Problems with testing dog NFL
In two-plus weeks, the NFL kicks off its season. That doesn’t leave the league much time to resolve significant issues about its COVID-19 testing procedures.
BioReference Laboratories, which is conducting tests for the league, said Monday an isolated contamination caused 77 “most likely false positive results,” at its lab in New Jersey. Eleven clubs were affected, and the tests were re-examined and found to be false positives.
“This has been an interesting dynamic because what happened this weekend gave the NFL an opportunity to do a sort of a test fire drill,” noted Dr. Larry Caplin, who said he consults nearly 20 NFL players and their union about testing protocols, “It exposed issues and potential vulnerabilities in their process, and a lot of it relates to the speed in which (they) confirm results.”
Among teams reporting false positives, the Vikings had 12 team members, the Jets 10, the Bears nine and the Lions one. In all, 44 players and 33 club personnel drew false positives.
“It’s probably good that it happened now since we’re able to adjust and adapt and figure out the things if it did happen during the season,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said.
Five labs across the country process PCR tests for the league’s 32 teams and only the New Jersey facility had false positives Saturday.
The Jets canceled a walkthrough Saturday night, but had a full practice Sunday morning after the previously positive tests came back negative. The Bears moved their practice scheduled for Sunday morning to the afternoon.
The Browns initially canceled practice, but after retesting turned up negative tests they decided to have their workout.
As the NFL moves toward the end of training camp and the start of the season, the scope of testing may expand to family and friends of players.