Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been remaining in quarantine with Danica Patrick amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple narrowly escaped Peru before travel bans being put in place but were able to return home. Now Rodgers is voicing his opinion of the extended time in lockdown by comparing it to “house arrest.”
Speaking with Green Bay media members during a conference call, Rodgers talked about the quarantine and how the public initially agreed with the decision to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. However, the situation has since changed. Protests have taken place across the nation, while various states have altered their stay-at-home orders. Rodgers has seen these protests and has some questions about the future of the country.
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“I think we all were buying into the idea of quarantine to flatten the curve,” Rodgers said during a conference call on Friday. “And, I think there are a lot of questions now that it’s more of a house arrest to find a cure with people wondering exactly what that means as far as the future of the country and the freedoms we’re allowed to have at this point.” Rodgers then said that sports bring fans together, but they are starving for content with the majority of leagues postponed.
There are current questions about whether or not the NFL season will take place, but Rodgers remains hopeful. The league and teams aren’t allowing players to hold workouts while they remain under stay-at-home orders, but the two-time NFL MVP is less concerned about sports at the moment. He believes there are other important issues to address.
“I think the important thing to think about, though — which is more important than that — is the state of the country and the fact that we have 36-plus million people on unemployment right now,” Rodgers said. “You have obviously rising poverty levels to go along with the unemployment, you have suicide hotline is up 8,000 percent. There’s really a lot of problems going on in the country right now associated with the fear around this pandemic, and I hope that we can use some common sense moving forward and make decisions that are going to be in the best interest of all people moving forward. And, I hope that sports is a part of that at some point.”
Sports are slowly starting to return amid the coronavirus pandemic, whether they are taking place in Florida or overseas. The UFC held an event in Jacksonville while the Chinese Professional Baseball League has been in action since mid-April. NASCAR even returned on Sunday with The Real Heroes 400. The NFL believes that the entire 2020 season will take place, but that is not guaranteed.
