Two months before the Super Bowl, the omicron surge was decimating NFL rosters as players tested positive for COVID-19. In mid-December, the NFL postponed a game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks because the Rams, who would go on to win the Super Bowl, had 29 players out with COVID.
The number of NFL employees testing positive per week in December went from about 30 to about 300, most of them players who would have to sit out of practices and games. The new variant “hit us like a ton of bricks,” said Dr. Allen Sills, chief medical officer for the NFL.
Dr. Thom Mayer, medical director for the NFL Players Association, said the disruption brought to the fore a big question: If a player was vaccinated and recovering from COVID but still tested positive, were there conditions that might make it “reasonable to return them [to the field] and safe to do so?”
