As we all venture through these trying times, we must ask how we can return to normal in the most effective and safest way possible. From local businesses, schools and elderly care facilities, to national quarantines and sports, many questions are present in the discussion on how to best manage such urgencies.
Since the start of the quarantine, we have seen quite the roller-coaster of responses from the likes of the National Football League (NFL), National Baseball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and more when it comes to the combinations of player safety and fan safety guidelines.
Since March, athletic competitions have hosted with no audience; empty coliseums and stadiums alike. In Europe, many top leagues, like La Liga in Spain and Serie A in Italy, competed with strict guidelines, and now, in the U.S., we are seeing small crowds finally starting to come back to the stands to watch teams, like the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Miami Dolphins, but are the ones who are calling the shots jumping the gun on giving the okay to safely returning fans?
How do these guidelines for reopening stadiums compare when going up against social distancing and other COVID-19 regulations as recommended by the CDC and other trusted institutions? Are these workplaces safe for competing athletes and fans?
Many of the major league sports are considered contact sports, meaning “a sport in which the participants necessarily come into bodily contact with one another.” It is one thing to say that every player in the league is responsible enough to be precautious enough on their own time to not carelessly contract the virus and spread it to others, but it is another to deliver on such a promise.
The first NBA player to contract coronavirus was Rudy Gobert during an interview in which he was saying he didn’t think the virus was a big problem, proceeding to touch all the mics and other equipment during his press conference. Later, his teammates said he was acting cavalier towards the pandemic and that Gobert would be physical with other players on the team as well as mess with people’s belongings in their locker. It shows how careless people can be towards this virus — and many others are just like that.
As of June, 16 of 302 NBA players have tested positive for coronavirus, according to ESPN. The NFL had both Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons shut down their facilities because coaches, players and other staff members had positive test results. The Tennessee Titans had one positive test turn into an outbreak of 24 total cases.
Are organized sports risking the lives of the players at the expense of a few careless individuals? Not only in the professional setting do these risks apply, but in our communities’ schools where children can bring this virus accidently home. There is no clear path ahead of us as we try to navigate this storm together, but we should remember the value of life and to put the safety of others and ourselves before anything else.
