Dez Bryant’s COVID-19 diagnosis, once again, shows there is a price on public health

Why did this game go on even with a positive diagnosis?

Dez Bryant dropped a bomb on the NFL when he announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 just minutes before the Baltimore Ravens kicked off against the Dallas Cowboys, Bryant’s former team.

According to NFL Network, Dez Bryant received inconclusive results for two COVID-19 tests prior to the game kicking off, but the third test that he took was positive for the virus.

Why was he able to warm up on the field with inconclusive test results for a deadly virus that’s currently ravaging through the country? Who knows! However, that is exactly what happened.

(Warning: Explicit language in tweet)

No other Ravens players tested positive for the virus and somehow, no high-risk close contacts were tagged, which meant the game was safe to play by our desensitized 2020 standards.

The NFL released a statement via ProFootballTalk saying that the league had planned for a scenario like this and their protocols worked. “Contact tracing was conducted from yesterday and today using the contact tracing device and the standard interviews,” McCarthy said in an email to ProFootballTalk. “There were no high-risk contacts identified.”

Bryant posed an interesting question on Twitter that many people were asking as well: How on Earth was this game played? How were no high-risk close contacts identified?

Unsurprisingly, Bryant was interacting with many of his former Cowboys teammates prior to the game starting. Bryant is one of the most decorated receivers in team history, donned the legendary #88 jersey previously worn by Michael Irvin and Drew Pearson.

This game was a big deal for Bryant and it was unfortunate that he was unable to play, but he was seen interacting with members of the Cowboys organization just hours before the game began in a since-deleted tweet by Ryan Mink, the editorial director for the Baltimore Ravens.

If Bryant hadn’t tweeted out that he tested positive for COVID-19, we might not have known that he was positive for the virus considering how the Ravens initially announced that he was out for the game. Baltimore announced, 25 minutes before the game was scheduled to start, that Bryant was out for the game with an “illness”. Yea, an illness. Nothing more to see here!

If there is a bit of dark humor involved in all of this, the Ravens actually tweeted their “announcement” about Bryant’s diagnosis 15 minutes after Bryant had told the world about his positive COVID-19 test.

We already knew! And they still attempted a lackadaisical coverup!

This just continues the inconsistent, and frankly inconsequential, trend that the NFL has set with their COVID-19 protocols. The almighty dollar reigns supreme over anything and everything else, which isn’t a groundbreaking statement for anyone familiar with this loud and proud country.

The end of the regular season is right around the corner with just four games remaining on the schedule. Since the NFL has refused to add extra weeks to help soften the blow of COVID-19 running unchecked through the United States, they have no choice but to power through and play these games no matter what day of the week it is.

That’s how the Ravens have ended up playing on a Wednesday and a freaking Tuesday — two days that no one associated with the NFL before this season. That’s the real reason of why the game went on even with a COVID-19 diagnosis less than an hour before kickoff. And that mentality is why we’re still struggling to get through the pandemic almost a year after it started devastating this country.

Money talks and the NFL has it in droves.