UFC light heavyweight, Sam Alvey believes there’s been a huge overreaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. But, he still feels bad for everyone it has impacted.
Alvey was expected to battle Khalil Rountree at UFC Columbus before the event was postponed due to the pandemic.
“I’m very disappointed,” Alvey told MMA Fighting. “I thought for sure it was going to happen. But I’m still convinced that this pandemic is going to pass in the minds of the American people.
“It’s really embarrassing for me, for our country that it hasn’t yet already. But it’s one of those things. You can’t see the future all the time.”
Even though the World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic, Alvey says people are overreacting to the number of people that have actually been infected or died from it.
“It’s a huge overreaction,” Alvey said. “Deaths are terrible, and I’m very sorry for all the families that have suffered through that. But pneumonia, just a typical flu season right now has killed close to 20,000 people, and people just don’t pay attention to that.
“It’s terrible that people are getting sick and not that many people are dying, but they still are, and that’s terrible, but when you compare it to any other flu season, even our current flu season, it’s killing 15 to 20,000 people in a three-month span.”
With so many cities in the United States practically in lockdown, Alvey believes people will get frustrated and go back to their normal lives very soon.
“I think the entire world of knowledge we can get at any time of any day,” Alvey explained. “We just have to click on our phone so everyone’s opinion is out there. If one state has banned bars from opening at 9 o’clock, then we have to do that, because if we don’t do that … and it explodes like that. I was convinced my fight was going to continue next week because I’m convinced in the next week or two the American people are going to be sick of this.
“I still suspect it’s going to be like a light switch. It’s going to turn off and people are going to stop caring. People are just going to be upset that stuff is getting closed. I feel like as fast as this is getting everyone riled up. I think everyone is going to be done with it almost as quickly.”
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