Premier League decides to play on despite COVID-19 spike

The Premier League won't suspend the season despite rising COVID-19 cases, the league announced Monday.

Premier League club officials reportedly held a virtual meeting to discuss the possibility of postponing the season after several matches were called off due to COVID-19 cases within squads, according to Adam Crafton and Dan Sheldon of The Athletic.

Despite the increasing number of positive test results and the continuing emergence of the omicron variant, a large majority of teams reportedly prefer to continue playing.

"While recognizing a number of clubs are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and challenges," the Premier League said in a statement, "it is the league's collective intention to continue the current fixture schedule where safely possible.

"The health and well-being of all concerned remains our priority and the league will continue to monitor and reflect public health guidance, always proceeding with caution."

Club executives reportedly discussed various options, including rescheduling one round of fixtures to a later date, but some clubs argued that doing so would be too complex.

Another option was to delay the season entirely, but no clubs were in favor of that proposal, The Athletic reported.

The Premier League also revealed that 92% of players and club staff have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 84% of players "on the vaccination journey." The league will publicly release player vaccination rates at the end of each month beginning in January.

Ten matches have been postponed in the Premier League since Dec. 12 due to coronavirus outbreaks within numerous clubs.

That includes six of the 10 games scheduled for last weekend, as clubs were unable to field enough players to meet squad requirements for a match.