Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs is fed up with the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic and isn’t staying silent about it.
Diggs: Americans are ‘cocky’ and need to wear masks
A native of Texas, Diggs has recently been a vocal critic of Governor Greg Abbott. Speaking about the local response, per SI.com, he recently said, “I think it’s terrible. I’ve said it from the jump: I don’t think we should have opened up that fast.”
Discussing the national response, he delved deeper into the psychology of Americans and called the United States “a cocky country.”
“As a country, as a whole, I feel like we’re just a cocky country that feels like we’re invincible, but we have the most cases in the world,” Diggs said. “At some point, we need to take that cockiness down, and I think we need to get humbled a little bit and let people know that, ‘Hey, continue to wear your mask.’ I feel like the mask mandate should have been in effect the whole time. If you were going to open up stuff, at least make the mask mandated when people are going to have to go out so you can’t spread it. But when you make it a choice, then you give people the choice not to wear it, then of course the choice is going to be like, “Oh, I forgot my mask at home, but I don’t need it.
“It’s cockiness. It’s the absolute cockiness of America, of Americans, to think, ‘I don’t need a mask.’ I don’t understand it, there’s nobody taking away your freedom, you’re still able to go walk a street, you’re still able to go into the store — just put a freaking mask on, it’s not that serious.”
Early on as the coronavirus pandemic arrived on American shores, masks were not deemed necessary. However, more recently that perspective has changed. During an interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci made it clear that they are “extremely important” to slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Will the NFL season take place?
Due to early re-openings in states across the nation, positive COVID-19 tests have spiked dangerously. Recently, we’ve seen over 50,000 positive cases reported daily, and Fauci warned last week that 100,000 per day could be on the horizon.
Meanwhile, the NFL is attempting to get training camps kicked off at the end of July. Players are skeptical about the ability to properly distance and maintain good health in this environment, with some making it clear that it seems unlikely.
To that point, Diggs shared that he is comfortable with delaying the season due to the risks involved.
“If I have a job to do, I have a job to do,” Diggs said. “But I would prefer that, if we have to push things back because we can’t get it situated, can’t get a detailed plan in order, I’m all fine with pushing it back.”
The NFL is currently planning for the season to start as scheduled. However, some coaches and general managers are reportedly worried about how things are going, and it wouldn’t be shocking if he season was delayed.