NEWSLETTER
Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic and I’ll still admit there’s more I don’t know about this virus than I do.
But I know enough to know that it was a little weird that the Tennessee Titans had an initial set of positive tests back on September 24, theoretically all separated from each other, and then have continued to drip-drip positive player and personnel tests for the next two weeks. The latest two additional tests – 22 now in total – just came today. It just struck me as really weird that you could have an initial exposure and spread, shut down your facilities, and then still have guys testing negative-negative-negative-then-positive 10+ days later. Yes, the incubation period can be up to two weeks, but we’ve learned that test sensitivities are such that you typically would be seeing positive results something like three to ten days after exposure.
That is to say, if the last close contact groups of players had with each other was back on September 28 before the Titans facilities were shut down, it would be fairly unusual for new positives to show up today from exposures that took place 10+ days ago. Not impossible. But unusual.
Anyway, I want to be very clear that I’m not drawing a straight line from my own sense of “this is weird” to the following report, but it is important color for what is increasingly becoming a ridiculous story for the NFL and the Titans:
#Titans broke protocols, gathered for a workout last week https://t.co/rjagsNd0eF
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) October 7, 2020
Per Kuharsky’s report, after the Titans shut down their facilities on September 29 – you know, to prevent players from gathering and continuing to spread the virus if they’d been exposed – a group of players got together at a local field to practice together. The team had been told they could not get together for workouts, because obviously.
The NFL and NFLPA are looking into whether #Titans players have been working out together offsite while the facility was closed due to their COVID-19 outbreak, per sources.
Two more players learned of positive tests today, bringing the total to 20 cases among players and staff.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 7, 2020
The league and the NFLPA have been investigating whether the Titans broke protocols in the course of this long, long outbreak, and I expect Kuharsky’s report is not going to be received well. This could wind up costing the Titans significant penalties, including possible losses of draft picks.
