Unless you have been hiding under a rock or choosing to ignore the data, there’s increasing concern about the path of COVID-19 in some of the biggest regions within the United States.
This obviously includes states such as California, Florida, Arizona and Texas. From a sports perspective, this is not great news as NFL training camps are set to open within the next two weeks.
We now have some more information from players around the NFL. It’s not great.
NFL players growing increasingly concerned about starting training camp in COVID-19 hot spots
“We have one question that encapsulates it all: Does it make sense for the NFL to open up training camps in ‘hot spot’ cities right now,?” a source close to the situation told the Washington Post’s Mark Maske.
This comes with certain NFL teams already announcing that they will limit capacity at games during the 2020 season starting Sept. 10.
It also comes amid a split between the league and NFLPA over COVID-19 testing protocols, finances and the number of preseason games.
As it relates to the pandemic, the numbers are bleak in multiple regions around the United States. The state of Florida, home of three NFL teams, just saw north of 15,000 cases in one day earlier this week.
The Southern California region might soon shut back down altogether after an alarming increase in cases over the past couple weeks, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Tuesday.
Will NFL training camps actually start on time?
Right now, it’s an open question. The league had in the past announced that camps would open up as scheduled in July 28 (two weeks from Tuesday).
Given the push back by NFL players and the increase in virus cases throughout the United States, things might no longer be trending in that direction.