21 More Players Test Positive For COVID-19 After First Week Of NFL Training Camps

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The National Football League Players Association announced that 21 additional players tested positive for the coronavirus disease, COVID-19.

The positive tests came after players began to report to NFL training camps as of July 20.

“The NFLPA announced that there have been 21 positive tests in the testing conducted as part of the training camp reporting process,” reported Pro Football Talk‘s Josh Alper.

According to Alper, the NFLPA “did not announce the total number of tests were done overall or whether there were any outstanding results from early tests.”

According to the @NFLPA, total of 21 NFL players have tested positive for Coronavirus since players began reporting to training camp.

Also, as of yesterday, the @NFLPA had approved 25 of the Infectious Disease Emergency Response (IDER) plans of the 32 #NFL teams. pic.twitter.com/5LfKcQOJiZ

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 28, 2020

In addition to the 21 players, the NFLPA reportedly stated that 107 players in total have tested positive for COVID-19 during the 2020 offseason.

A total of 21 NFL players have tested positive for COVID-19 since players began reporting to training camp and 107 have tested positive in total this offseason, per the NFLPA's latest data.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 28, 2020

Currently, if an NFL player tests positive for the virus, they are placed on the reserve list until they are symptom-free and/or have multiple test results come back negative for COVID-19. Players who come in contact with people infected with COVID-19 are also placed on the reserve list.

“We gotta fight this and not be complacent.” @Chargers GM Tom Telesco joins Inside Training Camp LIVE as players start arriving to the facility 👇 pic.twitter.com/mGJyAMcMbs

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) July 28, 2020

On July 24, the NFL and the players’ union agreed to allow players to choose if they wanted to play during the upcoming season amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Associated Press reported that players who want to sit out the opt-out “have until Aug. 3 to do so, and they will receive a stipend from the owners.”

As of July 28, more than 20 players had opted out of playing during the upcoming season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Start of 2020 NFL season

On July 21, the NFLPA reportedly told players that zero preseason games will be played prior to the start of the regular season.