Fauci: NFL season depends on testing, response to second wave of coronavirus in fall

quote:

---

Football can be the "perfect setup" to spread the coronavirus, so diligent testing and how the nation responds to a second wave of the virus in the fall will help determine what the 2020 NFL season could look like, Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBCSports.com.

---

quote:

---

This is a respiratory virus, so it's going to be spread by shedding [the] virus. The problem with virus shedding is that if I have it in my nasopharynx, and it sheds and I wipe my hand against my nose -- now it's on my hand. You see, then I touch my chest or my thigh, then it's on my chest or my thigh for at least a few hours. Sweat as such won't transmit it. But if people are in such close contact as football players are on every single play, then that's the perfect setup for spreading. I would think that if there is an infected football player on the field -- a middle linebacker, a tackle, whoever it is it -- as soon as they hit the next guy, the chances are that they will be shedding virus all over that person.

---

quote:

---

If you really want to be in a situation where you want to be absolutely certain, you'd test all the players before the game. And you say, 'Those who are infected: Sorry, you're sidelined. Those who are free: Get in there and play.'"

---

quote:

---

Fauci said ultimately a football season "will be entirely dependent on the effectiveness with which we as a society respond to the inevitable outbreak that will occur" in the fall.

---