Giants Offer Update on Team's COVID-19 Situation/Latest Injury Report
The New York Giants are leaving no stone unturned as far as safety, given the recent number of COVID-19 tests that popped up this week.
On Tuesday, the Giants had 13 members of the organization test positive for the virus, including players and coaches. All 13 were re-tested, and only one, running backs coach Burton Burns, tested positive twice.
The Giants have since tightened up their protocols as a precaution. A team-issued statement revealed that they canceled all in-facility meetings for the players and coaches on Thursday and asked non-football staff to work remotely.
The team, which pushed back the start of their Thursday practice from noon to 1:30 to accommodate another round of testing, added, "Players, unless their test results are still being assessed under COVID protocols, will return this afternoon for practice."
The Giants revealed that their lab testing partner, Bio-Reference Laboratories (BRL), has experienced "an unusually high number of false positives" accompanying the use of the Rapid Mesa Test at the team's facility.
"With the exception of one individual, all of the positive Mesa test results over the last two days have come back negative through PCR testing," the Giants' statement said.
"The laboratory is working with experts to determine the source of the problem. The NFL and BRL are monitoring this situation closely."
Giants head coach Joe Judge told reporters that the Giants had a "pretty solid number" of people that produced a positive test. Judge didn't give a number, nor did he specify if those who tested positive were players, coaches, or staff, but based on the Giants' Thursday injury report, only running back Gary Brightwell was added to the COVID protocol list.
Saquon Barkley, whom the NFL Network reported tested positive for the virus on his initial test, and safety Xavier McKinney, whose testing status wasn't reported, were added to the reserve/COVID-19 list Wednesday.
Both were not spotted at Thursday's practice, presumably as they wait for additional test results to come through as both must produce two negative tests within 24 hours to be removed from the reserve list.
The Giants also added that the use of the Rapid Mesa Test, which typically takes 30 minutes to process, has been "temporarily halted." The team will be using PCR testing for the time being despite the latter taking multiple hours to produce a result either way.
As for the rest of Thursday's injury report, tight end Kyle Rudolph was excused from practice for a personal matter. Receiver Kenny Golladay (knee/limited) finally got some practice reps in after being limited to working with the trainers for the last several practices, and receiver John Ross (quad) was added to the injury report, listed as a limited participant.
And offensive lineman Matt Skura, held out of Wednesday's practice due to COVID-19 protocols, was a full participant.
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