Less than three months after helping the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory as their starting right guard, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is putting his doctorate in medicine to use: fighting the coronavirus outbreak at a longterm care facility in Quebec.
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00:00The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl 54 and returned home to a celebratory parade with
00:09millions of people in the streets, which is nearly inconceivable right now.
00:13In SI's most recent daily cover, Greg Bishop assists as Laurent DuVernay Tardif writes
00:18a story about how he heard about COVID-19 first at the Super Bowl.
00:23Greg, what was his initial reaction and how has his perception of the virus evolved from
00:28the first time he heard of it?
00:30Yeah, I was pretty surprised when he told me that he had first been asked about this
00:34back at Super Bowl Media Week.
00:35He said that someone posed him the question on the Thursday before the game.
00:39So we're talking, you know, the very end of January or the beginning of February.
00:44And he said at the time, what he told them was, you know, that he was aware of it, that
00:48he had read about it and that he knew it was overseas, but that he hadn't given a lot of
00:52thought to it.
00:54And that was in part because he had this huge game to play for.
00:56He wanted to play the best game of his life on the biggest stage in sports.
01:01And that was really his primary focus.
01:03You know, he said that once he found out about the virus, which is after the parade, after
01:08all those people packed into Kansas City, after so many different imaginations that
01:12seemed so crazy now compared to before, that he thought back to that question and the woman
01:17who asked it and thought to himself, wow, like that was really far ahead of its time.
01:23You know, he couldn't believe how much the world has changed since then.
01:26Absolutely.
01:27A bit of foreshadowing.
01:28And, you know, he and his girlfriend went on a vacation after the Super Bowl and he
01:33mentions coming back from vacation and knowing that he's got to do a 14-day quarantine because
01:38of how quickly that news escalated.
01:40And, you know, he notes he's gone to medical school, but he's not a practicing doctor.
01:44Did that play a role in how seriously he took this at first?
01:47Yeah, I think absolutely.
01:49I mean, he's like very close to becoming a full-fledged doctor up in Canada.
01:53You know, he's been to medical school, he has a doctorate in medicine and he needs to
01:57do the residency portion of that in order to become a full-fledged practicing doctor.
02:03That's just one more step away.
02:05And so, you know, when he came back to the airport that night, this is right at the beginning
02:09when Canada is closing its borders, they're testing everyone that comes through.
02:13You know, he basically came to understand that like everyone that came in the day that
02:17he flew back was supposed to be home in their house for 14 days, self-quarantining, making
02:22sure that they were virus free.
02:24And not only did he take that seriously, but he followed the directions to a T. He said
02:28he's been, you know, working at home, he's been helping, you know, combat the virus at
02:33home and he even said he's been lifting at home.
02:35So whatever restrictions there were, he took seriously immediately and he obviously hasn't
02:41been infected.
02:43Now, obviously he hasn't done his residency yet, but I understand he is still planning
02:47on helping on the front lines of this virus, correct?
02:49Yeah, absolutely.
02:50And in fact, he reached out very early on, like right when his quarantine was going on,
02:55to see what help he might be able to give to people.
02:58You know, this is a virus that's really affected the people that are on the front lines.
03:02You know, he has many friends who are doctors who are confronting this every day in ways
03:06that are difficult and in ways where some of them are getting sick and they need replacements.
03:11And so for a while he was told that he was sort of in a gray area and that, you know,
03:16he wasn't a practicing doctor yet, so they didn't need him.
03:18But more recently that has changed.
03:21You know, officials at the health ministry in Canada have started to ask students who
03:25are in medicine or students who are in nursing to assist in these efforts to replace people
03:30who have been on the front lines working tirelessly.
03:32You know, these people that are really combating the virus, you know, up close and personal
03:36that are, you know, very heroic in their efforts.
03:39And so, you know, very recently LDT started basically figuring out what would be next
03:45for him and soon he will be on the front lines with them.
03:48And he told me that, you know, I asked him what would happen if he was on the front lines
03:51and feeling like he was making an impact and football season was about to start and what
03:56kind of choice would he make there.
03:57And what he said was that he felt like right now that, you know, being a human being and
04:02a doctor and caring for people is his most important priority.
04:06And if those two things are conflicting by September that will have far bigger issues
04:10than football itself or whether he should be playing.
04:14Right.
04:15And as of now, they're not yet conflicting and he's able to assist in both.
04:18He mentioned he's serving on the NFL PA task force as the league looks to navigate this
04:23pandemic.
04:24How would you describe the role of this group?
04:26Yeah, I think what they're looking at are ways to make this as safe as possible should
04:31the NFL start on time.
04:32You know, what does that look like?
04:33Is it players being away from their families so as not to infect anyone when they train
04:38together?
04:39Are they living in hotels and getting ready in something that looks more like training
04:43camp?
04:44You know, will games be played without fans?
04:46How many people can be there?
04:48Are family members allowed or media allowed?
04:50There are so many questions here that have to be answered before sports can in any way
04:55come back and play.
04:57And the NFL might be the first major sport to complete a full season, you know, after
05:02all of this started.
05:04My understanding is that the task force will be looking at things like that, that they
05:07will be making recommendations on behalf of that group to the league, and that ultimately
05:13everybody here, I think, wants the same thing, which is if football is going to come back,
05:18if it's going to come back on time especially, that it's as safe and regulated and has as
05:22many precautions as possible.
05:25A unique story and perspective of a Super Bowl winning guard, SI's Greg Bishop.
05:30Thanks so much for the time.
05:32Thank you for having me.
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