NFL Reports Very Low Number of COVID-19 Cases Among Players

According to the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the league is reporting very low rates of positive coronavirus tests with only 27 players currently on the reserve list for having the virus.

The number of players who tested positive and are on the exclusion list until they test negative comprise only one percent of active NFL players.

Per Pelissero:

• 107 NFL players have gone on the Reserve/COVID-19 list so far
• 80 have been activated
• 27 players still on list = ~1% of rosters league-wide
• 18 teams have no players on list
• 3 players total have gone on list in past 3 days (with ~7,500 tests done)

Per @NFLResearch:

-107 NFL players have gone on the Reserve/COVID-19 list so far

– 80 have been activated

– 27 players still on list = ~1% of rosters leaguewide

– 18 teams have no players on list

– 3 players total have gone on list in past 3 days (with ~7,500 tests done)

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 11, 2020

Critics of the announcement have discounted the testing results by claiming that since the teams have not yet begun meeting on the grid iron, the small number of positives is meaningless. This is not well thought out criticism. First, the teams have all been training, exercising, and practicing, so they have been in contact with their teammates. Secondly, if the players are in quarantine and 99 percent of them have tested negative, why would they suddenly test positive after meeting on game day? The same players testing negative in training would be mixing with each other on the field, after all.

The sports media is no better on the topic. While Pelissero’s report seems to show that the NFL’s coronavirus policy has been very successful, ESPN and other sports reporters have utterly ignored the story.

While the sports media has been quick to report the news of every last player who tested positive and was subsequently placed on the reserve/COVID list, there is no reporting that 80 percent of them are now off that list and certified as COVID free.

If the NFL’s testing report is accurate, it seems the league’s coronavirus policy is working.

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