NFL, NFLPA Announce Rise in COVID-19 Cases for 2nd Straight Week

The NFL and NFLPA have announced a rise in COVID-19 cases across the league for the second straight week.

There were 70 new confirmed positives over the most recent testing period spanning from Dec. 27 through Jan. 2. 34 of the new confirmed positives tests were of players, while the other 36 stemmed from other staff members and personnel.

In total, 40,709 tests were administered to 6,702 players and personnel league-wide during the most recent period.

Not only is this the second-straight week of increasing numbers, but it is also the fifth consecutive week cases have not decreased across the leagues as they remained stagnant from Nov. 29 through Dec. 19.

A significant portion of the new positives can be attributed to the Cleveland Browns, who announced Tuesday they will be without head coach Kevin Stefanski, two assistant coaches and starting left guard Joel Bitonio for Sunday’s playoff game in Pittsburgh.

With the postseason set to get underway this weekend, the rapid rise in case numbers league-wide is concerning to say the least, and could continue to wreck havoc on teams vying for the Super Bowl.