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Tyreek Hill Talks Chiefs' COVID-19 Protocols Ahead of Super Bowl 55 vs. Bucs
February 1, 2021
The Kansas City Chiefs are taking extra precautions to ensure COVID-19 doesn't get in the way of their chance to win back-to-back Super Bowls.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill told TMZ Sports that he did not attend his son's basketball game recently out of caution and added that the team is bringing barbers to the facility to eliminate any risk of someone catching the virus ahead of the game.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported Friday that coaches and players with both the Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be tested twice daily leading up to Sunday's game, and any player who tests positive will sit out.
According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, neither team has produced a positive test for the virus since at least before last week, when both teams played in conference championship games.
The league's policies regarding positive tests and quarantining are the same as they were during the regular season, per Fowler. Anyone who returns a positive test will be isolated for at least 10 days. There will be no gatherings outside of team facilities or travel.
Media availability will be remote, and the Chiefs will not land in Tampa until Saturday, per Maske. There will be 22,000 fans at Raymond James Stadium, consisting of 14,500 members of the general public and 7,500 healthcare workers, who are vaccinated and were invited as "guests of the league" (h/t Maske).
ESPN's Kevin Seifert reported that the league spent more than $100 million to supply more than 954,000 tests for the virus during the season, which managed to conclude without any cancellations.
'It was a mental battle trying to go through a whole football season, trying to stay focused on the game, trying to stay focused on your team, when the whole world seemed like it was in chaos,'' Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said, per Dave Skretta of the Associated Press. ''We just kind of tried to put our blinders on in a sense that we've got a job to do."
Both Super Bowl teams largely avoided major outbreaks, with the Chiefs landing eight players on the league's reserve/COVID-19 list compared to Tampa Bay's 11. Of those players, four from each team did not miss a game, per Skretta.
It remains to be seen how both teams will hold up in the final days of the season.