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NFL and Covid Issues - Initially Asked in Shark Pool To Keep it 100% NFL (3 Viewers)

So Tannehill was placed on the Covid reserve list today. We know he’s vaxxed because he said that he went and got it after the NFL announced its new policy. So does that mean he must have tested positive? He wouldn’t go on the list for a close contact, right?

Less concerned about Tannehill in particular (other than hoping he’s all right) and more about how to interpret stories like this going forward

 
Colts placed LT Eric Fisher (Achilles') on the reserve/COVID list.

Fisher, still on Indianapolis' active/PUP list while recovering from October's torn Achilles', will either be away from the team's facilities for 48 hours (vaccinated) or 5-10 days (unvaccinated) pending his vaccination status. There's still reportedly a chance he won't be ready until October due to injury.

- Indianapolis Colts, Twitter
EDIT: Regarding Tanny
 

Titans placed QB Ryan Tannehill on the reserve/COVID list.

Geoff Swaim and Justin Lillard-Marsh were also placed on the team's COVID list. Tannehill reluctantly got vaccinated once the league created stricter policies and should be able to return following two negative tests 24 hours apart. More importantly, the organization is again dealing with at least three player cases and two coach cases with COVID (per Schefter) after battling a COVID breakout and being forced to postpone games just last year. It's something to monitor as the season approaches since any postponement due to COVID this year would lead to a forfeiture and loss of game checks for both sides.
Positive test probably due to Delta strain.

 
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It's official now. 

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-union-agree-to-more-covid-testing-amid-delta-surge-but-nflpa-wants-more-030330303.html

The league and the union co-signed a new set of COVID-19 protocols for 2021 that calls for an increased rate of testing vaccinated players from every 14 days to every seven days. Players will have the option of being tested twice a week.

...

Shortly after the new protocols were announced, the NFLPA sent a memo to players declaring that it wants daily testing for everybody. 

"We have worked closely with our medical advisors and, following those discussions, have recommended daily testing of both vaccinated and unvaccinated players and staff," the memo reads.



 
Why doesn't the NFL support daily testing?

The NFL's chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills downplayed the importance of testing in transmitting COVID-19 on a conference call with reporters last week. 

“People tend to focus on testing, but it’s very important that we realize, testing is not prevention,” Sills said, per the Tallahassee Democrat. “Testing is not preventing anyone from transmitting the virus. It is one part of our mitigation strategy but it’s not the key part."

Sills pointed to "other mitigation measures such as masking and the avoidance of in-person meetings and in-person meals" as key steps to slowing transmission.

Asked why they thought the league wouldn't support daily testing, a union official told Robinson: “I can’t even begin to rationalize it.”
Because it would ruin the season. 

 
I figured as much.  Teams aren't going to put up with unvaccinated players who aren't starters already. 
Right, of course they wouldn't.  Availability matters, same as for an oft-injured player.  If he's a stud, you hang on to him.  If he's a replacement level player, you get someone equally talented without the risk.

And before you say it, individual teams/coaches aren't in charge of the NFL policies re: testing and protocols, but they do have to abide by them.  As IvanK noted previously, it would be professional malpractice for a coach NOT to consider vaccination status (i.e. availability) as part of the roster determination process.

 
Rich Conway said:
Right, of course they wouldn't.  Availability matters, same as for an oft-injured player.  If he's a stud, you hang on to him.  If he's a replacement level player, you get someone equally talented without the risk.

And before you say it, individual teams/coaches aren't in charge of the NFL policies re: testing and protocols, but they do have to abide by them.  As IvanK noted previously, it would be professional malpractice for a coach NOT to consider vaccination status (i.e. availability) as part of the roster determination process.
I agree with all of this.  I think the policy is flawed, but it's what is in place for all teams and what players need to live with.  I also think that last 7% is pretty dug in at this point. 

 
Jamison Crowder tests positive for COVID-19, putting his Week 1 status in jeopardy, per report

Unknown if vax'd. 

 
Max Power said:
Cowboys OL Zach Martin on Covid list. Will miss this week's game. Rumored to be vaccinated. 
Confirmed fully vaccinated. 

And this is why the NFL doesnt want daily testing. 

 
Confirmed fully vaccinated. 

And this is why the NFL doesnt want daily testing. 
The biggest key is he has symptoms. The real pain is going to be if someone gets a cold or the flu and then they get a false positive. They'll be out even if they didn't have Covid. 

 
New Orleans Saints.

Six coaches and a staff nutritionist tested positive for Covid-19 within the last 36 hours, OutKick.com has confirmed. All of them were fully vaccinated.

 
Might be interesting to see how this impacts things. I don't think it will but interesting to see how they uphold the rule. 

I wonder if there are any Bills season ticket holders out there that would be challenging that. Or if they get  refund, etc?. 
They can decide if they want a refund in the next couple days.

I think the wait list is pretty deep for Bills season tix, Seahawks will be sold out I know.

 
They can decide if they want a refund in the next couple days.

I think the wait list is pretty deep for Bills season tix, Seahawks will be sold out I know.
Thanks for the info.  Interesting. How in the world are they going to manage that? I guess in both those states they will require proof of vaccination cards.  

 
I know you are trying to prove some larger point with these posts, but I really can't figure out what that is.

Vaccinated people can get the virus, we know that. 
Isn't this the fantasy football covid thread? Why does there have to be a point?  I've stated my thoughts on the NFL policy being bad already.  This was just another rare breakthrough in the group we don't test nearly enough. 

