As the NFL moves closer to the first game of the 2020 season (it’s only 22 days away), the NFL is moving closer to no players on the COVID-19 reserve list.
Currently, the total number has dropped to 12.
It’s a great sign for the league as it relates to the handling of the situation, but the latest test of the NFL’s procedures and theories arrived on Monday, with the commencement of widespread padded practices.
The league believes that transmission is unlikely in an open-air setting, even as players breathe, bleed, spit, cough, and sweating in close quarters. If a player slips through the cracks with while shedding the virus and enters that fray what will happen? That remains to be seen.
It remains critical that everyone continue to do everything that they should to avoid catching the virus and then bringing it to the facility. One head coach expressed dismay over the weekend regarding the league’s recent effort to tout the success to date of the testing program, both as it relates to the possibility that some players may become complacent and as it relates to the notion of the good, old-fashioned jinx.
Regardless, things currently are indeed going well. The teams seem to be determined to ensure that this continues. To make it continue through the entirety of the 2020 the season will require tremendous commitment and focus. So far, the good news is that it seems to be working.