Time - USA (2021-02-15)

112 TIME February 15/February 22, 2021

9 Questions

‘

I HAD TO

BE CAUTIOUS

AND FOLLOW

MY GREATER

CONVICTION

’

I had to be cautious and follow my

greater conviction.

You’ve said you plan to return to the

NFL next season. Why? I feel like some-

thing was taken a little bit away from

me. I still have some football left in me.

I can be a doctor for the next 40 years. I

still have the passion, and that’s why I’m

working out on my patio at –15°[C].

What have you learned about COVID-

19 that those of us not on the front

lines can’t really see? You see fi rsthand

how contagious it is. People work so hard,

washing their hands and changing masks

20 times a day. But one little slip, and

boom, it’s over.

About a year ago, you were sipping

beer from the Super Bowl trophy at

the Chiefs’ very socially undistant vic-

tory parade. Do you think COVID has

traumatized us so much that we won’t

see these sorts of gatherings anytime

soon, if ever? When I focus too much on

what’s going to be the new normal, I get

anxious. I don’t know the answer. And

that’s freaking me out a little bit.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I’m either going to be an emergency

physician doing a little bit of sports

medicine or a public-health fi gure

working for I don’t know what exactly.

But for sure not politics.

You’ve talked about the need to fi nd

positives in the frontline experience

in order to cope. What have you

been able to take away? It’s subtle.

You’re able to pick up your phone and

FaceTime your patient’s daughter.

Then you realize your patient is

talking to their daughter for the fi rst

time in three months. Everybody is

crying because they’re so happy to

see each other. That gives you hope.

At the end of the day, when you see

those reactions, those emotions, it

gives you a purpose.

—SEAN GREGORY

Y

ou’re a medical-school graduate

who opted out of the NFL season

to fi ght COVID-19 on the front

lines, doing everything from chang-

ing patients to administering IVs at a

long-term-care facility near Montreal.

What was today’s shift like? We’re going

through a third outbreak. It’s hard, be-

cause people that work here, they’ve been

working full-time, no vacations, overtime,

in order to care for their patients. And

don’t get any breaks. I feel like we’re get-

ting at that point where it’s like, O.K., can

we see the light at the end of the tunnel?

There’s the vaccine and a lot of hope. But

at the same time, we know it’s probably

going to get worse before it gets better.

Do you wish at all that you were going

to Tampa for the Super Bowl? Of course

I want to be down there. But at the same

time, when I made the decision to opt

out, one of the questions I asked myself

was, If the Chiefs go to the Super Bowl

and win it, am I going to be at peace with

my decision? And I still feel like the an-

swer is yes.

Why do you have no regrets? No

regrets is diff erent than being at

peace. We saw it with the right-

to-vote movement and racial

equality, so many athletes took

the microphone and promoted a

cause they believe in. My cause

is health, is medicine. So I felt

it made sense to make that

decision, in order to look back

at 2020—fi ve, 10 years from

now—and be proud of myself.

I’ve said no to money and the

NFL season in order to care

for patients.

Should the NFL have played this

season? Yes. Regarding the impact

of sport when it comes to community

transmission, I don’t know and

I’m sure a lot of people still don’t know

either. My decision was personal.

I’m going to be evolving in the medical

community the rest of my life.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif The Kansas City

Chiefs lineman on missing the Super Bowl to fi ght

COVID-19, feelings of regret and next season

SCOTT WINTERS—ICON SPORTSWIRE/GETTY IMAGES