Titans, Vikings suspend in-person activities after Titans' 8 positive COVID-19 tests
The Tennessee Titans had eight positive COVID-19 tests, including three players and five personnel members, the NFL said in a statement. As a result, the Titans and Minnesota Vikings, whom the Titans played on Sunday, will suspend in-person activities starting Tuesday.
Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson reported that the Titans and Vikings started sending people home from their facilities early Tuesday morning, and instructed those not in the building to arrive for drive-up COVID testing and then return home.
I’m told both #Titans and #Vikings franchises became aware of a Covid outbreak late Monday/early Tues and began contact tracing. It included contract tracing on #Titans return flight, which is suggestive that an infected person was in the team’s traveling party and on the plane.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) September 29, 2020
More on #Titans & #Vikings, Minnesota is anticipating positive tests will surface, but important to add that there was a period during the contract-tracing by the #Falcons last week that Atlanta thought the same thing and everyone came back negative. This is still fluid for Minny
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) September 29, 2020
Both teams became aware of an outbreak late Monday, according to Robinson’s sources, and began contact tracing.
In what appears to be a corresponding move, the Titans placed defensive lineman DaQuan Jones, long snapper Beau Brinkley and practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson on the COVID-19 reserve list, though they did not specify whether any of the three players had tested positive.
The Titans issued the following statement to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network:
Statement from the #Titans on the eight new positive COVID-19 cases: pic.twitter.com/wvmEw7ZSi2
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 29, 2020
The Vikings issued a statement via their own channels:
Statement from the #Vikings pic.twitter.com/JMG136w2ci
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 29, 2020
NFL shuts down in-person activities for Titans, Vikings
The NFL and NFL Players Association released a statement acknowledging the eight positive tests and announced in-person suspension of activities for both teams.
“On Tuesday morning, the Titans COVID testing results returned three new player positives and five new personnel positives. The Titans will suspend in-person club activities starting today. Likewise, the Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, will also suspend in-person club activities.
“Both clubs are working closely with the NFL and the NFLPA, including our infectious disease experts, to evaluate close contacts, perform additional testing and monitor developments,” the NFL said in a statement. “All decisions will be made with health and safety as our primary consideration. We will continue to share updates as more information becomes available.”
The Titans’ shutdown of activities could continue until Saturday, per ESPN’s Dianna Russini.
Titans-Steelers Week 4 game still on
The Titans host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Nashville this weekend, while the Vikings are scheduled to visit the Houston Texans.
The Steelers released a statement to Mike Garafolo saying they are proceeding with game preparations as normal “until we are informed otherwise.”
#Steelers statement pic.twitter.com/C3xbmT9moZ
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 29, 2020
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the NFL “wants to and intends to” play the game as scheduled on Sunday. One of its contingency plans reportedly involves moving the game to Monday.
NFL wants to and intends to play the Titans-Steelers game as scheduled Sunday; one of the contingency plans to allow for additional testing and contact tracing to occur would be to move the game to Monday night, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 29, 2020
COVID-19 testing in Week 3
Ahead of Sunday’s Week 3 slate of games, the league had its first player placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The Atlanta Falcons first-round pick A.J. Terrell was put on the list Saturday and did not play in the game. Being on the list does not mean the individual tested positive for COVID-19 or has the disease.
The Houston Texans reportedly had a “batch” of false positive tests for multiple players before their game with the Steelers. After additional testing, all tests came back negative and the players were able to take the field.
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