Anatomy of an American football game: Player-to-player contact before, during and after an NFL game in context of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

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ABSTRACT Objectives To quantify levels of potential exposure to SARS-CoV-2 surrounding a typical professional American football game, with a focus on interactions on-field between teammates and opposing players before, during, and immediately after competition. Methods We examined across-Club consecutive interactions ≥2 minutes within 6 feet [1.8 meters] between athletes on opposing Clubs for all 2020 NFL regular season games (n = 256). Cumulative interaction was measured for a representative subset (n = 119; 46%) of games. Wearable proximity tracking devices (Kinexon) were used to measure distance and duration of interactions; these data were combined with game schedule and Club rosters for analyses. Frequency and per-game mean, median, interquartile range for consecutive interactions ≥2/≥5 minutes and cumulative interactions ≥5/≥15 were described overall and stratified by pre-game, in-game, and post-game. Results Of the 1964 distinct player-to-opponent contacts ≥2 minutes in NFL regular season games, the majority (n = 1,699; 87%) were fewer than 5 minutes in consecutive length. Among the mean 7.7 distinct contacts ≥2 minutes with opponents each game (median = 4; IQR = 2, 8), very few were ≥5 consecutive minutes at any point (mean = 1.0; median = 0; IQR = 0, 0). Most (n = 849; 43.2%) distinct contacts were pre-game, 546 (27.8%) were during competition, and 569 (29%) were post-game. In games where cumulative interactions were analyzed, there was an average of 17.1 player/opponent interactions with cumulative exposure ≥5 minutes (median = 12; IQR = 4, 30), almost all of which occurred during competition. Conclusion There is limited and short contact between and among competing players in professional American football. In the setting of infectious disease such as the COVID-19 pandemic, a robust prevention program integrating masking, distancing, hygiene, and ventilation when off-field can be created to minimize on- and off-field exposures, which effectively reduces transmission risk in outdoors and/or well-ventilated stadium settings.