NFL updates protocols in response to COVID-19 cases

In moves reminiscent of the environment for the 2020 season, the NFL has updated its protocols and advocated for booster shots in reaction to an increase in COVID-19 cases around the league.

As part of its protocol changes, it is requiring masks regardless of vaccination status, and remote or outdoor meetings. It also is stopping in-person meals, adding restrictions on activities outside the facility, prohibiting outside visitors while on team travel, and limiting the amount of people in team weight rooms.

“Finally, and based on expert advice, we will adjust the return-to-participation requirements for those who have recovered from COVID-19,” the league said in a statement. “All of these changes are grounded in our data and science-backed approach, with safety our No. 1 goal for the entire NFL community.”

The updated protocols will be enforced through Week 15 games, but are likely to continue or even be strengthened after that point.

Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, said the omicron variant is “in many ways (like) addressing a new disease.” Omicron is responsible for the significant uptick in positive COVID-19 cases, according to Sills, which are emanating from within team facilities. That is the opposite of where previous positives had come from right after Thanksgiving.

The league and the players’ union, advised by independent infectious disease officers, have developed a mechanism in the protocols that might lead to shorter stints on the sidelines for people testing positive.

Previously, a vaccinated person — players, coaches, executives and staffers — who tests positive must then have two negative tests 24 hours apart and be asymptomatic before being cleared to return. Beginning immediately, the new protocols relax that requirement a bit, allowing for two PCR tests or two Mesa tests — or one of each — being negative. The logistics for that could speed up the return of sidelined players.