How COVID-19 is Affecting Football

Everybody knows what the coronavirus is and how dangerous it can be. We also know to stay six feet apart and wear a mask to prevent the spread of it. But what are the safety guidelines in sports where players are not six feet apart and are touching each other? Especially in football – which is one of the most player-contact sports in the world. 

I am curious about these things because I want to slow the spread of the virus and because I am a bit nosy and curious. With this, a question that comes to mind is how can players in football be safe. In short terms, they won’t be safe and will have a risk of getting the virus because football is a full contact sport and no one can really change that. Since this is the case, a lot of the NFL players will have a greater chance of getting COVID-19 than anyone else.

Some players felt pressure from the coach to play even though they felt like it was very unsafe. An example of this is when wide receiver star Odell Beckham Jr. said, ¨We’re not ready for football season. So why are we trying to push forward? It’s obviously it’s for their money.”  Knowing this I can assume that this player – along with others – didn’t want the season to start. I think that it is unfair to the players who feel like they can be in danger or in harm’s way to be rushed into playing football.

If one person on the team has COVID-19, does that mean that the whole team has it? The answer is most likely yes and the reason why is because players are usually around each other in practice and workout sessions. However, some players may use their brains and try to stay apart from everyone else and not touch what they have touched. As you can tell that is hard to do considering when you are in practice and actually playing an opposing team, it is hard to focus on COVID-19 when you are trying to win a game. So if one player on the team has it, there is a really good chance everyone else does as well.

I think that we should expect more players or coaches to get coronavirus because football is a full contact sport with lots of physical activities. I think that everyone in the NFL knows the risks of football happening in the middle of a pandemic and will use as much caution as possible. With players being close to one another throughout the game and in locker rooms I think it is inevitable that more players and people in the National Football League will unfortunately get COVID-19.

I asked my friend Ronald about what he thought pertaining to NFL players playing football and he said, ¨If players want to play then they should be allowed to play.¨ He also said that, ¨it is fine if none of the players have COVID.¨

In all reality, we cannot force players to play or not play, it is completely up to them. All we can hope is that every player tries their best to slow the spread of covid-19.