Sporting events have just started to come into play once again during this pandemic, and everyone is more than excited to watch. However, there is still lots of stress for many sports teams, since players have to get tested for COVID-19 every two weeks. This is the only way to guarantee that players and bystanders, such as coaches and the players’ families, are safe during the pandemic. 

The teams are lucky that they are allowed to perform, so they mustn’t bypass safety limits. Of course, there is no way to make sure that this plan will keep everyone safe. At this point, we all know that any plan to keep us safe from Covid is only about 50% certain to keep us safer than without a virus plan. These safety guidelines and precautions are all 100% effective if everything is carried out correctly. However, not everyone carries out the proper precautions fully. A great example of this is the way everyone wears their masks differently. Yes, masks are a preventative way to keep yourself safe, but only if they are worn correctly. Not everyone wears them with their noses covered, and sometimes they even take them off upon entering a facility that requires them. This means that the mask method of safety becomes less effective.

Recently, it has been common amongst teams to have undergone “corona scares.” Corona scares are when one or more team members test positive for COVID-19, causing the rest of the team to go into quarantine for at least two weeks. This affects their play and practice time. In addition to the quarantine, the whole team must get tested negative for COVID-19 twice before they resume playing.

The Patriots had a massive Corona scare after one of the team players tested positive for COVID-19, which took the team out of games and practices for a couple of weeks until they could all get re-tested for COVID-19. The team has not yet disclosed who was the original infected, and I can’t imagine that it will get released anytime soon.

While the Patriots went on a two-week quarantine, they were forced to get their mandated two COVID-19 tests. Luckily for the Patriots and their fans, every player and coach tested negative, meaning they could return to their practices and games. Bill Belichick, the Patriots coach, is happy to report that they will be up and running again within the week. It has been a hard couple of weeks for the team, but they are happy and ready to make a full recovery from the time and practice lost.