The NFL’s first COVID-19 team has erupted. In the past four days, at least nine members of the Tennessee Titans have reported positive test results, spots of coronavirus infection that could potentially affect the U.S. Bank could spread during Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings at the stadium.
The Titans have shut down their practice facility at least until Saturday, while the Vikings have shut down until more test results come out. Both teams have 4 games a week left to decide.
With the right context, here is what we know at the moment. We will continue to update as the news develops.
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Timeline to return to facilities
Can games be postponed?
So this started with the Titans?
Yes. On Saturday, the Titans linebackers coach Shane Bowen returned positive test confirmation. They left for Nashville for Minneapolis before the Titans got the result, leaving Bowen behind in the voyage.
Were the other eight Titans employees infected by Bowen?
We don’t know What we do know is that the entire Titans travel party was tested on Saturday, as they would normally be. Those results for the Titans came by Sunday morning. All were negative, meaning every coach, player and staff member qualified for Sunday’s game.
ESPN According to Courtney Cronin of Na, the Titans stopped at the JW Marriott next to Mall America in America on Saturday night in Bloomington, Minnesota. All members of the party traveling for league protocol are required to have their own rooms and are also prohibited from “gathering, visiting or mingling with persons from outside the traveling party” upon arrival in the sports city.
On Sunday, they beat the Vikings, 31-30. The team flew back home after the game was over.
So no one was tested on Sunday?
Update. Protocols call for daily testing every day except game day. Neither the league nor the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) has clearly explained why, but time is probably a significant part of the answer. The results of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests, performed on the morning of the game by nasal swab, may not return time for the kickoff.
Point Care for Care (POC) tests get fast results – PCR Tests usually return overnight, while P.O.C. Tests can be returned the same day, and even before the kickoff after the morning test – but not as accurate. At the moment, POC tests are only used to help confirm initial positive tests, and the NFL does not yet rely on their own. And NFL. Only P.O.C. The player or coach did not want to make a sideline during the test.
When were they further investigated?
All Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees of the Titans and Vikings, including players and coaches, were tested Monday morning. Of the eight Titans who confirmed positive tests, three were players and five were employees. They have not been identified. There were no symptoms, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano. None of the Vikings’ members returned positive tests.
What about the officers working on the Titans-Vikings game on Sunday?
Most officers travel home on the night of the game or the next morning. According to their protocol, they are tested twice a week – once in their hometown and a day before sports. The game was worked out by the crew of referee Clate Blackman, and it was not immediately known whether any of them were affected.
Does that mean there is an outbreak?
No. General guidance from public health officials suggests that testing can take 5-7 days to register an infection. That’s why the Titans facility remains closed until at least Saturday. NFL / NFLPA The protocol says to increase the eight-day monitoring for anyone with close contact with someone who has returned a confirmatory positive test.
How do they determine close contact?
The protocol follows the CDC guidelines: at a distance of 6 feet for at least 15 minutes of the infected person. According to Graziano, 48 close contacts were identified for monitoring, based on the contacts of eight confirmed positive individuals by the league. It is unclear whether they are all members of the Titans, or if some are members of the Vikings.
It includes data recorded during the game as well as mandatory proximity devices worn by all team members before and after the game. According to the protocol, “Connection Proximity recording tracking devices must also be worn by Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2M and Tier 3 individuals when engaged in team activities (at the club facility, during practice and during team travel).”
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Diana Roussini explains the possible origins of the Titans’ coronavirus outbreak and why she doesn’t expect to play a 4 week game against Tennessee Pittsburgh.
So did the virus get a loophole in the protocol?
If the Titans pass the infection to the Vikings, yes. Games are a point in NFL week where social distance is impossible, and the period when an infected person breathes on others. That’s why the NFL has insisted on masked coaches and other non-non-players on the sidelines.
The absence of a gameday test also increases the risk. The Titans may have found at least some positive results recorded on Monday in the Sunday morning POC test.
OK. But it seemed that the NFL protocol was working.
They were. As of Tuesday morning, there were only four players on the NFL’s COVID-19 list. Only seven players, and 29 other non-players, returned positive results during the four test periods from 12 September 19 to 12 August.
But Zachary Binny, an epidemiologist at Emory University’s Ox Oxford College College Ledge, said earlier this month: “Outbreaks can really happen at any time.” It’s amazing whether this would be a substitute for a game-day test.
When can the Vikings and Titans return to their practice facility?
We know the Titans won’t be back as soon as Saturday. The Vikings’ return depends on whether they get any confirmed positive results.
How long will infected players and staff members be kept away from the team?
It’s complicated. Is here Flow chart for therapeutic and asymmetric positive tests.
This graphic of NFL protocols explains a lot about what the Titans and Vikings are doing now. pic.twitter.com/Z3JLQy43GZ
– Kevin Seifert (@Seiffer ASPN) September 29, 2020
What about their 4 games of the week?
At the moment, both are yet to play Sunday. However, that may change in the coming hours and days. One possibility, according to ESPN’s Adam Schaefter, is to move the Titans’ game from Sunday to Monday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Nashville. The Titans’ game could easily be moved to Week Week if the NFL moves the Steelers Week game against Baltimore Ravens to Week Week, when both have bias. The potential re-ched calligraphy of the Vikings game in the Houston Texans is less clear.
NFL In these circumstances, an independent committee of several former league officials was formed to advise Commissioner Roger Goodell on equity and ness. An immediate question is whether the Titans deserve to play the Steelers on Sunday, whether they have been away from their team facility, and therefore, unable to practice all week.
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