Packers Practice After ‘Couple’ False-Positive COVID Tests
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The National Football League hit its first bump in the road with COVID-19 on Sunday after numerous false positive tests surfaced from a laboratory in New Jersey.
While the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears were among teams that delayed their practices, the Green Bay Packers practiced on schedule at 10:30 a.m. after a “couple” questionable tests.
“That definitely came into play for us this morning,” coach Matt LaFleur said after practice. “We only had a couple guys that was affecting, so we felt like we could still go out there and run practice. But it certainly crossed our mind. We never want to put our guys at risk. One practice isn't worth it if we really, truly felt like this was a serious problem within our football team in terms of a bunch of guys testing positive. If we ever got into that situation where we thought it was a real thing, definitely, cancel the practice.”
LaFleur said the team turned to “rapid test” results and circumstantial evidence to determine the positive tests were actually false positives. Those who were impacted were on the practice field.
“With it affecting 10 other teams or 11 teams or whatever it was, we felt that it was a pretty strong case that may have been the issue today,” LaFleur said.
As reported by NFL Network, the Browns, Bears, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings were among other teams impacted.
“This morning we learned yesterday’s COVID-19 testing identified nine players/staff as positive,” the Bears said in a statement. “We followed additional NFL-NFLPA testing protocol and confirmed all nine results as false positives. Out of an abundance of caution, we postponed this morning’s practice to this afternoon at 1:30 p.m.”
On Sunday morning, about an hour-and-a-half before practice, the NFL issued a statement regarding the false positives from its testing partner, New Jersey-based BioReference.
“We are working with … BioReference to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests,” the league 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.”
As of Friday evening, only four players were on COVID-19 reserve lists across the NFL. The Packers’ list, which once contained four players, is empty.
“I did have it but, fortunately, I didn't really have any symptoms, and the recovery process wasn't as difficult as some of the other people who dealt with COVID,” tight end Jace Sternberger said on Sunday. “So, I was very fortunate from that aspect, but Green Bay did a great job of making sure I was ready to be back, and we followed all the right protocols.”
