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Coronavirus: Packers QB Aaron Rodgers surprises health care workers during Zoom call

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made a surprise appearance during a Zoom call on Tuesday to thank hundreds of health care workers for their diligence in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

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Hundreds of Prevea Health doctors and nurses in Wisconsin had logged into their weekly virtual meeting on Tuesday, so Rodgers was not immediately visible on the workers’ screens, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.

The meeting was led by Prevea Health CEO and President Ashok Rai, WTMJ-TV reported. Fittingly, halfway during the meeting, Rai told his listeners that it was halftime and turned the meeting over to Rodgers, “the best halftime speaker I know.”

“He was tuned in the entire time while I was speaking, and people didn’t know that he was on Zoom. Nobody paid attention to the pictures,” Rai told the Press-Gazette. “We had over 750 people, so there were a lot of boxes on the screen.”

Rai and two other people knew about the surprise speaker, the newspaper reported. Rodgers has had a promotional partnership with Prevea Health since 2012, and he is also friends with Rai.

“It was pretty cool,” Rai told the Press-Gazette. “Our teams have worked really hard to get the community to this point and some days are good and some days are really emotional, and it’s just nice to have a surprise like that.”

During the “halftime speech,” Rodgers thanked the employees for their efforts and spent time chatting with them, the Press-Gazette reported.

“This was just Aaron. Obviously unscripted. It was a surprise,” Rai told the newspaper. “He just did a great job of thanking everybody and motivating everybody.

“People were happy today, and I haven’t been able to say that very much lately, but people were happy today,” Rai added. “I could never say thank you enough to Aaron for that.”

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