Florida Epidemiology Professor Addresses Wrestling COVID-19 Protocols And The Human Factor, Responds To COVID Deniers
This week’s ep of MLW Radio Network’s Outside Interference With Kenny Herzog featured a new interview with University of Florida Associate Professor of Epidemiology Dr. Cindy Prins about recurrences of COVID-19 in AEW and WWE. Dr. Prins shares her concerns with Florida opening back up as well as the possibility that cases will increase with various events continuing to take place.
Dr. Prins does agree that putting protocols into place is a good thing, but the major thing that protocols can’t account for is the human factor.
“You’ve got regular testing that’s hopefully going to identify cases early, allow contact tracing if needed, try to keep people from being in the ring if they are COVID-positive so they’re not exposing just their opponent, but everyone else around them. The problem we always run into Kenny is it’s the human factor, right? As you see things starting to open up, you see more people going out. There’s not only that potential to just come into contact, there’s also that temptation. It’s almost a sort of pure pressure. That happens where if you say no, you become that boring person who didn’t want to go out or who’s taking this too seriously. From my own perspective, that’s the person I want everyone to be. But the problem is that even within those protocols, we’re going to be running into these situations of people wanting to go out and live their lives again.”
Dr. Prins also commented on how performers working for multiple promotions can stay safe, noting that people should continue to wear masks in close-contact situations but they should also advocate for themselves as well.
“The only thing I can say is pushing for testing and saying, ‘This is really important to me, to know that if I’m getting in the ring with someone, that I at least have a high confidence that they’re not COVID-positive.’ I think you can do a little bit more as far as wearing a mask and trying to maintain that social distance from folks. I know there are times where people are expected to be ringside during a match. I would want to see them still wearing a mask at that point, just because of the large number of contacts they can have right there with other people who may be at high risk. But I think some need to advocate within the sport for themselves to say, ‘You know what, I’m valuable. I may be young, but it doesn’t mean that Covid-19 won’t affect me.’ We are seeing potential longer-term outcomes for people who become ill, even in young, healthy, athletic people. This is a matter of protecting their future career and making sure that they’re going to be able to continue on.”
Dr. Prins also acknowledged the fact that there still are COVID deniers within the sport, and says she appreciates their concerns but they should really listen to the public health officials who know the reality of the virus.
“I appreciate that they have their concerns and their opinions, and I appreciate that people want to think for themselves and consider all of this. But on the other hand, I would say that as someone who is in the field of public health and also someone who’s seeing what’s happening on college campuses and other places with this pandemic, this is real. There are some cases where the data may be hard to interpret sometimes or where we are still figuring things out, but this is 100% real. You know, we are experiencing this pandemic with a very high level of deaths. Even if you are feeling like some of these deaths may be misattributed, you can still look at the differences in deaths from past years versus this year and see that increase where the difference that we have is that we’re experiencing a Covid-19 pandemic. And so you’ve got to look at all of that data and when you’re weighing that and making those decisions. It’s serious. I take it very seriously. I take every measure that I can to prevent myself and my loved ones from getting infected. I appreciate there’s a freedom of thought in our country, but I would ask that everyone look at the data and the evidence and really understand what you’re looking at when you’re drawing those conclusions.”