The NFL's "war on COVID-19 has seemingly worked well over the first three weeks," better than "some inside the league expected," according to Ben Volin of the BOSTON GLOBE. The league hired BioReference Laboratories to "set up 32 testing sites" and "produce the capacity to test thousands of players and employees every day." Players who test positive are "immediately quarantined before entering the team facility and cannot return until they pass a series of tests." Every player, coach, staffer and worker is "tested daily, and according to the NFL, the league processed 109,075 tests over its first 21 days (about 5,200 per day)." The NFL and NFLPA "hoped to keep the positivity rate below" 5%, and if that came to pass, the league "would switch from daily testing to every other day after two weeks." The actual rates have been "far lower." During the "initial 'intake' period, when players and all staffers had to pass three tests in four days just to get access to the facility," 1.7% of all people tested positive (players at 1.9%). Since then, the positivity rate is 0.46% (players: 0.81%); daily testing will continue through Sept. 5. The "concern is that teams are now moving more toward group-based activities" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/16).
