In the uphill battle to keep teams on track with COVID-19 rules this year, there is little doubt that one protocol has required a mind-numbing level of maintenance from the NFL’s league office halfway through this season. The reminders have come in the form of educational memos to stern warnings, from finger-wagging to conference-call shaming. And of course, those hefty headline-grabbing fines.
All for the masks.
“It’s a little bit like when seat belts came along,” said NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills during a league conference call Tuesday. “Overnight, you had to do a lot of education about why wearing seat belts was important.