The Vikings became the latest team to report a slew of positive coronavirus cases on Sunday amid controversy surrounding a lab producing false positives for several teams in the NFL.
Coach Mike Zimmer said 12 members of the organization — eight players, one coach and three staff members — returned presumptive positive tests. Those involved will watch the Vikings’ team meetings virtually instead of practice, according to a team press release.
All-Pro and Pro Bowl linebacker Eric Kendricks, running back C.J. Ham, guard Ezra Cleveland, tight end Nakia Griffin-Stewart, defensive ends Jalyn Holmes and Kenny Willekes and wide receivers Alexander Hollings and Dillon Mitchell all were absent at camp and are assumed to be the players who tested positive, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin.
Zimmer said he believes the Vikings’ tests on Sunday will go back to a lab in New Jersey that produced the false positives. The Vikings test players daily before they enter the building.
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Vikings Weathering Early Coronavirus Spells
GettyThe Vikings have dealt with two major spells of coronavirus concerns.
The Vikings were highlighted as having of the most state-of-the-art practice facilities in TCO Performance Center by NBC Sports’ Peter King in July, but soon dealt with a spell of coronavirus after Chief Infection Officer and lead trainer Eric Sugarman tested positive the same weekend rookies arrived at camp.
The Vikings had at one point the eight players on the COVID-19 reserve list — the most in the NFL. Of the eight players, two had confirmed they tested positive in linebacker Cameron Smith and defensive lineman Armon Watts.
The other players who were on the list are linebacker Anthony Barr, defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo, offensive lineman Oli Udoh, and rookies Justin Jefferson, Brian Cole II, Blake Brandel and Tyler Higby. Higby has since been waived by the team.
If a player is moved to the COVID-19 list it does not guarantee they have coronavirus, only that they were in contact with someone who did have it.
False Positives Around the League
Several teams canceled practices or changed plans following similar spikes in positive cases. The Jets canceled a walk-through on Saturday night after reporting 10 false positive tests, and the Bears pushed their Sunday morning practice back to the afternoon following nine false positives. The Giants, Lions and Packers also have been involved with the lab.
In the AFC, The Browns canceled practice, and the Steelers announced they had six players held out of practice because of “adherence to the COVID-19 protocol,” though they said none of their players needed to go on the league’s COVID-19 reserve list.
Here’s the statement from the NFL:
Saturday’s daily COVID testing returned several positives tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey,” the league said in a statement Sunday morning. “We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests. Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA’s health and safety protocols to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results.
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Trevor Squire is a Heavy contributor covering the Minnesota Vikings and journalism graduate from the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities. Connect with him on Twitter @trevordsquire and join our Vikings community at Heavy on Vikings on Facebook.
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12 Vikings Out After Testing Positive For COVID-19 Amid Lab Controversy