NFL Chief Medical Officer Drops Hard Truth Bombs About Resuming the Sports Schedule

Our sports remain at a standstill as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shut down much of society in the United States and around the world. The NFL has the benefit of not being in-season, of course, and is expected to conduct the 2020 NFL Draft in a studio setting.

The league wants to act as if business is carrying on as usual. But the NFL's chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, offered up a realistic view of the ongoing struggles that not many fans are going to like.

Sills: "As long as we're still in a place where when a single individual tests positive for the virus that you have to quarantine every single person who was in contact with them in any shape, form or fashion then I don't think you can begin to think about reopening a team sport"
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 3, 2020

As upsetting as it may be to read, Dr. Sills is not wrong. The NBA shut down after Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, yet his presence around his teammates before he had any verifiable symptoms that meant the spread could not be contained without cancelling games and grinding all of basketball to a halt.

The same holds true, unfortunately as it may be, for the rest of our sports. And it's going to stay that way for quite some time.

We're clearly a long way from certainty on anything. About opening the season on time, Dr. Sills said "I would say that's everyone's hope, that we are in a position to do that. But the reality is none of us know those facts for certain right now." https://t.co/Foov3GGWSM
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) April 3, 2020

All future plans are up in the air right now. NFL fans preparing to pack into stadiums filled with 60,000 fans during an ongoing pandemic is just not realistic at this point in time. The best course of action is to remain patient and take it all day-by-day. That is all we can do right now as we continue to learn more each day. Until then, we can't let our hopes for normalcy override our better judgment.