All 77 NFL False Positive COVID-19 Cases Returned to Negative

All the 77 NFL false-positive coronavirus cases returned negative for a second time after the test was re-run. The 11 teams that were impacted included New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, New England Patriots, and Minnesota Vikings. While the Jets had 10, the Vikings accounted for 12 false-positive coronavirus cases.

Kevin Stefanski, the Cleveland head coach was one of those who received a false-positive presumptive for coronavirus. Upon learning about the news, both the Browns & the Bears postponed their morning practice. However, the Bills went with their normal morning practices, but the players whose test results have reported positive (initially) were not present during the morning practice schedule. There are currently only three players in the reserved/COVID-19 list and there have not been any recent additions to the list.

The NFL used the BioReference Laboratories.

The eleven affected teams have used the BioReference Laboratories which says that the testing issues might have been because of “isolated contamination during test preparation in the New Jersey laboratory.” The lab along with the league are now working out ways to retest coaching staff & the players immediately avoiding any type of lag between the results.

It was just a coronavirus scare the NFL went through and not the real one thankfully. The league breathed a sigh of relief after the final results for the 77 presumptive positive coronavirus cases returned to negative, which were conducted by the same lab in New Jersey. And, all of these results have come out to be negative twice.

The league has been investigating the effectiveness of these tests, which aimed at reducing the spread of the virus. Until this news of 77 false-positive coronavirus results, the league had successfully avoided the spread of the virus among its 32 teams throughout the training camp. The 77 positive coronavirus irregular results have now returned negative which is good news for the league.

The five-labs that provide service to the 32 teams.

The NFL 32 teams COVID-19 tests are managed by five different labs. Of these five labs, it was only the New Jersey facility that came with the false test results. The 77 false-positive results created a kind of skepticism among the team members for sure, who definitely were relieved after the final result came in. The news had literally turned the coaching staff & the players topsy-turvy. But, it was not a true issue and was something related to the discrepancies with the lab tests.

Per the league health & safety protocols — anyone who is tested positive (no matter even if it's false) — can only return to the game after two more negative results. BioReference is used by the NFL for all COVID-19 tests, but the tests are also handled by other labs all through the nation to hasten the results this week.

Heading into this weekend, there had been four confirmed positive tests results in the NFL for players who were at training camps. Talking about the safety measures through the league, the NFL in a statement said, “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.” This is a trying time not for the NFL, but for players & staff across different sports leagues. Until we do not get a vaccine — it is only the precautionary measures that can save us & take the game to the final level.