COVID-19 screening is not fantastic, and right now the NFL is faced with the query of what to do if a sudden, sharp maximize in beneficial assessments appears to be additional likely to be the result of a lab mistake than an true outbreak.
The league claimed now that 1 lab it uses documented lots of constructive checks, when all the other labs the league employs reported no beneficial checks.
“Saturday’s daily COVID testing returned several optimistic checks from every of the clubs serviced by the exact same laboratory in New Jersey,” the league said in a assertion. “We are doing the job with our screening partner, BioReference, to look into these outcomes, though the clubs get the job done to validate or rule out the favourable exams. clubs are using instant precautionary actions as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA’s health and fitness and protection protocols to incorporate call tracing, isolation of people today and quickly changing the plan, in which appropriate. The other laboratories applied for NFL screening have not experienced comparable benefits.”
Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was at first positioned on the reserve/COVID-19 examination around what he and the Lions afterwards stated was a bogus constructive. This statement sounds like the league suspects it had numerous wrong positives. If a lab mistake like this occurred all through the frequent season, it could outcome in several wholesome players possessing to be sidelined, or games getting canceled. It is one particular of the quite a few potential issues facing the league as it attempts to perform a period in a pandemic.
