Pro sports leagues have gone on high alert as Covid-19 cases surge across America.
The surge in the Covid-19 cases has left players sidelined which have prompted the teams to shut down their facilities and postpone the active tournaments and games.
The NBA, NHL, and NFL have been scrambling hard to counter the sharp rise in the coronavirus cases as the World Health Organization has warned that “the new omicron variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate.”
The NFL which returned to the field at full throttle has started to dismantle their practices and leagues after a sharp spike was recorded in the covid-19 cases.
According to the reports, 37 coronavirus cases were recorded in a single day. The Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams were hit by the virus therefore Rams canceled their practice facility after their 9 players reported covid-19 positive.
Rams referred to the NFL safety protocols after a number of players reported a covid-19 positive.
The Cleveland also reported having entered the ‘NFL covid-19 protocols’ after eight of the team players reported as positive.
In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers also canceled their practice session after Talen Horton-Tucker was tested covid-19 positive.
The NBA stated that “Chicago Bulls’ games against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday and Toronto Raptors on Thursday had both been called off, the first games of the season to be postponed due to COVID-19.”
NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr said on Saturday that “a lack of “concrete answers” from Beijing Games officials about COVID-19 protocols, including quarantine rules, was creating uncertainty among players.”
COVID-19 concerns have also placed a question mark over the participation of NHL stars at next February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Up to seven NHL teams have reported covid-19 cases on Tuesday as the coronavirus outbreak causes cancellation of games of Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild.
USA Hockey executive director Pat Kelleher said that, “although officials received fresh guidelines on Monday, they were still awaiting clarity on quarantine rules for any player testing positive for COVID-19 in China.”
“We are certainly hopeful that all systems will be going by the time we get ready to go to Beijing,” Kelleher said.
“But there’s certainly work to be done. There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of things to be discussed and hopefully answered so that everybody can feel the best about sending the best players from the NHL.”
