Editorial

Football Players Must Isolate For 10 Days If They Contract Coronavirus, Individuals In Close Contact Must Quarantine For 2 Weeks

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David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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College football players will be off of the field for a long time if they test positive for coronavirus.

The NCAA and Power Five conferences are primed to release coronavirus guidelines for the upcoming football season, and Sports Illustrated has obtained a copy of the document. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

According to SI, the document calls for all positive players to isolate for 10 days and “until they’ve gone at least three days without symptoms, which the document defines as ‘resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement of respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath).'”

 

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As for players who have been around teammates who test positive, they’ll have to quarantine for two weeks, and it doesn’t matter whether they test positive or not. According to the document, this will apply to individuals around a player with coronavirus ” for at least 15 minutes while one or both parties is not wearing a mask.”

Under both scenarios, players would obviously be banned from playing games.

 

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I don’t know how football can happen under these guidelines. I just don’t. Players who test positive sitting out for 10 days makes sense.

Obviously, you don’t want sick players running around all over the field in contact with each other. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

It’s the quarantining part that makes me very nervous. If players simply around a sick player for 15 minutes without a mask have to quarantine for two weeks, then the season isn’t happening.

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At the very least, you’re going to see entire teams get knocked out of playing. Think about a locker room atmosphere, and I think you’ll quickly realize how fast an entire team could fall into the quarantine category if one player gets sick.

It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

While I understand the need for safety, these guidelines are going to make it borderline impossible to play if a few players get coronavirus in a locker room. That’s just the reality of the situation.