According to Dr. Robby Sikka, a doctor who has worked with numerous NBA and NFL teams, professional sports leagues are uniquely positioned to pursue groundbreaking Covid cases as they consistently test thousands of athletes.
Sikka told CNBC that the highly transmissible Delta variant “absolutely” powers most of the Covid breakthrough cases he investigated.
“Delta is driving this forward,” said Sikka, founder of the Sports Medicine Analytics Research Team, an organization that supports numerous professional sports leagues with injury data.
“We know the Delta variant has a higher viral load, is more contagious and contagious, and drives cases in the community. There is an extremely high viral load in the community. “
As Covid cases increase across the country, new research shows that fully vaccinated people can transmit the virus as asymptomatic carriers. As of July 19, more than 5,900 fully vaccinated Americans have either died or been hospitalized with breakthrough Covid infections, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The website also notes that 1,821 of these cases were either “asymptomatic or unrelated to Covid-19”.
Sikka told The News with Shepard Smith that vaccines help prevent serious illnesses in Covid and the Delta variant, and that a key lesson from sport is that vaccinated athletes return sooner than those who do not.
“The athletes who got Covid have by and large returned despite the vaccination and have done well and been able to return and perform at a high level,” said Sikka.
