Despite the uphill battle faced by the NFL in mitigating coronavirus, the NFL kept on track in their season. The league's executives put health and safety at the forefront, evolving its protocols to have a safe Super Bowl LV on Sunday.
In a press conference Wednesday afternoon, NFL Executive Vice President of Communications, Public Affairs & Policy, Jeff Miller, stated that the health and safety of every individual involved will come before anything else.
Based on a report, the statement coming from Miller is supported by a piece of concrete evidence as they do heavy cleaning of all the facilities, the usage of the PCR testing with the 24-hour result, and the ability of the league to contact-trace effectively in determining contacts with the highest risk.
Safe Super Bowl LV
According to ABC Action News, NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills also added that after a team outbreak in September of last year, they had recognized that the social distancing protocol they had imposed was not enough in the transmission of the virus, that is why they opted for a better solution.
As a way to track possible exposures, the league required all players, coaches, and even staff to wear a band that blinks if someone is too close to the user.
It also monitors the duration of being close to each other.
Based on the results, it limited the spread of the virus at least three dozen times this season.
Based on the information gathered by the NFL during their season-long testing process, they have recorded 262 players who tested positive, while tallying also 463 from the coaches and staff.
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Despite the numbers, the NFL is still ready to host the biggest football event as they have brought their protocols to Raymond James Stadium.
In addition, on the game day, aside from the players, the NFL will only allow essential team personnel on the sidelines and they are also building a special area into the stands that will serve as the seat of the players from both teams instead of allowing them on the field to ensure a safe Super Bowl LV.
Moreover, Dawn Aponte, the Chief Football Administrative Officer of the NFL, emphasized that the safe Super Bowl LV will exhibit how flexible the league in terms of keeping health and safety at the forefront, as they follow and adhere to the best practices, WTSP.com reported.
He also added that he is looking forward to Sunday.
Tampa Mayor confident in Super Bowl LV
Based on the fact that their NFL team stepped on the Super Bowl LV, the city of Tampa has another reason to celebrate, as they are the first city in history to host their own football team.
Despite the threat of the coronavirus, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor shared they are preparing not only for a historic event in their city but also for a safe Super Bowl LV.
She also added in an interview that climbing up on the world stage means one thing, Tampa Bay is going to dance as they have never danced before, Chicago Sun Times reported.
She also added that she supported the decision of the NFL in allowing 22,000 spectators at the Super Bowl LV, which includes, 7,500 health workers, who have received the two doses of the vaccine.
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