Rodgers: Flattening Curve Turns Into ‘House Arrest’

Aaron Rodgers is hoping "common sense" prevails in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – When the NFL released the schedule on May 7, there were several big questions. Among them:

Who would the Green Bay Packers face in Week 1?

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, would all 16 games be played, as scheduled?

Would games be played at all, for that matter?

Would fans be allowed into stadiums to watch those games?

“I haven’t let my mind go there at that point. It would definitely a weird situation to not have any fans in the stands and I hope that’s not the reality,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said in a conference call on Friday.

There has been some positive news on the coronavirus front, from increased testing to a lower rate of positive results from those tests, as well as promising work toward vaccines. On the other hand, there has been an increasing divide among government leaders and the public at large on the next step, some of it fueled by politics. While some states have reopened or are reopening for business, Rodgers’ home state of California has continued its lockdown. The pandemic has caused more than 90,000 people to die in the United States alone; it’s also caused hardships for families, exploding unemployment rates and untold numbers of businesses to go under.

Those stark realities, in which there is no solution that doesn’t come with dangerous side effects, were on Rodgers’ mind when asked if it would be safe to play football this season.

“I think … we’re buying into the idea of quarantine to ‘flatten the curve,’” Rodgers said, his full answer in the associated video. “I think there are a lot of questions now that it’s more of a house arrest to find a cure with people wondering what exactly that means as far as the future of the country and the freedoms that we’re allowed to have at this point. ….

“More important than that is the state of the country and the fact we have 36-plus million people on unemployment right now. We have rising, obviously, poverty levels to go along with the unemployment. You have the suicide hotline is up 8,000 percent. There’s a lot of problems going on in the country right now associated with the fear around this pandemic. I hope that we can use some common sense moving forward and make decisions that are in the best interest of all people moving forward, and I hope that sports is a part of that at some point.”