Ravens prez: “At least 4 unique strains” of COVID hit team, admits not all followed protocols

Donovan Dooley|published: Sat 5th December, 19:33 2020

Masks up here, but certainly some Ravens missed a memo or two on protocols. source: Getty Images

I’m sure everyone knows about the debacle the Baltimore Ravens organization has been the past few weeks.

The COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in the postponement of their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers three separate times.

Well, Saturday, we got details on the severity of the outbreak.

The Ravens president, Dick Cass, said Saturday the league told them “at least four unique strains” of COVID-19 were found in the Ravens facility during their outbreak.

At least one Ravens player tested positive for 10 days straight. Baltimore placed 23 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list during that span.

According to Science Daily, COVID-19 has six different strains.

“From the outset, we have taken the virus seriously, very seriously,” Cass said. “... despite our best efforts, the protocol is only as effective as our weakest link. With a dangerous virus like this, everyone must comply with the protocol to avoid infecting many. We now know that not everyone at the Ravens followed the protocol thoroughly.”

Even with the mutations, the virus is said not to be more transmittable and won’t affect a sufficient vaccine.

The study comes from the University of Bologna in Italy, where they drew an analysis from 48,635 coronavirus genomes, which were isolated by researchers in labs worldwide.

The L strain of COVID-19 is the original strain that began in Wuhan, China, last December.

The S strain was the first mutation at the start of 2020, and since mid-January, strains V and G have appeared.

Strain G is the most widespread globally, and it has mutated into strains GR and GH.

If I’m honest, all of this is terrifying, but if the doctors say there is a vaccine out here to cover all of these variations of the virus, then we must believe the science.

We know the potential horrifying after-effects of the virus are blood clots, heart inflammation and lung damage. If you catch the virus, you are vulnerable to these debilitating effects.

The Ravens reduced their COVID-19/reserve list to 10 players Saturday making way for them to have as close to a full roster for Tuesday as possible.

To put it plainly, this is exactly why we shouldn’t be playing sports right now.