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At least one epidemiologist is speaking after UFC 249 fighter Ronaldo Souza tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday night.
The UFC announced that Souza, who was slated to face Uriah Hall in a middleweight fight, was removed from the card after he and two of his cornerbacks tested positive for COVID-19. All three men were found to be asymptomatic.
Souza, who lives in Orlando, Florida, and drove to Jacksonville on Wednesday, informed UFC officials upon arrival that he had been exposed to a family member with coronavirus. With this knowledge, the UFC tested Souza as it has all the people staying at the host hotel, and allowed him to stay on the card. On Friday morning, Souza stepped on the scale to weigh himself at UFC 249 wearing a mask and gloves. It was retested before the wrestler matchups, where UFC President Dana White hit Souza and contacted several athletes.
According to a UFC statement, Souza and his team left the host hotel to isolate themselves from the facility after their positive COVID-19 tests were revealed.
“The response to this development is indicative of the effectiveness of the health and safety measures that the UFC has implemented for this event,” the UFC said in a statement.
But Dr. Zachary Binney, an Atlanta-based epidemiologist, questioned any claim that the UFC was showing responsibility.
“The UFC and Dana White were negligent,” Binney tweeted on saturday. “They tried to restart early, the predictable happened and they handled it poorly. … If this were your system working as designed, your system is fake. “
Binney illustrated his point by specifically setting the timeline of events in a Twitter thread.
The timeline is important here:
Wed – Souza, training in Orlando and knowing he had a possible test + in his family, travels to Jax. Bad movement on the part of him and his people. I hope the UFC has specifically advised the fighters on this situation.
He arrives, informs the UFC of the family’s case, is examined and apparently isolated from the pending results. That’s fine (though note that you shouldn’t be on Jax in the first place).
And … so why is he on the lookout on Friday 2 days later? Reckless by UFC.
Today his test returns positive, the fight is over. Hopefully he and all of his contacts (including other fighters in the attack!) Will be quarantined for 2 weeks and stop their particular chain of transmission.
No, I don’t buy, this is the system that works as designed and the proof that UFC and Dana White are responsible. At least two very bad things happened:
-An infected fighter traveled
-A fighter infected * with a family case you knew * was allowed on an observation post
Actually, the UFC’s own statement drives them crazy!
-Souza says + cornerbacks “isolate themselves whenever possible”. Is not sufficient. -It implies that Souza’s party has been staying at the hotel for 2 days and only * now * is isolated off-site.
Binney, questioning the UFC’s claim that Souza was isolated, closed his thread by pointing to Souza’s video alongside Fabricio Werdum and without adhering to social distancing from other fighters.
UFC 249, with the blessing of the regulating Florida State Boxing Commission, will proceed as planned on Saturday at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, led by an interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. The card airs on ESPN + pay-per-view after the preliminaries on ESPN and ESPN +.
The next two UFC cards planned for Jackson next week on May 13 and 16 are also slated to continue.
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