The NBA, NFL and NHL are battling to keep their teams competing, as COVID-19 case rates skyrocket in the United States and Canada due to the onslaught of the omicron variant.
As of Wednesday, the United States had the highest average number of new COVID cases since the pandemic began, with a seven-day average of 265,427 that surpassed the previous peak of 251,989, reached in January 2021, according to a tracker administered by the Johns Hopkins University.
But as evidence grows of the emergence of fewer serious cases with the new variant, sports leagues are managing adjustments to their coronavirus protocols to continue to protect players, staff and fans but maintain their programming as long as contagion occurs. the campuses allow it.
The three major leagues, NBA, NFL and NHL, changed the rules back for players who report positive for COVID-19.
The NFL reduced the isolation period for vaccinated and unvaccinated players from 10 to just five days if they develop the disease without symptoms.
The NBA reduced the quarantine time from 10 days to six for vaccinated asymptomatic patients who test positive. A path he took to avoid game cancellations like the one that affected the Miami Heat on Wednesday, when the Florida team did not reach the eight available players and comply with the regulations.
Navigating the omicron wave is "baffling", Heat coach Erik Spoelstra admitted, as players without symptoms of the disease were ruled out of games as tests for the virus increased.
"I think we have reached a point where we need more information"Spoelstra said. "Are there more asymptomatic cases? (…) what does that mean and what adjustments can we make from there?".
While it is celebrated that the majority of those marginalized from the game by covid do not show serious signs of the disease, their exclusion puts the competitiveness of the leagues at risk. A problem that especially hits the NFL, which goes through the last two weeks of the regular season with several places to the playoffs in dispute, in a league in which more than 500 players tested positive in December.
Turbulent season
Amid the wave of contagions, many teams have tightened their social distancing rules, reverting to virtual meetings in an attempt to keep players healthy.
"I feel like the teams that can handle the covid-19 situation will be the ones that can get in and out of the playoffs, to be honest."said NFL Colts defensive player DeForest Buckner.
The NBA is still far from the decisive phase, but the uncertainty posed by the current health scenario also undermines the quality of the spectacle.
"It is literally a game of chance every time you take a test to find out who is negative and who is positive"said Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.
"You just have to see who is available", to know what the present is facing a team, he stressed.
Coronavirus cases have caused training to be canceled and about a dozen games were postponed in the NBA. Not so alarming numbers, however it has been a major headache this period with teams that have had to cope without head coaches, sidelined by the virus and, in some cases, completed lineups with figures from the development league.
"Of course there is a certain amount of injustice"said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. "But the other advantage is that we have an 82 game season and long playoffs and my feeling is that things will work out at the end of the season.", he limited.
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