NFL loosens testing for vaccinated players who are asymptomatic

The NFL is loosening testing requirements for fully vaccinated players who are not showing COVID-19 symptoms, nixing the weekly testing mandate for those players.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell informed teams in a memo on Saturday that only unvaccinated players and inoculated players experiencing possible COVID-19 symptoms will be subject to testing requirements. Previous league protocols required that vaccinated players had to be tested weekly.

The new protocols, which according to The Associated Press take effect on Sunday, also give higher-risk players the option to opt-out of the remaining NFL season and postseason. Players who wish to do so have to send teams a written notice no later than Monday afternoon.

The notice is irrevocable, and players who opt out will not receive compensation for the remainder of the season.

The league defines a higher-risk player as someone with previously confirmed diagnoses of one or more risk factors as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including cancer and chronic kidney disease.

Goodell referenced the new, highly mutated omicron variant when announcing the new protocols.

“As you have been advised in previous communications, and as we discussed at this week’s League Meeting in Dallas, our staff and medical advisors have been engaged in discussions with the NFLPA and its medical team regarding how we should collectively address the emergence of the new Omicron variant,” Goodell wrote in a memo obtained by The Hill.

“Medical information strongly indicates that this variant is significantly more contagious but possibly less severe than prior variants, particularly for people who are fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot. Our experience with the Omicron variant is fully consistent with this expectation – while more players and staff are testing positive, roughly two thirds of those individuals are asymptomatic, most of the remaining individuals have only mild symptoms, and the virus appears to clear positive individuals more rapidly than was true with the Delta or earlier variants,” he added.

Unvaccinated players will still be subject to daily testing, according to the league. Additionally, any player who wants a test can request one.