CHICAGO _ After Bears players are cleared with three negative COVID-19 test results this week, they will enter Halas Hall for the first time this year.
But before they can dress at their socially distanced lockers each day for training camp, they will stop at a station to pick up a new piece of equipment that will be used during all team activities this summer.
The device is a proximity recorder made by Kinexon, a German company that operates its U.S. headquarters in the Chicago Loop. The system, called SafeZone, will assist NFL teams with physical distancing and contact tracing initiatives as they try to prevent the coronavirus from spreading through their facilities.
All team personnel will wear the lightweight SafeTag sensors on a wristband or lanyard within the facility and during team travel, and players will also have them in their jerseys during practices.
The devices are customizable and can flash or sound an alarm when players, coaches or staff get too close to one another. They also log a person's contacts throughout the day _ who they're around, how close they come to one another and for how long. If someone tests positive for COVID-19, teams will have an immediately available list of that individual's interactions within the team facility to determine others who need to take precautions.
"We all know that football and physical distance don't go together as far as on-field activity," said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer. "So we really want to dive in and have the most accurate information we can have about exposures on the field, but also off the field as well."
Kinexon has German soccer and basketball leagues among its clients and also placed its SafeZone system within the NBA bubble in Florida. Mehdi Bentanfous, Kinexon's CEO of North America, believes the devices are an important piece of efforts to keep companies and leagues running during the pandemic.
