CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Browns ‘game against the Steelers on Sunday is in no danger of being postponed because there is no evidence of transmission of COVID-19 inside the Browns’ facilities, NFL medical director Dr. Allen Sills said on Wednesday -market.
The Browns had another player and a team member tested positive on Wednesday morning, bringing the total number of players on the COVID-19 reserve list to 10. But seven of them are close, high-risk contacts who have been negative and may be available for games.
As for the positive tests on Wednesday, the player is a player on duty training, and the employee is a coach. The Browns facility is closed while they perform contact tracking.
“So far, we don’t see any connection between the recent positive cases with the Browns, so there is no evidence of transmission within the facility,” said Sills. “But, obviously, we will continue to work on it, continue to monitor the test results on a daily basis. The club has been incredibly cooperative and very proactive and, of course, we are all working hard on this issue and the contact tracking of today’s latest positive cases is underway as we speak now. But as of this moment, no evidence of any transmission within the facility. ”
Dawn Aponte, Managing Director of Football for the NFL, said, “From now on, we will just continue to monitor and collect information while examining contact tracking and will evaluate and adjust accordingly, if necessary. But at the moment, we are planning to play on schedule and we will continue from there. ”
Sills said it should come as no surprise that the Browns are having some cases acquired by the community because “unfortunately, at the moment, the county in which the Browns play [Cuyahoga] is at one of the highest incidence rates in the league, which means only that players, coaches and staff will have more exposure in the community and therefore more susceptibility to positive tests. ”
According to data released on Wednesday by Governor Mike DeWine, Cuyahoga is 26th among Ohio’s 88 counties in terms of COVID-19 cases.
Coach Kevin Stefanski said he addressed the recent COVID-19 incidents with this player.
“Throughout this season, since we joined, there have been constant reminders that we will follow the protocols and keep everyone safe, ” he said. “In general, the guys did a very good job at that, and there are situations that we can learn from.
“We will continue to do this. We will continue to preach to all of our employees and players to make the right choices, and I think the guys are doing this and will continue to do this. ”
Browns linebacker BJ Goodson tested positive for the virus on Saturday, and five players were identified as close high-risk contacts: recipients Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and KhaDarel Hodge, and linebacker Jacob Phillips. The NFL Network reported that the contact occurred in the recovery pool area and that video showed an interaction in which one of the players was not wearing a mask properly.
On Tuesday, three more players were added to the reserve list: tight end Harrison Bryant and security guards Andrew Sendejo and Karl Joseph. Of these three, Bryant and Joseph are high-risk contacts, and Sendejo is possibly positive because he has already been dropped for the Steelers game.
If all goes as planned, the Browns will have their next seven contacts back in the game, with the receivers and Phillips back in training on Thursday.
The Browns also hope to have left Jedrick Wills Jr. back from his illness. He has not tested positive for the virus so far.
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