In case you missed the news yesterday, the NHL announced that it is implementing enhanced COVID-19 protocols as it struggles with a rash of positive test cases.
Personally, I'm not sure what else can be done. Nearly the entire league is fully vaccinated, the players get tested daily and very few players have even had symptoms in confirmed cases. What's the ideal situation for the league? Zero cases? Because that's impossible. I'm really struggling to see what the NHL hopes to accomplish by tightening restrictions.
In contrast, the NFL announced today that it's actually loosening its own restrictions and will allow vaccinated players who have tested positive but are asymptomatic to play in games so long as they can provide a negative test within 24 hours.
Check it out:
So if I'm reading this correctly it means that vaccinated players who have tested positive but remain asymptomatic can request to get tested once more and if they can provide a negative test then they're free to re-join their teammates. Compare this to the NHL's policy of quarantining the players for at least 24 hours and until they can provide three negative tests.
Honestly, I'm not sure what the right policy is and, frankly, I don't think there's a correct answer. Personally, I'm just hopeful that the NHL's new enhanced protocols help prevent a proper season shutdown like we experienced in 2020.
