Freedom!: NFL, NFLPA Suspend All Covid Protocols

Bills fans
Getty Images

Those who watched their squads make late-season playoff runs only to have those hopes dashed by dozens of positive Covid tests will not have to worry about that any longer.

The NFL and NFL Players Association announced on Thursday that the 2022-2023 season would be free of the stringent testing protocols that have been in place over the last two years.

Person wears a KN-95 mask due to the Covid-19 pandemic before playing against the Los Angeles Chargers at M&T Bank Stadium on January 02, 2022 in...

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – JANUARY 02: A person wears a KN-95 mask due to the Covid-19 pandemic before playing against the Los Angeles Chargers at M&T Bank Stadium on January 02, 2022, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

In a memo sent to all teams, the league noted that declining infection rates had made the removal of the restrictions possible. However, the league also cautioned that teams would still need to comply with local and state Covid protocols in their respective areas.

As Pro Football Talk reports:

The suspension means an end to any mandatory testing and, absent local regulations, masks are not required at team facilities. Tests will now be done “when clinically indicated or at the direction of a club physician” and teams must keep some testing equipment at their facilities, but the larger testing trailers can be removed.

Players will no longer be wearing devices to monitor their contacts at team facilities and limits on weight rooms and other gathering spaces have been removed.

The league had engaged in a softening of their Covid restrictions during the postseason last year. In addition, after dozens of unmasked NFL personnel and celebrities were filmed at the Super Bowl in Los Angeles – a city that had some of the most stringent Covid restrictions in the country. The idea of forcing players to undergo another season of nonsensical Covid hysteria is dumb.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.