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Report: NFL receives more than 75 false positive results from COVID-19 testing

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

A high number of positive COVID-19 tests administered recently caused some concern around the NFL, as there were reportedly 77 positive results that affected 11 teams around the league. However, those all been classified as negative screenings upon further examination.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter those 77 cases were false positives. There has been no evidence of an outbreak around the league, according to the report.

When the NFL retested the 77 original samples, all came back negative. The 77 individuals who were affected by those positive results — players, coaches and staff members — have been cleared to resume team activities as of Monday.

Per ESPN, the NFL’s testing partner, BioReference, said the mistake was due to an “isolated contamination during test preparation.” BioReference has five labs its using around the United States during the testing process, but the New Jersey location was the only lab in which false negatives were reported.

ESPN reports that there are only three NFL players currently on the league’s COVID-19 list.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB