As the NFL moves closer to balancing the logistics of a regular season with a pandemic overshadowing everything, there is good news to report. Per a Monday release from the NFL:
The National Football League today announced the COVID-19 monitoring testing results for August 12 – August 20.During this period, players and Tier 1 and 2 personnel were tested daily. Tier 3 individuals were tested weekly. Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 follow the joint NFL-NFLPA Treatment Protocol. They are immediately isolated, not permitted to travel with the team, access club facilities, or have direct contact with players or personnel. Club medical staff are in regular communication with individuals who test positive to monitor symptoms.
Monitoring Testing results for August 12 – August 20:
- 58,397 tests were administered to 8,573 players and personnel.
- 23,260 tests were administered to players; 35,137 tests were administered to personnel.
There were zero positive tests among players and six new confirmed positives among other personnel.
As Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network pointed out Monday afternoon, the positive test rate when players and personnel reported to their respective training camps was 1.7% overall. In the next phase of testing, that number dropped to 0.46%. And now, counting all new tests, the league is at 0.01%. It’s a remarkable endorsement of the league’s protocols. And the zero positive tests among players is obviously encouraging.
This came one day after the league had to release a different statement — one that the league was much less happy to release.
Several NFL teams have postponed activities after it COVID tests from one lab, based in New Jersey, revealed a rash of positive tests.
Saturday’s daily COVID testing returned several positives tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey. We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests. Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA’s health and safety protocols to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results.
As it turned out, there were 77 false positives from one lab in New Jersey, and all 77 turned out to be negative.
BioReference Executive Chairman Dr. Jon Cohen had this to say about that.
“On August 22, BioReference Laboratories reported an elevated number of positive COVID-19 PCR test results for NFL players and personnel at multiple clubs. The NFL immediately took necessary actions to ensure the safety of the players and personnel. Our investigation indicated that these were most likely false positive results, caused by an isolated contamination during test preparation in the New Jersey laboratory. Reagents, analyzers, and staff were all ruled out as possible causes and subsequent testing has indicated that the issue has been resolved. All individuals impacted have been confirmed negative and informed.”
Maybe the lab was understaffed?
BioReference needs 200+ people to fill 4 roles in our Elmwood Park, NJ lab. Start as a temp and earn $14/hour + more depending on shift/day. Higher rates available through 10/2. Click here to apply for Specimen Processors, Handlers, Sorters or Scanners: https://t.co/R8V8DIQH3q pic.twitter.com/i6U79XmW2i
— BioReference Laboratories (@BioReference) August 24, 2020
Hopefully, this false alarm will solve the false positive problem that could turn into a logistical nightmare if it were to happen, say, the day before a game… but the better news here is that the NFL’s focus on daily testing and adherence to overall protocol has produced a positive (as opposed to false positive) result.
We can only hope that continues when the games start and players are bumping into each other at the normal rate.