The Carolina Panthers have entered the NFL’s supplemental intensive protocols for COVID-19. They are doing so as a precautionary measure—without having a member of the team or staff test positive this week—following a potential exposure in Atlanta. Falcons defensive tackle Marlon Davidson tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
The Panthers have entered the NFL’s intensive protocol after Falcons rookie defensive tackle Marlon Davidson was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) October 14, 2020
As of Wednesday morning, Carolina has not placed a player on the reserve/COVID-19 list, making these precautionary measures.
What are the “supplemental intensive protocols”?
These are the most extreme distancing protocols that the NFL was hoping to avoid. The big ones are that all in-person meetings must transition to being virtual, payers and coaches must wear masks on the practice field at all times, and all players and relevant staff must receive daily point of care testing (meaning they don’t ship samples off to a lab for results tomorrow). That includes game day testing, which was not part of the voriginal protocols established during the offseason. The goal of these extra measures are to mitigate the spread of the virus within the team.
The team has oublished the rest of the protocols here.
How risky was the Panthers exposure to Davidson?
The timelines for showing symptoms of and testing positive for COVID-19 after an exposure aren’t exact. Typically, most people will begin to show symptoms two to 14 days after their exposure and will test positive six to seven days after that exposure, or about three days on average after showing symptoms. That is a lot of uncertainty for NFL teams who expect to play games every seven days. Further, without testing from day of that game, we don’t know if Davidson had the virus on Sunday or, if so, if he was contagious at that time.
Davidson played 12 snaps against the Panthers and recorded one pass defensed and zero tackles. That isn’t a lot of contact with the team. However, he is a defensive lineman, so it can be expected that he came into some degree of contact with the Panthers offensive line during his plays on the field. The CDC recommends quarantining for 14 days if you have come in direct physical contact with somebody who has COVID-19. Does blocking count? I’m certain the NFL hopes not, but I can’t find a logical explanation for why it wouldn’t. Most players aren’t wearing masks or face shields on the field and, while many of them are wearing gloves, I know they aren’t changing them after every play and studiously avoiding touching their own faces.
What does this all mean for the Panthers playing the Bears?
The Panthers are wise to step up their precautions, but there is no telling what comes next for them. They have two weeks before they can be fully certain of the extent of their exposure. They could have nobody test positive in all that time, or they could have an outbreak on their team. Judging by other NFL teams who have had outbreaks, they won’t wait that long to resume in person activities, let alone play their game this Sunday, so long as they have no positive tests.
It is also unclear if the NFL’s supplemental intensive protocols will affect fan attendance against the Bears. I’m sure more on this will be made clear once they know they are playing the game. We’ll keep you up to date as more information on the Panthers’ response and status becomes clear.