NFL Officials See Drastic Increase in COVID-19 Cases Over Last Two Weeks

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country and within professional sports leagues, there's one group that has seemingly been omitted from the conversations of positive cases—officials. 

According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, NFL referees are required to take take-home tests each Monday and the results of the PCR test are returned on Tuesdays, determining the availability for the upcoming weekend games. Only three officials returned a positive test up until Week 12—Thanksgiving weekend. 

Since then, COVID-19 cases drastically increased as the omicron variant spread rapidly through the U.S., and during the last two rounds of tests on Dec. 20 and 27, Breer says 18 officials tested positive, resulting in some Thursday night referees having to fill in Sunday slots. 

Unlike the NBA, there is not a minor league that the NFL can pull from. However, there are 17 crews, allowing some flexibility with an extra crew for the grueling last two weeks of the NFL’s regular season.  

Officiating crews within the NFL typically consist of seven referees in order to keep an eye on each receiver, but they are trained to operate as a six-person crew if they're down an official, whether that be to injury, illness or otherwise. But as Breer detailed in Friday’s edition of GamePlan, problems can arise, even when crews are down a referee.

At the beginning of this week, things were looking relatively positive, as players were being activated after their stints on the COVID-19/Reserve list, populating the rosters. But then, things went south quickly as dozens more were placed in protocols. 

More than 100 players have already landed on the COVID-19/Reserve list ahead of the Week 17 games, and 96 positive tests were returned on Monday—a new single-day high, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Thirty-three players tested positive on Thursday, according to Pelissero, painting an even bleaker picture for the remainder of the season. 

The league announced on Tuesday in a memo to clubs that it will adopt the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, which includes COVID-19 positive individuals quarantine for five days after a positive test. Previously, the guideline was 10 days, which the NFL followed. Now, players are rejoining their respective teams at a quicker rate.