Mike Tomlin's statement regarding some players who might or might not be dealing with COVID-19-related issues was a curious one.
"We had a number of guys that we held out of work or missed work today because they are caught up in COVID procedures," Tomlin said following Saturday night's practice. "No one to mention at this time in terms of being on the COVID list, but they are in the procedure. We are going to exercise all caution like we normally do and make sure that we adhere to it to the fullest. I’ll have a further update, I’m sure, on the status of those guys next time we come back."
There were players missing from the team's practice Saturday -- six total -- with center Maurkice Pouncey and wide receiver Diontae Johnson being the most notable. Pouncey had attended a family funeral. But Tomlin didn't elaborate on which players might be dealing with COVID issues or a positive test and no players were placed on the reserve/COVID list.
GM Kevin Colbert released this statement on Sunday.
#Steelers GM Kevin Colbert statement on recent COVID-19 testing/results: pic.twitter.com/WwSvIXk7Ip
— Burt Lauten (@SteelersPRBurt) August 23, 2020
Per a statement released Sunday morning by the NFL, we now know why. It turns out, a testing center in New Jersey handling testing for a number of teams had a large number of positive tests show up on Saturday and the league is investigating.
"Saturday's daily COVID testing returned several positives tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey," the NFL said in a statement. "We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests. Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA's health and safety protocols to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results."
Fortunately for the Steelers, they are off today.
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