The NFL Has a Plan for Fewer COVID Cases: Less Testing

A day after the National Football League had to postpone several games due to numerous COVID outbreaks sidelining more than 100 players, the league dropped its weekly testing requirement for vaccinated players who don’t display symptoms.

Trying to complete “the remainder of the season responsibly,” the NFL and the NFL Players Association, the players’ union, announced a deal Saturday after the league had pushed a Saturday game between the Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders to Monday and two more games to Tuesday night. 

“The intensive protocols implemented last week and the rescheduling of three games were designed to stop the transmission of the virus and play this week's games safely,” the league and the union said in a joint statement. 

“After this weekend's games, we have agreed to put into place a new set of protocols, which will include a more targeted testing plan, more flexibility for players to attend meetings virtually, and also a high-risk player opt-out for the remainder of the season,” the joint statement said.

“More targeted testing” in this case means that fully vaccinated players will no longer have to test weekly as has been the case so far this season, and will only be required to test and isolate if they report symptoms, according to a memo obtained by the NFL Network. The protocols also mandate that players undergo “enhanced symptom screening” every day before entering team facilities. 

Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said Thursday more than two-thirds of the players on the COVID-19 list were asymptomatic. The NFL’s situation reflects a growing consensus that while the vaccines appear to be highly effective against severe illness and death from infections caused by Omicron—particularly for those who’ve received booster shots—the emergence of the extremely infectious variant has substantially reduced protection against initial infection. 

Unvaccinated players will still be subjected to daily testing, according to the memo.

“We’re entering a very different phase of this pandemic and in some way battling a very new disease,” Sills said Saturday. “We’re trying to test smarter and test in a more strategic fashion.”

The outbreaks in professional sports are also substantially altering the schedules and protocols in the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. 

The NHL, which has the unique challenge of having more Canadian teams (seven) than any other major professional American sports league combined, announced Sunday it would postpone all 12 games between U.S. and Canadian teams scheduled between Monday and Thursday this week. Even prior to the new postponements of cross-border games, dozens of NHL games had been postponed since the league’s season began two months ago.

On Sunday night, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association reached an agreement to allow teams wrecked by COVID to sign replacement players so they could continue to play, according to ESPN. Teams will be allowed to sign one temporary replacement for each player who enters what the NBA refers to as its “health and safety protocols,” meaning the player either tested positive or returned a test with inconclusive results. 

Five more upcoming NBA games were canceled Sunday, including two for the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets currently have 10 players who’ve been placed on the NBA’s COVID-19 list. 

Prior to the cancellations, the Nets’ roster had such a dearth of available and healthy players that the team said Friday it would bring star guard Kyrie Irving—who has not played this season because he’s unvaccinated, and thus not allowed to play at the Nets’ home arena due to New York regulations—back for road games. 

Not even 24 hours later, however, Irving himself entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols.