Doctor: NFL COVID-19 testing issues gave it test fire drill

In two-plus weeks, the NFL kicks off its season. That doesn't leave much time to resolve significant issues about its COVID-19 testing procedures.

BioReference Laboratories, which is conducting tests for the league, said Monday an isolated contamination caused 77 “most likely false positive results,” at its lab in New Jersey. Eleven clubs were affected, and the tests were reexamined and found to be false positives.

“This has been an interesting dynamic because what happened this weekend gave the NFL an opportunity to do a sort of a test fire drill," noted Dr. Larry Caplin, who said he consults NFL players and their union about testing protocols, “It exposed issues and potential vulnerabilities in their process, and a lot of it relates to the speed in which they’re able to confirm results."

Among teams reporting false positives, the Minnesota Vikings had 12, the New York Jets 10, the Chicago Bears nine and the Detroit Lions one.

“It’s probably good that it happened now since we’re able to adjust and adapt and figure out the things if it did happen during the season, and kind of what we would do from there," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said.

Five labs across the country process tests for the league's 32 teams and only the New Jersey facility had false positives on Saturday.

The Jets canceled a walk-through Saturday night, but had a full practice Sunday morning after the previously positive tests came back negative. The Bears moved their practice scheduled for Sunday morning to the afternoon. The Cleveland Browns initially canceled practice, but after re-testing turned up negative tests they decided to have their workout.

“We've talked to the team about being patient through this whole process," Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “There’s going to be some things that we’re all going to have to work through. But again, we’re trying to get everybody tested and get those samples out at 10 o’clock to allow the lab to do their job and get us the results back safely, and efficiently, and correctly for the next day."

Image credits: AP