“This virus will not be eradicated and we will have to learn to live with it,” were the words of Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, on Tuesday, a position that is increasingly demonstrated in professional leagues in the face of their denial. to pause their seasons or tournaments despite increasing outbreaks of coronavirus.
Pausing their calendars is not in the plans of the NBA or the NFL. On the contrary, the football league responded to the recent increase in cases by relaxing its health protocols, as vaccinated personnel and players will be tested less frequently, which the league defines as a strategic and focused testing scheme.
“Tests mean cases, cases mean postponements, and postponements are bad. So the league opted for less testing, “wrote author Kendall Baker in the Axios media.
During week 15 of NFL three games were rescheduled due to outbreaks of coronavirus. As reported by AP, the plan was never to cancel those games because that would mean that the players would not be paid due to the agreements that the league reached with the union.
In turn, the NBA is considering shortening the number of days that a vaccinated and asymptomatic player must go without playing. Currently the protocols dictate that after testing positive, a basketball player must remain in quarantine for 10 days or have two negative tests.
Also, to keep the show going, the NBA and its players union (NBAPA) recently changed the rules on signing replacement players, allowing franchises to hire a replacement for each player on their team who tests positive for Covid-19. To this was added that players with a ‘two way’ contract will no longer have a limit on the number of games they can play in the NBA in the regular phase, which was previously established at a limit of 50.
According to CNN, the administration of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, is examining a possible ‘sea change in the messages’ that, like the NFL and the NBA, would focus on living with the virus rather than beating it. . The US media reported over the weekend that President Biden’s top health officials met to report that, while an imminent wave of coronavirus cases is expected that could accelerate rapidly, many of those cases will remain mild or even asymptomatic in the vaccinated people, particularly those who received booster doses.
But this philosophy is not only that of North America. After a week in which 10 matches of the English First Division of soccer were canceled, most of the 20 Premier League clubs rejected the ‘firewall’ proposal to suspend the matches scheduled for the Christmas dates that sought to stop the advance of the omicron variant; this rejection despite the league having the lowest percentage of vaccination among the main European competitions (68%).
The teams of the English league are warned that, if they have 13 players in good condition and a goalkeeper, they are obliged to play the scheduled matches. However, the decision to go ahead with the parties will be subject to review in two weeks and will be conditioned by the new restrictions that the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson may approve.
On the other hand, the African Football Confederation (CAF) gave the green light to the celebration of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6, 2022, after speculation about a possible transfer of headquarters due to the omicron variant.
“Much progress has been made in recent months in Cameroon with the construction of the stadium infrastructure, training fields and other facilities for the headquarters,” CAF said in a statement on Wednesday before outlining the plan to fight the coronavirus, which includes that the fans have a complete vaccination schedule and show a negative result of the PCR test that does not have more than 72 hours or a negative result of the antigen test with up to 24 hours of its issuance ”.
The National Hockey League (NHL), another of America’s four major leagues, was more radical. After an increase in cases of Covid-19 That caused 50 games to be postponed, the league decided to pause their matches from Wednesday and they will resume on Monday. In addition, its players will not be able to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in February.
“Given the profound disruption to the NHL regular season schedule caused by recent events related to Covid-19 … Olympic participation is no longer feasible,” said its commissioner, Gary Bettman.
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Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx