On August 22nd the National Football League (NFL) announced that COVID-19 testing indicated 77 positive results from 11 teams. While this was big news in the mainstream media there were clues that the testing may have shown some false positives.
The league asked the New Jersey lab BioReference to investigate the results. They were re-examined and all of the test results came back negative. In other words, all 77 were false positives.
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Jon R. Cohen, M.D., the Executive Chairman of BioReference Laboratories, testing partner of the NFL, released a statement explaining that these false-positives were due to an isolated contamination in the New Jersey lab.
“On August 22, BioReference Laboratories reported an elevated number of positive COVID-19 PCR test results for NFL players and personnel at multiple clubs. The NFL immediately took necessary actions to ensure the safety of the players and personnel. Our investigation indicated that these were most likely false positive results, caused by an isolated contamination during test preparation in the New Jersey laboratory. Reagents, analyzers and staff were all ruled out as possible causes and subsequent testing has indicated that the issue has been resolved. All individuals impacted have been confirmed negative and informed.”
Jon R. Cohen
The Minnesota Vikings reported twelve positives, the New York Jets reported ten, and the Chicago Bears reported nine.