Testing The Covid Narrative: Stevie Y Says Enough

HOF member Steve Yzerman has always kept an open mind. As a star player with Detroit, Yzerman was one of the Top 5 scorers in the NHL in the 1980s-90s. Then, after a conversation with coach Scotty Bowman, the Red Wings captain transformed himself into an all-around player. The Red Wings went on to win two straight Stanley Cups under his leadership.

As executive director he led Team Canada to the 2010 Olympic Gold medal. Likewise he took over the mediocre Tampa Bay Lightning as GM. Using his Red Wings’ experience he made the Lightning into perennial contenders. Now he’s trying to rebuild the Red Wings as the club’s general manager. 

So when Yzerman speaks about the spike in positive Covid tests the hockey community listens. "I really don't know what the right thing is,” he said when asked about Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill, assistant coach Alex Tanguay, goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, forwards Givani Smith, Carter Rowney and Filip Zadina— all currently on the COVID-19 list

“At the end of the day, I think — and now I'm getting political — but at the end of the day our players are testing positive with very little symptoms, if any symptoms at all. I don’t see it as a threat to their health at this point. I think you might take it a step further and question why are we even testing, for guys that have no symptoms," Yzerman said on Saturday.

Is test-and-trace a misplaced priority? Heresy! Yet Yzerman’s thoughts on false positives are being echoed in the NFL where games are being delayed because hundreds of players and staff— many of them asymptomatic— have tested positive using the NFL’s mandatory PCR testing. Tampa Bay Bucs coach Bruce Arians told reporters on Friday, “If you’re asymptomatic, you should be allowed to play.”

Cleveland QB Baker Mayfield was another who complained about the NFL’s current Covid policies (adopted last year). “NFL, Make up your damn mind on protocols,’’ he tweeted shortly after backup QB Case Keenum had tested positive. “Showing up and making only 3 teams test?!? All so you can keep the game as scheduled to make money…Something seems off here.’’

What is the current state of play? So far no pro team athlete has died of or been in critical condition from Covid, the Alpha, Delta or Omicron virus. Ninety-five percent of NFL players are double vaxxed— but since the start of last week, 213 NFL players have tested positive for COVID-19. That's nearly 10 percent of the league. (51 NFL players landed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday's wire.) They all tested positive.Roughly two-thirds of the positives are asymptomatic, while the rest have mild symptoms, per the NFL.

NFL team personnel are 100 percent vaccinated, but there were 50 new “cases” among them in the same time period. Both the Rams and Washington joined the Raiders and other teams in having games delayed till early this week because of so many positive tests.

After the pointed comments from Mayfield and Arians , the NFL loosened its restrictions on testing players who are not sick with symptoms. For now, the NFL and NFLPA have agreed to a procedure that allows vaccinated and asymptomatic players to return faster than before. (This reflects the fact that most of the asymptomatic subjects don’t have enough off the virus to become sick or create a sample that can be transmitted.) 

The NHL and NBA have similar dilemmas as teams try to scrape together a game roster from players off the street or in the minors. But neither has gone as far as the NFL in recognizing the difference between serious cases and those who have insufficient virus to transmit.

So what’s happening here? As we have repeatedly said the risks from Covid or its variants to well-conditioned athletes are negligible. (Fewer than 240 people in Canada under the age of 40 have died of covid since March 2020.) The extreme caution might have been warranted this time last year, but even with Omicron looming the threat to the public from athletes is nowhere near the panic of 2020.

So why do we remain in limbo when the public knows that vaccines are not perfect, fatalities are overwhelmingly among the old, the obese and those with underlying morbidity? The answer is fear cultivated by people such as U.S. president Joe Biden who this weekend predicted: “For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.”

Panicked middle and upper-class professionals have swallowed this agenda that, for the first time in history, citizens must protect others, not themselves through mandated vaccines, lockdowns and masking. They want someone to blame. So, early treatment is unheard of. Herd immunity is the devil’s brew. This tweet criticizing Alberta premier Jason Kenney sums up the Plague of Peril. “@anniegirl1138 Saying the quiet part out loud again. His plan is we all get sick and hopefully not too many end up in hospital or dead. That’s it. That’s the plan. “

As we wrote Nov. 23, 2020. “The sale has been made by those in authority. They call the shots. No one is allowed to dissent. That was the end game.  And there’s no going back when the Woke media warns you that resistance will invite the cancel culture to ruin your life. This is the new reality. Get used to it. And if you value your freedoms, tough luck.”

The push to liberalize testing for athletes will be seen by the usual suspects as privilege for millionaires. But until the virus has done its business all the doom from bureaucrats and their media mouthpieces will only delay the inevitable: Covid is here to stay. Deal with it. 

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx