Sporting KC’s Peter Vermes contends with ‘invisible enemy’ of COVID breakthrough cases
Locked down in quarantine with a case of COVID-19 in his body, Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes saw his detail-oriented schedule take an unplanned turn.
He watched SKC’s last two matches against San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders from home, with longtime assistant Kerry Zavagnin leading from the touchline to secure Sporting a draw and a win, respectively, in those games. Returning to Sporting KC’s training session Tuesday after his stint in Major League Soccer’s Safety Protocols, Vermes took precautionary tests to confirm nothing was abnormal.
He even got in a 6 a.m. workout Wednesday morning.
After missing the first two MLS matches of his 12-year career managing the club — a 383-game streak snapped — a new coaching-ironman run begins against FC Dallas on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park.
“I feel great ... I’m not joking,” Vermes said in a news conference Wednesday. “Back to my old routine, I was in here this morning. ... I’ll be really honest with you, I probably had two days where I had what you might call like a minor cold, and really, that was about the extent of it. So I feel really good and I’m just glad to be back up and running again.”
But Vermes is an example of a potentially problematic scenario in the ever-evolving saga of the pandemic, one in which vaccinated individuals such as himself can fall prey to “breakthrough cases.”
Vermes said that between staff and players, SKC is 100% vaccinated against the virus. But that didn’t stop COVID from sidelining him and two other players due to the league’s safety protocols, which required all three men to self-isolate. He noted that he didn’t know where he contracted the virus and that he and most players adhere to rigid routines, making the process of identifying infection sources difficult.
Vermes’ comments come during a time of renewed calls for mask mandates. The CDC recommended Tuesday that even fully vaccinated people wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. Wyandotte County, Kansas — where Sporting’s training facility is located — is considered an area of “substantial” transmission by the CDC.
Most of the surrounding region is classified as either substantial or high.
“I think the guys are doing everything they can also to be really smart out in the public environment,” Vermes said. “It’s hard. And we’ve talked about this for a long time, and that is that (COVID) is kind of this invisible enemy that you’re dealing with all the time.
“And the fact that we’re vaccinated ... (and) we’ve still had cases and they’re breakthrough cases, it’s really difficult for any of us to figure out where we got it from. Even for me, I really frequent the same sort of route every day. I don’t really veer off of that too often.”
Vermes didn’t speak much about whether he felt being vaccinated made for a less severe case, and really, it’s impossible to know. He did note, however, that he never caught the virus before being vaccinated, and his condition as an active, 54-year-old former pro athlete likely helped him get through it.
But what he did speak to was the club’s ability to handle what he called “crisis” situations.
As the league’s longest-tenured manager, Vermes’ standard blueprint for operations proved beneficial in his absence. Many of Sporting’s in-game moves during the last two games were pre-planned, with little alteration needed by temporary manager Zavagnin.
Sporting KC secured a 3-1 road victory Sunday against Western Conference leader Seattle — the first time the Sounders had lost by more than a single goal at home in 96 games across all competitions.
“We have consistency with people here,” Vermes said, “which lends itself to not overreacting or (making) poor decisions. ... I thought everybody dealt with everything really well, I think we continue to do that.”
