The NFL provided very encouraging update to its COVID-19 testing.
Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer, announced Monday that from Aug. 12-20 there were 58,397 COVID-19 tests administered, including 23,260 to players. Zero players tested positive. Only six positive cases came from the 35,137 tests to other personnel.
Having zero cases for players over that period during training camp is extremely good news for the league and indicates that the protocols put in place by the NFL and NFLPA can work at negating the spread of COVID-19.
The results also indicate the players are doing their part to remain as safe as possible with Week 1 set to kick off in just 17 days.
Sills noted in a conference call with reporters that the league and union are in discussions about whether daily testing will continue into the regular season. Initially, testing was planned to move to every other day after the first two weeks of training camp if the rate was below five percent, but sides decided to extend daily testing until further notice.
The extremely low rate of player and personnel testing positive could lead to altering the testing protocols.
The low positive tests led to alarm bells when a lab in New Jersey came back with 77 positive results over the weekend. Upon retesting, it was concluded all 77 were false-positives, which the lab attributed to isolated contamination during the testing process.
The false-positive spike displayed that the contact tracing and other protocols surrounding the process work. Sills noted that even if a false-positive is suspected, individuals affected will continue to be kept away from the team until they're confirmed negative.
"All of us want to have a fast and accurate tests, but our overarching goal is to have a safe team environment," Sills said, per ESPN's Dan Graziano.
So far, so good for NFL teams.
The next big hurdle comes once travel and games start next month.
