Rigorous COVID-19 testing by the NFL continues to yield encouraging results. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

NFL reports zero positive coronavirus tests among players, five positives among personnel

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Sep 22, 2020 1:28 PM ET

The NFL successfully completed two full weeks of a regular season without a coronavirus outbreak threatening the integrity of the campaign or postponing a single game.

So far, so good.

Via a Tuesday joint statement from the NFL and NFL Players Association, the bodies confirmed that 14,074 coronavirus tests administered to players from Sept. 13-19 returned zero positive results. Over that same period, 22,590 tests administered to 5,407 personnel returned five positives.

MMQB's Albert Breer offered additional information that shows players, coaches, and others required for games have, for the most part, followed health and safety protocols since the middle of August:

Most NFL teams (30 of 32) started football practice on Aug. 12. Between then and Sept. 19, a stretch of five-and-a-half weeks, the league administered 94,091 player tests.

Seven have come back positive.

One more time: Daily testing's the key to everything.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 22, 2020

Tuesday's news comes less than 24 hours after it was learned that a trio of head coaches and their respective teams were hit with fines that totaled over $1 million because those coaches didn't properly wear masks or other face coverings on the sidelines.

Because it's known coronavirus tests can produce both "false positives" and "false negatives," it's unlikely the NFL will ease up on mask mandates even though the league extended daily testing of players and coaches through the rest of the season.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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