Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins said he doesn’t personally believe that masks will reduce his chances of contracting COVID-19, but that he will continue to wear one out of respect for others.
“My opinion of wearing a mask is really being respectful to other people. It really has nothing to do with my own personal thoughts,” the quarterback said during Wednesday’s episode of “10 Questions,” a podcast.
Kyle Brandt, the podcast host, broached the topic of COVID-19 by asking Cousins where his concern about the virus falls on a scale of 1-10.
“If 1 is the person who says, ‘masks are stupid, you’re all a bunch of lemmings,’ and 10 is, ‘I’m not leaving my master bathroom for the next 10 years,’ where do you land?” he asked.
“I’m not going to call anybody stupid, for the trouble it could get me in. But I’m about a .000001,” Cousins responded.
He acknowledged that not everybody feels the same way he does about the virus.
“There’s going to be a dichotomy of people who couldn’t care less about the virus, have no concern about it, have never lost a minute of sleep about it,” he said. “And then you get people on the other side of the spectrum who every second of every day are consumed with fear about it.”
“I want to respect other people’s concerns, but for me personally, if you’re just talking no one else can get the virus, what is your concern if you could get it? I would say I’m gonna go about my daily life,” he added later in the episode. “If I get it, I’m gonna ride it out. I’m gonna let nature do its course. Survival-of-the-fittest kind of approach. And just say, if it knocks me out, it knocks me out. I’m going to be OK. You know, even if I die. If I die, I die. I kind of have peace about that.”
Meanwhile, the NFL plans to continue the 2020-21 season. Various stadiums have set forth different guidelines for spectators. Some venues will not allow any audience at games while others will let fans attend so long as social distancing is maintained, according to ESPN.
The players themselves have taken similarly varied approaches to the upcoming season. Players who are put at a “high risk” by the virus can receive $350,000 by simply choosing not to play this year. All others can earn $150,000 for making that choice, per ESPN.
Some high-profile players who have chosen not to take the field this year include the Patriots’ Brandon Bikdebwho, who was set to earn $1.3 million, the Packers’s Devin Funchess and Michael Pierce of the Vikings. Pierce was deemed “high risk” and is now set to collect his $350,000 opt-out payment.
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
