(NewsNation Now) — After a 2020 that featured COVID-19 protocols, stadiums with no fans and the NBA’s bubble, professional sports had more or less returned to normal.
But now, COVID-19 outbreaks are cropping up in locker rooms and leagues are scrambling to reschedule games.
In Chicago alone, the Bulls are dealing with so many new cases of coronavirus the league was forced to step in.
As Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan put it, “We need a hardship for the hardship right now.”
Despite every player on the team being vaccinated — and many of them having a booster shot — 10 Bulls players are currently in COVID protocols right now, forcing the National Basketball Association to postpone one of its first games of the season.
Tonight’s matchup against the Detroit Pistons has been scrapped, as has the matchup against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
This all underscores what NBA officials have been saying for weeks: The pandemic is still very much a problem and that’s why Friday is such a priority. Friday is Booster Day, when the league’s most important percentage won’t be of the 3-point variety.
The current data from the NBA indicates more than 60% of players have gotten their booster shots. Under the new guidelines, that potentially means somewhere around 150 players would now be subject to daily testing again.
The NBA is far from alone in its COVID-19 cancellations. The National Hockey League has had to scuttle eight games over the last month, including Monday’s planned meeting between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Calgary Flames at the United Center.
Six Calgary players and one staffer tested positive within 24 hours, prompting the NHL to push back the Flames’ next three games.
They’re the third NHL squad, joining the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators, to postpone multiple games already this season.
And just like the Bulls, the Flames are fully vaccinated. In fact, just one player in the whole NHL still doesn’t have a shot. That’s Tyler Bertuzzi of the Detroit Red Wings, who just caught COVID and then missed five games.
Blackhawks interim head coach Derek King says his guys are still out there taking precautions behind the scenes.
“It’s a concern but we just like I said, we’re doing all our diligence on this,” King said. “We’re like making sure our guys are following the protocols making reminders. There’s mass always out the hand sanitizer. We’re like on top of these guys.”
The NFL is scrambling too. The league saw a record 37 positive COVID-19 cases yesterday, including four starters who played for the Los Angeles Rams and had to sit out “Monday Night Football.”
Across the pond, the other football is also feeling the pinch from breakouts of the omicron variant. In the Premier League, the match between Manchester United and Brentford has been postponed.
There is no telling just how bad the situation will get for professional sports, as it’s getting ugly in a hurry.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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