Football Announcers Compelled to Wear Masks in California

The NBC Sports announcers were "compelled" by California officials to wear masks throughout their "Sunday Night Football" telecast, reported The Hill on October 5, 2020. “No, we are not auditioning for the ‘Masked Singer,’” Al Michaels joked at the top of the broadcast. “Santa Clara County officials have compelled us to wear a mask during the game and so that is the story.”

As of October 4, 2020, Santa Clara County's 7-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases was 102. And, over the past month, with a population of nearly 1.9 million residents, Santa Clara's dashboard indicates about 60 fatalities related to COVID-19 have been reported.