Will we see COVID restrictions at the WSOP?
With an alarming number of positive cases already at the series, will the WSOP be forced to reintroduce COVID measures this year?
At last year’s WSOP most people expected it to be a massive superspreader event. On balance I think most of us were pleasantly surprised at how little COVID was present. Make no mistake, it was there and it seemed to ramp up towards the end, but it was much less worse than most people’s worst projections.
This year was supposed to be the first post-COVID WSOP and ironically it has been significantly more COVID ridden. We are seeing more positive COVID reports than we are chip updates this series. It is probably worse than the worst projections some of us may have had and we are not even a month in.
We are also seeing lots of people put off the series this year or even travel back home because of the rise in cases. Most notably Doyle Brunson who appears to be skipping the WSOP this year:
looks like covid is everywhere at the WSOP. I'm gonna have to miss some tournaments I wanted to play but there are 2 unvaccinated in my house.
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) June 11, 2022
Players calling out their peers and WSOP staff for carrying on with what appears to be COVID, but claiming it is an allergy or something else. The fact of the matter is we are only seeing a selection bias on social media of the people who bothered to get tested and bothered to isolate, the asymptomatic and those who do not cannot bring themselves to get tested/go public is no doubt much much higher.
Play has finally started at the WSOP Day 2 and now the silence has been replaced by coughing. At least half my table is coughing but it's "allergies". If I was vulnerable (I've sadly had Covid recently) then I'd stay away cos most people don't seem to care.
— RichyRob (@RichyRobRR) June 12, 2022
Players should be responsible, test themselves and do the right thing if it turns out positive, but, it also starts with @WSOP and their dealers acting in a proper way.
I’ve been dealt some hands the last few days by some very sick dealers who should not be working at all.
— João Vieira (@Naza114_oficial) June 10, 2022
Nobody wants a superspreader event
Why is this happening now? I’m not even going to pretend to have any expertise here but the fact that the WSOP bigger than last year, with no mask or vaccine mandate and perhaps a much more carefree attitude must have something to do with it. Many countries now have a ‘living with COVID’ approach now where it is being treated like any other seasonal bug. So far there have been no reports of anyone being majorly ill since testing positive so hopefully this is a gamble that pays off.
The big question is will the WSOP step in an reintroduce new restrictions? Myself and David Lappin recorded a joke ‘fake news’ segment for an upcoming Chip Race episode where I read a satirical story that mask and vaccine mandates would be introduced at the last minute. Ironically that may happen before the segment airs.
It's a tough spot for the WSOP, any restrictions looks like they are backtracking and will upset a sizeable part of their audience that were hoping this was the real return of the series. However, they also do not want to be a superspreader event either, especially ahead of the two Seniors events next week.
Personally I think the WSOP will not change anything and put the onus on the players to police themselves. I predicted that the 2022 WSOP would be the WSOP where cheaters did not get a free pass but we might actually see a series where it is the players who are coughing at the tables who get shamed by their peers.
Will we see mask mandates back at the WSOP? Let us know in the comments:
