The NFL said Sunday it saw a series of positive coronavirus tests from one laboratory in New Jersey, causing several teams to cancel or alter their scheduled practice.
The Chicago Bears, for instance, reported they had nine positive tests between staff and players, though classified it as a “false positive.” The Bears moved their practice from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
“Saturday’s daily COVID testing returned several positive tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey,” the NFL said in a statement. “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.”
“We followed additional NFL-NFLPA testing protocol and confirmed all nine results as false positives,” the Bears said.
NFL Insider Josina Anderson reported that the Cleveland Browns, meanwhile, sent its players home when they showed up for practice. Players were also ordered to take another coronavirus test before leaving.
A Browns source told me when reporting to the facility this am for a regular prax day, they were told to just take their CoVID test & go home until further notice. After that, staff & players were told on a zoom call w/t HC that several NFL teams may have problems w/test results.
— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) August 23, 2020
Washington’s practice Sunday began on time with no delay.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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