NFL Covid restrictions
so how often do they test the vaccinated players? And what happens if THEY test positive. And what about players who had it/have antibodies?
Originally Posted by: KRK
Good questions, I don't have the answers and I'm not sure how well defined it is from the NFL's perspective, but I'll take a guess:
1. How often for vaccinated players? Probably whenever they come into contact with known individuals who have tested positive. Possibly randomly or every week or two, I'm curious to know as well. I bet this will be clarified soon.
2. What happens if they test positive? Probably the same thing with unvaccinated players, they would need to quarantine. It mentions they won't need to if they're simply exposed to, but I would imagine that players who have been exposed to it would be tested, and if negative, wouldn't need to quarantine. I don't know the specifics here but this seems straightforward. If I was running a facility I would test everyone (vaccinated or not) as soon as a single person tests positive.
While it's possible to get and transmit covid if you've been vaccinated, the prevailing thought is that it should happen (perhaps much) less frequently. I think we're waiting on clinical trials that study spread rate for vaccinated folks to say for certain. But we know the vast majority (something like 98%) of those who are getting covid now are unvaccinated, and it's likely that unvaccinated individuals are spreading it at the highest rates.
In any case, if you're a football player and traveling the country, entertaining hundreds of thousands of people, it would be reasonable to continue taking the same general precautions even if you're vaccinated. So whether there should be special exceptions for those who are vaccinated is certainly a debatable point.
3. Players with antibodies who are not vaccinated - that's an interesting sub-group. I imagine the concern there is how likely they are to get mutations of the virus, like the delta variant, which the vaccines so far look pretty well suited to handle - the Pfizer and Moderna ones at least. It's probably a difficult to gauge/test and perhaps rather small group as well, so I can understand why there aren't special rules for this group.
Now back to the main topic of the thread. I look at the outbreak rule as more or less a "don't be completely incompetent" sort of rule. The NFL managed to play all of the games last year, a somewhat remarkable feat, and there were only a handful instances where the outbreaks were so bad that games were in doubt. With the majority of players already vaccinated (65% with one shot, as of about a month ago), outbreaks should be less likely to occur, so it's possible that the rule ends up being a non-issue. Plus, the NFL really, really likes money, and really, really doesn't want to miss even a single game.
But "Unlikely scenario which the NFL will do everything in its power to prevent, has consequences" is a much less compelling headline.