Dr. Anthony Fauci: COIVD-19 spike might mean that 'football may not happen this year
Despite all the progress made this offseason, football may not happen this year according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci, who has been the face of the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, told CNN on Thursday morning that he is not optimistic that the NFL season will go ahead as planned. The league is currently moving forward as if there will be a 2020 season and in past days has opened up team facilities again to players, provided that they follow strict social distancing guidelines among other regulations to lessen exposure to the coronavirus.
"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 on CNN.
“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."
The NFL isn’t the only league moving forward as if there will be a season, despite an abundance of caution and concern.
The NBA is expected to resume their season shortly as is the NHL. MLS has a tournament in the works to be based in Florida to pick-up their season, which was0 only two weeks old when the pandemic hit in full force.
Baseball, despite issues related to their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), want to start their season after seeing spring training cut short.
As of June 17, there were over 2.13 million COVID-19 cases in the United States, with just shy of 117,000 deaths. Several states in recent weeks have seen a spike in cases as other hard-hit areas such as New York and New Jersey have seen the curve flatten over the past few days.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy told SportsIllustrated.com last week that he was optimistic that football would be back in his state and played before fans, even as he acknowledged that facilities would need to utilize social distancing for spectators. The state is home to MetLife Stadium where the New York Giants and the New York Jets play.
