The NFL will press pause next week in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The league sent a memo to teams Friday announcing all in-person team activities will be prohibited Monday and Tuesday, per NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. All activities, except for medical treatment and rehabilitation with team physicians or athletic trainers, must be held virtually.
This decision does not apply to games being played either day.
The goal, according to the memo, is to prevent further spread of COVID-19 by briefly limiting interactions between players and staff following an increased number of positive cases in the NFL.
Additionally, the NFL Players Association has told members to report “if they had guests over the last several days” to the team’s Infection Control Officer so they can be considered for additional testing. The memo requests teams ask the same of staff members.
As Pelissero noted, players typically aren’t inside team facilities Mondays or Tuesdays anyway.
Several teams currently are coping with outbreaks. The Baltimore Ravens currently have the biggest outbreak in the league, with at least 12 players infected with the virus as of Friday, per ESPN. A staff member reportedly has been disciplined for his role in sparking the team’s outbreak.
As a result, the Ravens’ Week 12 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers has been moved to Tuesday. Baltimore’s Week 13 contest against the Dallas Cowboys, originally slated for Thursday night, has been moved to Monday, Dec. 7 at 5 p.m. ET.
Hopefully, the league’s latest mitigation measure will help prevent further infection.
