to the Thursday opinion of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who doesn’t see how games can be played in 2020 unless teams are in a bubble. The NFL statement about taking every possible precaution reflects an unwillingness to accept what foremost doctors continue to say about COVID-19.

Anyone taken aback by a Thursday opinion that questions how the NFL can continue with a 2020 season amid the Coronavirus pandemic just hasn’t been paying attention.

Or perhaps some people just refuse to listen.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as well as the leader of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, expressed his doubt that the NFL could proceed unless players were tested almost on a daily basis and teams were sequestered in a bubble, much like the NBA’s plan to restart its season.

“Unless players are essentially in a bubble – insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day – it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall,” Fauci said. “If there is a second wave, which is certainly a possibility and which would be complicated by the predictable flu season, football may not happen this year.”

Seriously, folks, this shouldn’t come as a shock. It’s what Dr. Mark Bochan, an Indianapolis infectious disease doctor for two decades, said one month ago when he expressed “significant” doubts about the NFL pulling off a 2020 season amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m telling fans not to get their hopes up, just like I’m telling everybody who wants to see a concert,” said Bochan, MD, PHD, chairman of infectious diseases for a large Indianapolis hospital system. “There’s a nice, little roll-out plan and everybody is supposed to be business-as-usual by July. That’s assuming that we’ve got a handle on this thing.

“Right now, it’s a little too early to make those calls. Based on what I’m seeing over the last 60 days, we’re still going to be dealing with this well into the summer. There will be enough worry that it probably will delay at least an on-time start.”

Bochan cited COVID-19 testing that was about 70 percent accurate — and needs to be in the mid-90s percentile — as well as the time required to accumulate enough data through human trials to come up with a vaccine. He suggested a vaccine likely won't be ready by the end of the year.

Not surprisingly, the NFL quickly countered Fauci’s comment with a statement from Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer.

“We are developing a comprehensive and rapid-result testing program and rigorous protocols that call for a shared responsibility from everyone inside our football ecosystem,” Sills said. “This is based on the collective guidance of public health officials, including the White House task force, the CDC, infectious disease experts, and other sports leagues.”

This “program” includes guidelines recently sent to each NFL team that will require franchises to have a COVID-19 plan in place. Among other things, teams are supposed to set up lockers six feet apart to ensure proper social distancing. How is that social distancing going to prevent the disease from spreading when players are knocking heads for three hours?

Shouldn’t it be a concern that even before entire teams are allowed to report to their NFL facilities, which were closed this offseason, some players have contracted the virus. Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and Denver Broncos safety Kareem Jackson recently tested positive.

Do a quick Google search on colleges and there’s even more evidence that the virus is still spreading. The University of Texas announced 13 positive tests in players. At least eight Alabama players have tested positive. And the list goes on and on, including Auburn, Florida, and Clemson.

When Bochan addressed the pandemic last month, he tried to keep the door open ever so slightly that the Coronavirus statistics could eventually plateau and improved testing might save the NFL season, or at least part of it. That was in theory, because Bochan still doubted that would happen.

So now it’s mid-June, NFL teams like the Indianapolis Colts are conducting their own unsupervised workouts, and players are still at risk. Even if teams are able to complete these workouts without adding to the problem, the Coronavirus is still a serious threat. 

In Indiana, 2,396 have died from the disease. The death toll is dropping off from one month ago, but people are still dying.

What will it take to accept the reality that putting players at risk isn’t worth it?

Does an NFL player need to become seriously ill before the league listens to what foremost experts are saying?

(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)