Despite player populations that are overwhelmingly vaccinated, COVID-19’s second winter has decimated North American professional sports leagues at a level not seen since 2020.
From the NFL reporting a single-day high in cases, to the Chicago Bulls postponing two games after 10 players entered COVID-19 protocols, every active league is seeing its regular season imperiled by the pandemic.
Sports leagues have been re-writing safety protocols and urging their players to get vaccinated once they became widely available last spring.
Entering the teeth of this winter, the effort was largely a success: The NFL reports nearly 95% of its players vaccinated, the NHL has just one unvaccinated holdout and the NBA also exceeds 97%, despite high-profile holdouts such as Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving and Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi.
Yet the past week has resulted in more postponements and players in protocol than even navigating through an unvaccinated 2020-21 winter.
On Monday, the NFL reported its highest day of positive COVID-19 tests over two seasons of the pandemic, according to the NFL Network, with 36 players and one staffer forced into protocols.
The Los Angeles Lakers joined the Bulls, Nets and Charlotte Hornets as NBA clubs suffering COVID-related setbacks in recent days.
And four NHL teams have now paused due to rising COVID-19 cases, with 23 players entering the league’s COVID-19 protocol as of Tuesday afternoon over a 36-hour window, according to TSN.
Also in the news:
►Over 900 Cornell University students tested positive for COVID-19 and finals were moved online.
►Omicron is expected to become the dominant coronavirus variant in the European Union by mid-January, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.
?Today’s numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 50.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 802,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 272 million cases and 5.3 million deaths. More than 202 million Americans — 61% of the population — are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
?What we’re reading: The omicron variant of the coronavirus is moving faster than surveillance systems can track it and has now unnerved some medical experts that they’re starting to put the brakes on preparations for their holiday gatherings.
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Nurses fight for more staffing, better working conditions
Nurses and health care workers across the country are finding strength in numbers and participating in labor actions not seen in years. In California, which has a strong union tradition, Kaiser Permanente management misjudged workplace tensions during the COVID-19 crisis and risked a walkout of thousands when union nurses balked at signing a four-year contract that would have slashed pay for new hires. In Colorado, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Massachusetts, nurses have been embroiled in union battles over staffing and work conditions.
“There’s a nursing shortage and a shortage of nursing instructors, nationwide. They’ve seen aides leave. They’ve seen cleaners leave,” said Liz Soriano-Clark, a teacher-turned-nurse in Pittsburgh. “Why is that? Because they can make more at McDonald’s and not have to clean up vomit.”
– Christine Spolar, Mark Kreidler and Rae Ellen Bichell, Kaiser Health News
Michigan gets more omicron cases, dominant strain by January?
The omicron variant is quickly gaining ground in the United States, health officials warned Wednesday, as two more confirmed cases of the coronavirus strain were identified in Michigan.
The state health department reported two more cases of the variant in Michigan Wednesday — both in Genesee County — bringing the total of known cases so far to three. The first Michigan case was identified last week in Kent County through genetic sequencing.
Although the strain is now estimated to make up only about 3% of coronavirus cases in the U.S., “early data suggests that omicron is more transmissible than delta, with a doubling time of about two days,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At that level of growth, omicron could be the dominant strain of the virus in the U.S. before the new year.
“My guess is that omicron will become the dominant variant in early January 2022,” said Dennis Cunningham, Henry Ford Health System’s medical director of infection control and prevention. Read more here.
— Kristen Jordan Shamus and Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press