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While Illini Push Toward Sept. 4th Opener, Dr. Anthony Fauci Doubts If Football Is Played in 2020

Less than a day after the NCAA rolled out a six-week preseason practice plan, Dr. Anthony Fauci has different ideas about football beginning in the fall.

Matthew Stevens

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Less than a day after the NCAA rolled out a six-week preseason practice plan, arguably the nation’s most trusted immunologist has a different idea about football beginning in the fall.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on infectious diseases and has been a medical advisor to every United States president since Ronald Reagan, said in a Thursday interview to CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta that he’s not convinced football can be played safely during this fall season due to the ongoing concerns of the coronavirus.

In the interview with CNN, Fauci laid out a comprehensive “bubble” system for professional football that he think might have an opportunity of working and would be similar to what the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League are attempting to work out in order to restart its 2020-21 seasons.

“Unless players are essentially in a bubble -- insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day -- it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall." - Dr. Anthony Fauci to CNN

“Unless players are essentially in a bubble -- insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day -- it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall,” Fauci said. “If there is a second wave, which is certainly a possibility and which would be complicated by the predictable flu season, football may not happen this year."

While the “bubble” system may work for a 32-team league of professional football players, it is less likely to envision a scenario where that isolation system works for NCAA football student-athletes on the 130 campuses that encompass every Football Bowl Subdivision school.

Shortly after Fauci’s interview on CNN, Dr. Allen Sills, who is the NFL’s chief medical officer, released a statement suggesting the league would continue moving forward with a plan for the regular season to begin when the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 10.

"We are developing a comprehensive and rapid-result testing program and rigorous protocols that call for a shared responsibility from everyone inside our football ecosystem," Sills said in a statement. "This is based on the collective guidance of public health officials, including the White House task force, the CDC, infectious disease experts, and other sports leagues. Make no mistake, this is no easy task. We will make adjustments as necessary to meet the public health environment as we prepare to play the 2020 season as scheduled with increased protocols and safety measures for all players, personnel and attendees. We will be flexible and adaptable in this environment to adjust to the virus as needed."

On Wednesday, the NCAA Division I Council approved a six-week preseason practice model for teams preparing for the 2020 college football season. This model was originally proposed by the Division I Football Oversight Committee.

In a Zoom video conference with reporters Tuesday, Illinois junior defensive tackle Jamal Woods and junior wide receiver Donny Navarro both said they’re assuming the college football season will start on time when the Illini are set to host Illinois State on the evening of Friday, Sept. 4.

“We’re taking all the steps necessary to start the season on time,” Navarro said. “We’re going to prepare like we’re going to play. Testing is going to be important. Following all the public health recommendations and things like that, we’re going to have to continue to do that, but our mind is set on preparing like Sept. 4 is going to happen. That’s the only thing we can do. We can only control what we can control.”

Less than a month ago, Fauci warned in an interview with NBC Sports reporter Peter King that if as many as four players on a team tested positive for COVID-19, the team and the league would have to "shut it down.”

"You got a problem there," Fauci said to NBC Sports’ Peter King. “You know why? Because it is likely that if four of them are positive and they've been hanging around together, that the other ones that are negative are really positive. So, I mean, if you have one outlier (only one player testing positive), I think you might get away. But once you wind up having a situation where it looks like it's spread within a team, you got a real problem. You gotta shut it down.”

On Monday, several Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans players reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, according to NFL Network reporters Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. As summer voluntary workouts have begun over the last few weeks, high profile FBS programs such as Alabama, Auburn, Texas, Oklahoma State and Kansas State have already seen multiple players reportedly have tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return to campus and been forced into mandatory isolation.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in an interview on ESPN Monday night that he expects his league to play through the positive tests of certain players throughout the upcoming 2020 season

"We expect we are going to have positive tests. That is part of the increased testing that we will be going through and that is something that we just want to make sure that our protocols are working and to date,” Goodell said to ESPN. “We are seeing very positive reactions in the sense that we are making sure we respond quickly, protect the personnel that may be impacted by that and others that may be in contact with them." 

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Matthew Stevens
MATTHEW STEVENS

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