NFL says there has been ‘no discussion’ of moving Week 16 games
The NFL moved three games final week on account of rising COVID-19 numbers, pushing Browns–Raiders to Monday and Eagles–Washington and Rams–Seahawks to Tuesday. With the newest pressure of the virus, the omicron variant, spreading throughout the nation, a quantity of groups are coping with critical roster crunches this week as nicely, simply days earlier than most Week 16 games are slated to be performed.
The Texas, Jets, Ravens and Saints all have double-digit numbers of gamers on the COVID-19/reserve listing. Even so, with simply days to determine, the NFL says it doesn’t plan to push any games this weekend.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy mentioned there has been “no dialogue of altering the standing of any sport” for Week 16, per ProFootballTalk.
Of the games most probably to be impacted, Jets–Jaguars, Bengals–Ravens and Texans–Chargers are all set for 1 p.m. ET kickoffs on Sunday afternoon.
Saints–Dolphins is that this week’s scheduled Monday Night time Soccer sport, kicking off at 8:15 p.m. ET on Dec. 27.
Final week’s games had been the primary of the 2021 season to be moved on account of COVID-19. The NFL has amended its testing protocols for vaccinated gamers, which might decrease the quantity of optimistic assessments however might additionally permit asymptomatic circumstances of COVID-19 to slide by way of the cracks. On Thursday, the league’s chief medical officer Allen Sills mentioned that league knowledge signifies that these with out signs are impossible to unfold the virus.
“We’ve actually not seen this phenomenon that folks have mentioned, which is asymptomatic individuals within the facility spreading the virus to others,” Sills mentioned, per ESPN. “As we’ve gone again and appeared all through the complete season, what we’ve seen constantly is that when individuals have signs, that’s after they appear to be contagious to others.
“Our knowledge has been constant of that all through the season, and I believe it’s notably true of this new variant, with omicron, of what we’re seeing.”
Sills’s statements are a big departure from the CDC, which still recommends quarantine for those with asymptomatic COVID-19 cases.
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