Decoding an Outbreak: How the Covid-19 tore through the Baltimore Ravens

NFL turned to a process called genomic sequencing, which over time reveals invisible changes in the RNA of the virus. Those changes are apocalyptic. They suggest that two or more people who test positive – in this case NFL employees – contracted a similar type of coronavirus.

In Baltimore, this analysis led to a map of what happened to the team. There were four genetic variants of SARS-Cavi-2 within Ravens. But three of those cases were not entirely related to most cases.

“On the other hand, we had a large number of versions of the virus that were almost genetically identical,” said Dr. Alan Seals, NFL’s chief medical officer.

In effect, three members of the organization independently contracted versions of the virus and nevertheless avoided spreading it throughout the team. Fourth – the Ravens are considered to be the power coach – that was the origin of most of the team’s cases. The total number of cases arising from that type of virus had reached two dozen and forced the team’s Thanksgiving game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to be postponed three times.

Solving this genetic information leads to a viral smoking gun. If players in close contact have the same type of virus, it is possible, if not more likely, that they transmitted it to one another. If they have different genotypes, it means they contracted it separately. Paired with other epidemiological measures such as contact pathology, it can detect the spread of Covid-19.

Epidemiologists say that genomic sequencing is an important, useless tool for understanding how a virus is transmitted – and the NFL locker room can be any fee, restaurant or even school. For example, if two students test positive, it will show whether they pass each other in class or whether they contract separately outside of school.

That’s the key to unlocking critical data for the NFL’s biggest fight against the epidemic, including a previous outbreak on the Tennessee Titans. This genetic information has led to policy changes already being implemented that the league hopes will allow the NFL season to end safely after a few weeks of rocking due to the epidemic. And it supports the idea that virus transmission does not come from playing football, but from other types of behaviors.

“We’re trying to help them understand the genomic data and how they’re seeing potentially close in the event of a major epidemic,” said Joseph Fowre, associate research scientist at Yale School Public Public Health, which indexes the NFL.

After testing positive for NFL players or staff, their samples are sent to a lab where Fowler and his associates carry RNA from the virus. Which allows them to try and index as much of the genome as possible in the process that takes them -4 36–48 hours.

This sequence is informative because viruses change over time, and those changes over time are so noticeable that the types of viruses differ from one another. It is not assumed that these types show clinical differences – you will not get more or less sick depending on what you get. (Some research suggests that a mutation, known as D614G, may be more transmissible.) Rather Latanu, this mutation acts as a marker that can help detect the virus in person.

“The best way to think about it is like an advanced method of fingerprinting a virus,” said Dirk Dittem, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Those genetic markers flag down how the virus spreads in Ravens. While three of the team’s infections showed different types of infections, the infections came out of the team, followed by a genotype club.

In an earlier statement, Ravens president Dick Cass said “the fourth was a very contagious strain” – but researchers say that’s not the case at all.

“It’s a very understandable misinterpretation of science,” said Bronwin McKinnis, director of pathogen genomic surveillance at the Cambridge-based Broad Institute.

It is not that this is a series of mutations in the genotype of the coronavirus that make it more contagious. Fower, from Yale Lab, which works with the NFL, noted that “there is nothing in this data to suggest that something will increase the infection.”

What matters instead is whether people follow steps such as social distance and face ings. “Infectious behavior has more to do,” Seals said.

However, the seals declined to name specific individuals, citing privacy concerns, Ravens said in an earlier statement, adding that he had disciplined the employee for his behavior related to the blast. The employee, who is familiar with the matter, said he was a strength coach, whose role was to keep him in touch with players inside the house.

Shortly after the coach’s positive test, the NFL said all teams must adhere to the league’s “intensive” protocol, requiring a mask at all times during practice, including weight rooms for the rest of the season.

“The Baltimore case, and what we learned from genomics was part of this logic as to why everyone needs to stay in intensive protocol for the rest of the year.” “Part of the data that promoted that decision was to understand that the weight room was one of our most sensitive spaces.”

That fourth strain caused the team to falter in a week that upset the NFL’s calendar. More than 20 players have been placed on the team’s covid reserve list, which is for players who test positive or have close contacts. Ravens’ Thanksgiving game against Stavers was postponed three times, and that’s when Baltimore finally had to do without star quarterback Lamar Jackson, one of the team’s positives.

Two months ago, when the Titans faced only another outbreak on such a scale in the NFL, this same genetic analysis led the league to become suspicious when players continued to test positively with similar versions of the virus even after the team facility was shut down. . While.

“It drew us to the idea that there was still little contact.” His belief that even after being banned from doing so by the league, the players are still accumulating face-to-face, was only proved when he emerged from practice in high school.

There has also been genomic data on why the NFL is scientifically confident, despite the surprising increase in cases in the league over the past month, despite no non-field transmission of the virus. “We haven’t had that case yet,” said Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president who oversees the league’s health and safety. ”

Although there have been cases where players on opposing teams tested positive later – meaning they could be infected on the field during the game – the sequence showed that they contracted different genetic variants, meaning that they were independent of the virus. And it didn’t happen. Spread it in each other.

Write to Andrew Beaton at [email protected]