The Bears moved their morning practice to the afternoon Sunday after they said league testing produced nine positive tests among players and staff. The Bears said all nine have been proved to be false positives.
“[Sunday] morning we learned yesterday’s Covid-19 testing identified nine players/staff as positive,” the team said in a statement. “We followed additional NFL-NFLPA testing protocol and confirmed all nine results as false positives. Out of an abundance of caution, we postponed this morning’s practice to this afternoon at 1:30pm.”
The NFL singled out the BioReference laboratory in New Jersey for irregular results, though the Bears have said they use a similar lab in Minnesota. The Bears test their players daily and send the samples to a lab. For re-tests, they have the capability to administer tests and receive a result on-site in about a half-hour.
Multiple teams altered their morning practice schedules.
“Saturday’s daily COVID testing returned several positive tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey,” the NFL said in a statement. “We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests.
“Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA’s health and safety protocols to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results.”
By the end of the day Saturday, only four players were on the NFL’s Reserve/COVID-19 list. Multiple positive tests from each team that used the New Jersey lab, then, would signify either a massive spike in infection or a grand-scale testing irregularity.
The Bears’ practice time change from 9:20 a.m. came without advanced warning. Media members arriving at Halas Hall were turned away by security with no explanation, other than the schedule had been altered.
