Several months of quarantine have passed, but despite state openings, we’re not quite out of the woods yet. Over the course of the month of May, some states opened more quickly than others, most notably Texas and Florida.
A spike (or possibly second wave) has now hit the football world, as members of the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans have tested positive for the coronavirus (news broken by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport).
Out of the players who tested positive, none were believed to have been in their team facilities. The most notable name of the bunch that tested positive is Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott. Zeke has since stated that he is asymptomatic and doing well. With NFL facilities now up and running, they are frequently testing players while following pages upon pages of restrictions/rules.
The state of Texas has conducted more than 1.5 million tests, targeting the hub cities more than other parts of the state (Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Houston). Texas Governor Greg Abbott permitted sports venues to expand their capacity from 25 percent to 50 percent a few weeks ago.
The NFL created a memo that was recently sent out to all teams, enclosing pages upon pages of safety measures. The league has shown no signs of stopping or halting the upcoming season outside of making do with a virtual offseason and draft. It is inevitable that as we move along, there will be more and more positive tests surfacing in the football world. It will be interesting to see how teams control the spread within their organizations, as well as what it means when positive tests come up during the week of a regular-season game or pivotal playoff match.
