49ers not saying who tested positive for the coronavirus

[Rowdy]

Getty Images

During football season, NFL teams routinely disclose information regarding player health. For now, teams are refusing to say anything about players who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Recently, the Cowboys declined to disclose information about players who reportedly tested positive, refusing not only to give names but also the number of positives. With a 49ers player testing positive, the 49ers aren’t saying who it is.

“Federal and state privacy laws prohibit our organization from commenting on the personal health of our employees,” the team said, via Matt Barrows of TheAthletic.com.

They’re right. Even though the HIPAA law applies only to health-care facilities, players have privacy rights regarding their health information.

Still, those rights routinely are violated by the practice of reporting on injured body parts, three times per week during the season. The broader question, one that should be negotiated between the NFL and the NFL Players Association, is whether information will be provided publicly as to players who have tested positive, given the very real public-health component regarding the virus.

It’s assumed that players who test positive will stay away from others; others who may end up being exposed to those players still arguably have a right to know. Beyond balancing the competing liability concerns, there’s a very real question as to the moral obligation to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread. Keeping secret the names of the players who have tested positive contradicts that goal.

Then there’s the question of why anyone would want to keep the information secret. There’s no stigma in having the coronavirus; while some may be embarrassed that they engaged in activities that caused them to catch it, that should take a back seat to the importance of not spreading it.

So as the league and the union continue to discuss various issues relating to the virus, here’s hoping that a procedure will be developed that places transparency over whatever it is — pride, ego, vanity, etc. — that would keep someone from acknowledging that, yes, they have tested positive for a virus that continues to spread throughout the nation and the world.