As coronavirus restrictions are lifted in even the strictest states, sports leagues still impose excessive restrictions on their athletes. It’s all just safety theater. It has little to do with keeping athletes or anyone else safe, and it should just end now.
The most recent example of this comes in the NBA, where Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul is now out indefinitely after testing positive for COVID-19. Paul’s Suns are currently waiting to see who their Western Conference Finals opponent will be, so he may miss no games. Or, he could miss 10 days or more. His status is completely up in the air.
Meanwhile, NFL media are hounding players over their vaccination status. Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold got a turn in the hot seat, as did teammate Christian McCaffrey and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. And the NFL and the NFL Players Association have joined in, agreeing to severe restrictions on unvaccinated players, including continued masking and prohibitions from eating with teammates.
The most egregious episode of safety theater was golfer Jon Rahm, who was forced to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament with a six-stroke lead after he tested positive for COVID-19. Evidently, in a sport that takes place entirely outside with natural distancing that would keep Rahm away from anyone, it was imperative that he be removed. For “safety,” of course!
Rahm’s situation is uniquely ridiculous, but the NBA and NFL’s protocols don’t make much sense either. Every single player, coach, official, and fan who is able and willing to get vaccinated has done so. Even if they contract the virus while vaccinated, the likelihood they will be hospitalized with severe symptoms is dramatically reduced. And we know that athletes, being young and not obese, are already incredibly unlikely to be hospitalized with severe systems.
The safety theater even led the NFLPA to encourage players not to attend off-season workouts at team facilities, despite vaccinations and natural immunity essentially ending the pandemic. This caused at least one player, Denver Broncos tackle Ja’Wuan James, to miss out on $15 million in guarantees as the team cut him after he suffered a season-ending injury in an off-site workout. He had previously been working out at the team facility (where the Broncos would still have to pay him if he got hurt) until he left at the union’s urging.
We’ve been told the virus is never truly going to go away. That doesn’t mean the pandemic isn’t over. Is the NBA still going to require players to miss time, even if they are already vaccinated, as they do under their current rules? Are the NFL and the NFLPA still going to live in fear of normality as the rest of the country passes them by?
We now have 55.2% of the adult population fully vaccinated. 65% of adults have received at least one dose and are partially protected from the virus. We also know that those who have contracted COVID-19 have natural immunity, and some scientists suggest this immunity might be lifelong. When including natural immunity, roughly 80% of U.S. adults are immune to the virus.
With that knowledge, and now with stadiums and arenas now returning to full-capacity crowds, these restrictions clearly have nothing to do with safety. It’s performative and unnecessary, and leagues should move past it and return to their normal, pre-pandemic protocols.
