Coronavirus Cancellations and Reactions in Sports

By Frederick Suh

Cypress High School

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease in 2019, also known as COVID-19, has created a global health crisis that has had a huge impact on our everyday lives. It has also impacted the world of sports greatly. The games are now returning so the question of how sports can restart safely in the middle of a pandemic has been a great concern. Some people believe that even with strict restrictions, the restart of sports games will only increase the rate of infection of the coronavirus without any positive outcomes. However, I believe that sports leagues have developed enough guidelines to create a safe environment for athletes. Therefore, I believe that sports can begin safely amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As long as there are strict restrictions to create a safe environment for both the athletes and staff, it is better to restart for many reasons. All of the professional leagues have already decided to make the games closed to an audience and to test all the players and staff for the coronavirus. Kyle Min, a junior at Los Alamitos High School, states, "I feel uncomfortable about the sports restarting because, despite the lack of audience, the players themselves could catch it, and it can be detrimental to their career." He believes that the restart of sports games will have a detrimental effect on athletes' careers for health reasons. These athletes are working toward a high-level goal, but they may not be allowed to continue if they contract the coronavirus. Daniel Kong, a junior at Sunny Hills High School, says, "I think that the major sports leagues are taking correct safety precautions to protect their players such as getting tested for COVID-19 every practice. The NBA has been running for 2 months now and they have shown zero cases of COVID in the bubble which shows that it’s definitely possible to continue sports without spreading the pandemic." He agrees that it is possible to continue sports during the pandemic as long as the players and staff are following those strict guidelines. For example, the players and staff have to understand the roles and responsibilities in ensuring a safe return to sports - to know what is allowed and what is not in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

Although some people might think that it is not possible to restart professional sports without increasing the spread of the pandemic, I believe that the strict and specific guidelines the sports leagues have released make it possible to continue sports. If all the professional sports safely begin, fans will be able to enjoy watching while stuck at home.