The Washington Football is the only major sports team in Washington D.C. that didn’t have a game postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the team
WASHINGTON — Coronavirus has affected all of Washington, DC’s four major sports teams.
The Washington Wizards, hands down, were hit the hardest by COVID-19. They went almost two weeks without playing a game after six players tested positive for the illness.
On January 17, Wizards General Manager Tommy Sheppard announced the news of the positive tests and added that three other players were in the league’s health and safety protocols. The NBA had to postpone their games because of the outbreak preventing the Wizards from dressing the minimum of eight healthy players required under league rules.
The Capitals share the same arena in downtown Washington with the Wizards.
On January 20, Alex Ovechkin and three other players were added to the NHL’s COVID-19 list.
Goalie Ilya Samsonov first tested positive for coronavirus on Jan. 19. The other players were required to quarantine at least 10 days.
The National Hockey League fined the Washington Capitals $100,000 for player violations of the league’s COVID-19 protocols, which involved social interactions among team members who were in close contact and who were not wearing face coverings, according to a statement from the NHL.
The Capitals never had a game postponed due to their COVID issues, however three Capitals games were postponed due to COVID issues within their opponent’s organization, the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Nationals already had their first three games postponed before the season even started.
The Nats announced their weekend series against the New York Mets will be postponed after at least three players tested positive for COVID-19.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo spoke with reporters Thursday evening and said that those infected with COVID-19 are in quarantine and the team is conducting extensive contact tracing at the moment.
Finally, The Washington Football has had the best outcomes during the pandemic. Despite fielding two times the number of players as the Nationals, Capitals, and Wizards, DC’s football team only had one player test positive for coronavirus during the regular season. The Washington football team announced the positive test on November 17, 2020 during week 11 of the NFL season. In a statement from the team, all meetings were conducted virtually that week. The positive test never postponed or canceled a Washington Football game.
Washington’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers was pushed back from a Sunday to a Monday due to a COVID-19 breakout that affected the Steelers previous contest against the Baltimore Ravens. Over the span of 10 days, nearly two dozen Ravens players were placed on the COVID reserve list. This included star quarterback Lamar Jackson. The Ravens were reportedly fined $250,000 for COVID-19 violations.
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