Symptomatic players are driving the spread of COVID-19 in the NFL, the league’s chief medical officer says.
ESPN noted the stance of Dr. Allen Sills marks a departure from the position of public health officials who have warned of the possibility that asymptomatic people were spreading COVID-19 without knowing it.
"I think all of our concern about [asymptomatic spread] has been going down based on what we've been seeing throughout the past several months," Sills told the sports television network. "We've got our hands full with symptomatic people. Can I tell you tonight that there has never been a case when someone without symptoms passed it on to someone else? No, of course I can't say that. But what I can say to you is that I think it's a very, very tiny fraction of the overall problem, if it exists at all.
"Clearly if you want to look at the overall pattern and concern about transmission, it is not being driven by people who have no idea that they are infected and they are infecting scores of others. This is being driven by people with symptoms and the exposures during that symptomatic period."
"Asymptomatic transmission inside our facilities just didn't fit with what we were seeing," Sills said. Only when the virus "takes hold and starts to replicate" is a person likely to begin spreading it, he said.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported the league’s decision to reduce testing for asymptomatic, vaccinated players could be the start of a trend for pro sports leagues and provide an example for society to follow heading into 2022.
Despite an increase in positive cases that forced three games to be rescheduled last weekend, the league agreed on Saturday to reduce testing for vaccinated players.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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