Confirmed COVID-19 cases across the NFL declined 47% last week, a time period coinciding with a new effort to minimize virus spread coming off Thanksgiving weekend. Last week, 18 players and 27 coaches/staff tested positive, down from 85 in the prior week from Nov. 22-28. Forty-five is the lowest combined figure since the last week of October, when there were 25 positives. The NFL required all teams to shut down their facilities on Nov. 30-Dec. 1, the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving. On Nov. 21, the NFL required all teams to adopt the so-called “intensive protocol,” which bans all in-person meetings and mandates masks at all times, including practice.
The decrease in COVID cases comes after NFL season seemed to be in crisis in Week 12 due to outbreaks with the Broncos and Ravens, combined with the 49ers’ forced relocation to Arizona. However, no major outbreaks have occurred since then. Today, NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith emphasized the day-to-day nature of stopping COVID, and said the season remains at risk. “Hats off to our men, our leadership and our teams -- we’re certainly in the final stretch, but it is certainly no time to relax,” Smith said.
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The NFLPA said it has discussed a postseason bubble to protect players, but agrees with the NFL that there are significant downsides and challenges that other sports that used bubbles do not face. The NFL’s positive rate dipped last week to .74% -- far better than the general public in NFL cities, where caseloads and positivity rates continue to increase. Union President and Browns C JC Tretter declined to predict a successful conclusion to the season, in part due to the risk still faced by the general conditions in the US. “It’s all going to come down to how well we follow those protocols,” he said.
There was one after-the-fact adjustment to the NFL’s total case count: This week, the NFL’s contractor revised player counts from Nov. 22-28 downward by one -- there were 32 player positives that week, not 33. In total, there have been 470 total positives since testing began Aug. 1 out of 757,100 tests.
