The medical community has been working hard to study COVID-19 and those that have become infected to determine what happens. While the immediate effects are well documented and scary enough, the long-term health risks are just being learned now and are even more troubling.
One such side effect of the virus is myocarditis — an inflammation that weakens the heart and can lead to further medical issues including heart failure. For Baltimore Ravens head physician Dr. Andrew Tucker, the risk of a player, coach, or staff member not only coming down with COVID-19 but getting myocarditis from it are concerning.
“It’s a concern,” Tucker said, per Aaron Kasinitz of Penn Live. “Myocarditis is one of the rare causes of sudden cardiac arrest in our athletes and it is usually caused by a virus that causes inflammation in the heart. It is very rare, fortunately, but it can happen and it can happen theoretically with any virus, but certain viruses tend to make it more likely. Unfortunately, COVID has proven early on to be a virus that tends to involve the heart.”
As has been proven with a bunch of professional athletes of all sports coming down with the virus, no one is immune to COVID-19. And as we’ve seen with Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, even those that are at the top of the population in physical fitness can still get myocarditis from it.
While Tucker admitted “the risk is low” of a player developing the complication, he also cautioned against drawing too many conclusions over just how small a percentage that truly is.
“But how low is a little bit premature to say because we just don’t have the data,” Tucker said. “This hasn’t been going on that long.”
The NFL and NFLPA had originally agreed to daily COVID-19 testing at the start of training camp, with a reduction coming if positive tests were below 5%. Though the NFL said they’ve seen a lower than 1% rate of infection among the Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel thus far, the league told teams daily testing would continue “until further notice,” according to a memo acquired by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
The NFL has previously and repeatedly acknowledged the current protocols are liable to change as further information about the virus becomes available. With myocarditis and other long-term effects becoming a growing concern, changes could be on the horizon with the NFL not only wanting the regular season to start on time but a full 16-game schedule to happen.
“Do you retest players at four weeks or six weeks or eight weeks?” Tucker asked. “Those are not part of the protocol right now. But as our knowledge base grows over time, it could change.”
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