NCAA Coronavirus Expert Issues Demoralizing Remark About Resuming College Sports at Any Time in 2020

The majority of the world is stuck at home waiting for even the most humble approval from medical experts to return to basic aspects of everyday life. At this point, however, it's unknown when that will given the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the coronavirus. Many have insisted that sports will be able to return in the coming months, but that may actually wishful thinking, according to one particular COVID-19 expert.

On Saturday, Dr. Carlos Del Rio of the NCAA's coronavirus advisory panel expressed the belief that college sports won't return at all in 2020 without an approved vaccine or significant safeguarding strategies. Given that a vaccine is possibly a year or more away, it's worth wondering just how out of reach our sports might truly be.

Sobering from NCAA Dr. Carlos Del Rio: "I hate to say it but for this calendar year, we may never return to normal without a vaccine or some strategies in place."
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) April 11, 2020

It's a profoundly sobering remark, but even the most confident sports fan had to have a feeling in the back of their minds that this was on the table.

Del Rio proceeded to say that college sports can resume only if the number of new coronavirus cases significantly decrease and admission numbers at hospitals drop. Perhaps more importantly, there needs to be a rapid testing regimen for athletes to determine if they're safe to play.

If not, sports can't return. And we could be far, far away from this reality.

NCAA's Carlos Del Rio, Emory U. on what it's going to take return to play: "Transmission needs to be low. You have to have a low number of new cases. Low # of hospital admissions. You need to then have testing available ... Then you need to really be ready ... for rapid diagnosis
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) April 11, 2020

Even though various professional sports leagues are looking at playing at neutral sites with no fans in attendance, there's still a significant range of procedures that have to be set in place in order to secure the health and safety of athletes and support staff. For that to happen, COVID-19 testing must be readily available to everyone.

And we're not there yet.