The National Football League on Sunday launched a new COVID-19 protocol to try to avoid possibly delaying the current season amid an onslaught of positive tests.
The NFL announced that vaccinated players will no longer be subjected to weekly tests – only the unvaccinated and those showing symptoms will be probed.
“Medical information strongly indicates that this variant is significantly more contagious but possibly less severe than prior variants, particularly for people who are fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot,” Commissioner Roger Goodell informed the teams in a letter.
“Our experience with the omicron variant is fully consistent with this expectation – while more players and staff are testing positive, roughly two-thirds of those individuals are asymptomatic, most of the remaining individuals have only mild symptoms, and the virus appears to clear positive individuals more rapidly than was true with the delta or earlier variants. In many respects, omicron appears to be a very different illness from the one that we first confronted in the spring of 2020.”
But while the NFL is being applauded for wisening up on its COVID policy, the league is now being criticized for its inability to shake the Kaepernick variant of the social justice virus.
Late last week, the National Sheriffs Association denounced the NFL for supporting groups that advocate for defunding the police.
Fox News reported that its digital investigations unit looked at the NFL’s recipients of funding for social justice initiatives, under the “Inspire Change” program.
Fox reported that it found some recipients – such as the Vera Institute of Justice, the Oregon Justice Resource Center, and the Community Justice Exchange – support defunding or abolishing the police.
The NFL then defended both the groups’ work, and it’s bankrolling it.
“Our 33 social justice grant partners have been selected based on the critical work that they have done surrounding Inspire Change’s four pillars — education, economic advancement, criminal justice reform, and police & community relations — to break down barriers to opportunity, end systemic racism and bridge the gap between members of law enforcement and the communities they serve,” an NFL representative told Fox.
“We stand by the work our grant partners have done and the lasting positive impact made in communities across the country.”
The sheriffs’ group said that was too much.
“I hope the NFL got its ROI [return on investment]: More crime, more legitimate criminals released, more community anger and more jerseys sold, eyeballs watching and paid seats filled at their games,” Jonathan Thompson, executive director and CEO of the sheriffs’ association, told Fox.
“Well done to the NFL, hopefully, all the deputies and officers that protect their facilities and audiences that attend their games feel better about the NFL, especially since it is funding organizations that want to completely dissolve our country’s principle of adherence to the rule of law,” Thompson added.
“Perhaps they could spend one night in a cruiser or a jail to see the horrendous effects of runaway crime,” he continued. “Or they could look into the faces of the victims of crime who are white, black, brown, men, women, elderly, kids, poor, rich and every demographic in America.”
Meanwhile, CNSNews.com reported on Friday that the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police also attacked Goodell and the NFL for “Inspire Change,” which has financially backed organizations that envision a world “without prisons, policing, prosecution, surveillance or any form of detention or supervision.”
“Maybe Commissioner Goodell should take a timeout and reconsider this decision, especially since they’re ‘paying for campaigns to keep criminals and offenders on the streets’ while, at the same time, they’re relying on police to protect the NFL’s players and stadiums, FOP President Patrick Yoes said.
“I find it incredibly ironic that NFL teams travel and play every week under the protection of local law enforcement; we have officers in stadiums, parking lots, and even on the sidelines to ensure the safety of the players, team personnel, and of course, the fans. The NFL pays for this security because they want their venues and attendees to be safe,” Yoes added.
“Now, we learn they are sending thousands of dollars to groups whose mission is to end policing and our system of justice. How irresponsible is this?”
“Performative displays of wokeness like this are shameful,” said Yoes.
Yoes also pointed out that the NFL rejected an FOP request for a meeting to discuss strategies to bridge relationships between police and some communities they serve. “Rather than supporting efforts to further divide police officers from the communities they protect,” said Yoes, “the NFL should focus on how to heal the wounds in these communities by collaborating with the FOP to rebuild trust and respect between police officers and the people they serve.”
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I haven’t watched the nfl in 6 Years. And while I have some very real issues with the police I guess that as long as the rats are fighting each other they aren’t after you is a good thing.