 
Buccaneers WR Antonio Brown placed on COVID-19 list, could miss Week 3 game vs. Rams

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Antonio Brown has been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team announced Wednesday. 

He joins linebacker Kevin Minter and practice squad wide receiver Travis Jonsen, who have both been placed on the list over the past week. 

The Bucs are 100 percent vaccinated. While they didn't announce whether Brown had tested positive, the NFL only requires vaccinated players to go on the reserve/COVID-19 list if they test positive.

Rare

 
Fake Vaccine Cards Are A Real Problem For The NFL

The Falcons, Buccaneers, and Raiders claim to have reached 100 percent of players vaccinated against COVID-19, and of the NFL’s 32 teams, 27 report a 90 percent rate or higher. The latest report on the league’s vaccination rate as a whole is 93.5 percent. Despite the attention paid to the loudest holdouts, these are very good numbers. But can they be trusted? There’s good reason to believe some number of NFL players have used fake vaccine cards, and teams’ protocols aren’t designed to catch them.

Fake CDC cards, often ordered online, are big business and growing, and two NFL agents who work for different agencies told Defector that players they represent asked them for help getting a fake vaccine card. (Both agents declined to do so.) One of those agents said that his client asked him about getting a fake card because a teammate of his had used one. “He was like, ‘Oh well my teammate’s got this fake card. Should I just do that?’” the agent said. “I’m like no! Just get vaccinated!” 

This player was interested in getting a fake because he had just been placed on the COVID-19 reserve list for being a close contact. Two days after the conversation with his agent, the player got COVID himself.

Based on what that agent learned from his conversation with this player and others similarly shut down as close contacts in 2021, he estimates that 10–15 percent of players have a fake vaccine card. “I think it is a lot more common than people realize,” he said. “Look, you’re talking about the NFL. These guys do anything they can to fudge a weed test or a PED test.” 

 
The Ravens placed nose tackle Brandon Williams, defensive tackle Justin Madubuike and edge rushers Justin Houston and Jaylon Ferguson on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team announced.

 
The NFL’s COVID-19 testing results for the September 5 –18 period are as follows:

16,922 tests were administered to a total of 6,320 players and team personnel; 2,272 players and 4,048 personnel.

There were 7 new confirmed positive tests among players and 27 new confirmed positives among personnel. The overall incidence rate is 0.5% for this testing period.
That's actually a horrible rate for such a vaccinated community. 

 
Max Power said:
That's actually a horrible rate for such a vaccinated community. 
Part of that is probably due to the NFL's testing protocol. A regular vaccinated jamoke like you or me will likely never consider getting tested unless we're symptomatic or have been in close contact with a positive. But NFL players are tested regularly (weekly?) regardless of symptoms/exposures. That means they're going to catch a lot more asymptomatic positives. 

Now, as to whether a vaccinated, asymptomatic positive should really count, the answer is ... maybe? It depends on how likely those people are to spread to others, which I admit I'm not totally clear on. At a minimum, we can probably agree that those are pretty low down on the list of things that should be keeping Roger Goodell up at night.

 
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Does anyone know the number of vaccinated NFL Players that have been hospitalized from covid? Can't find it anywhere.
Not what you asked since this happened pre-vaccine, but Ryquell Armstead got a really bad case during the 2020 preseason, was hospitalized twice and ended up missing the entire year. He was subsequently waived by the Jags and hasn't caught on with another team, so It will likely end up being a career-ending illness (though to be fair, "career-ender" for a journeyman RB is a little like "totalling" a 2002 Honda: it doesn't take much.)

 
An OL who already had both shots, but it wasn't two weeks post his second shot, so he wasn't fully vaccinated yet.

Probably helps to not weigh 320 as well. 
Possibly.  Although this would conflict with your previous implication that NFL players have nothing to fear from COVID because they're so healthy.

The facts, however, are clear.  While young, healthy people are less likely to hospitalized than older or non-healthy, it is entirely possible that unvaxxed, healthy people contract severe cases requiring hospitalization or worse.  It is much less likely for this to happen to vaxxed, healthy people.  These facts are indisputable.

 
Part of that is probably due to the NFL's testing protocol. A regular vaccinated jamoke like you or me will likely never consider getting tested unless we're symptomatic or have been in close contact with a positive. But NFL players are tested regularly (weekly?) regardless of symptoms/exposures. That means they're going to catch a lot more asymptomatic positives. 

Now, as to whether a vaccinated, asymptomatic positive should really count, the answer is ... maybe? It depends on how likely those people are to spread to others, which I admit I'm not totally clear on. At a minimum, we can probably agree that those are pretty low down on the list of things that should be keeping Roger Goodell up at night.
It just all goes back to why are we even testing? If the NFL was testing all players every day, this season would be a literal mess. 

If getting covid off the field and saving lives is the goal here, the NFL should be testing everyone daily. 

The reality is the NFL has an outdated policy that punishes the unvaccinated and they only care about the bottom line. 

 
Possibly.  Although this would conflict with your previous implication that NFL players have nothing to fear from COVID because they're so healthy.

The facts, however, are clear.  While young, healthy people are less likely to hospitalized than older or non-healthy, it is entirely possible that unvaxxed, healthy people contract severe cases requiring hospitalization or worse.  It is much less likely for this to happen to vaxxed, healthy people.  These facts are indisputable.
I wont argue with those facts, I'm complaining about the poor policies in place in the name of covid and player safety.

Anyone over 3 bills needs to be worried about their heart health. 

 

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