Sports Outbreaks
As Covid cases surge, professional sports leagues are once again feeling the impact, leading to postponements and star players missing games.
U.S. sports leagues are seeing rapidly increasing COVID-19 outbreaks with dozens of players in health and safety protocols, amid an ongoing surge by the delta variant of the coronavirus and rising cases of the highly transmissible omicron mutation.
More than 100 individuals throughout the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League entered health and safety protocols this week.
The NBA notes 97% of the league is vaccinated, and behind the scenes, there’s an estimation of more than 60% who received the booster shot.
Although leagues are unlikely to press the panic button like in March 2020, when the NBA led the complete suspension of sports games, the rise of the omicron variant is causing concern.
“Like the rest of the country, and as was predicted by our infectious disease specialists, we have seen an increase of cases around the League,” said NBA spokesman Mike Bass in a statement to CNBC.
“As we have since the pandemic began in March 2020, we will continue to follow the science and data and will, in close partnership with the Players Association, update our protocols as deemed appropriate by our medical experts.”
The NBA could get help from local governments, too. More cities fans show proof of vaccination before entering arenas. And local mandates could also cause unvaccinated players to get vaccinated or risk losing game checks.
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