Panthers’ COVID-19 situation stems from gathering of players ‘outside the team facility’
More information continues to emerge regarding the Carolina Panthers’ COVID-19 situation.
As COVID-19 cases have increased around the country, the NFL and NFL Player’s Association also prepared to see an increase in cases around the league as the days grew colder and the holidays came around. The Panthers are the latest team to be dealing with a large amount of players on the league’s COVID-19 reserve lists.
On a league media call Wednesday, the NFL’s chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said that the Panthers’ COVID-19 transmission occurred at a gathering outside of the facility.
“Transmission didn’t occur inside the facility,” Sills said. “We’ve worked with the club on that. (We’ve) worked with the involved individuals and I think we’ll continue to see improvement there in repeated messaging about the things that we know are important for risk mitigation.”
Sills said that the league was quickly able to work with the team on contract tracing and the outside exposure that occurred during the bye week.
The Panthers have 9 players currently on the lists with all transactions taking place over the past nine days.
There is a separate list for players on the practice squad. Eight in total were placed on the list Monday, including multiple high-risk close contacts. The new players are wide receivers DJ Moore, Curtis Samuel, defensive tackles Derrick Brown and Zach Kerr, linebacker Shaq Thompson, punter Michael Palardy (injured reserve) and Ishmael Hyman (practice squad/COVID-19).
Left tackle Greg Little was also placed on the list Monday, but was removed Wednesday and participated in practice.
Those players joined defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos and practice squad defensive tackle Bruce Hector, who were added to the list last week. They were the first names the Panthers put on the list since Oct. 23.
Being placed on the COVID-19 list does not mean that a player has necessarily tested positive. That designation can also be for players who were determined to be high-risk close contacts or near someone who tested positive for a significant period of time. Those players will have a chance to be available for Sunday’s game. No Panthers were added to the list Tuesday or Wednesday.
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said he spoke to the team Monday, reminding them of the importance of the protocols.
“I tried to talk very directly about the situation. A reminder that we can’t get together outside the building, a reminder that we have to be very cognizant of who we’re around,” Rhule said. “A reminder that we have guys with pregnant wives on this team. Just kind of a go back through all the procedures, the protocols, the responsibility.”
From Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 16,475 tests were administered to 2,427 players and 25,194 tests were administered to 4,585 personnel league-wide. From those tests, there were 18 new confirmed positive tests among players and 27 new confirmed positives among other personnel. Players continued to get tested daily during bye weeks, something the NFLPA pushed for.
Multiple teams have been penalized for repeatedly violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols by being fined and having draft picks taken away. Less than two weeks ago, the Denver Broncos — the Panthers’ upcoming opponent — were forced to start a practice squad wide receiver, Kendall Hinton, at quarterback due to high-risk contract tracing of all of the team’s quarterbacks who were not wearing masks in a meeting room.
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said that while there has been a direct connection between bye weeks and an increase in players on the COVID-19 lists, like what happened in the Panthers’ case, there has been reoccurring instances of protocols not being followed.
“The two things that I would say that we found that seem to be reoccurring is where we have lapses in compliance, we have outbreaks. And worse, if we have lapses in compliance, it makes it very difficult to identify all of the high-risk close contacts. And if you can’t identify all of the high-risk close contacts or accurately identify all of the high-risk close contacts, it hampers your ability to tie off or tourniquet the outbreak,” Smith said. “The two things that I’ve seen that have been most impactful as far as spotting trends is failure to wear a mask (and) failure to wear connection devices (that monitor how close players are to each other and for how long while in the facility).”
While the Panthers’ situation continues to be investigated, the team will hope to get some players back for Sunday’s game. Players who are high-risk close contacts can return after five days of quarantining and testing negative. But that also means missing most of the week of practice following a week off should the Panthers be able to return to the facility as scheduled Wednesday. The facility was closed Monday and Tuesday due to COVID-19, and Monday afternoon’s in-person practice was unable to take place.
“Teams have been through this intense protocol and some of these challenges and they’ve won,” Rhule said. “It comes down to what you do on Sunday, we’re gonna get ourselves ready for Sunday.”
Panthers stadium attendance update
North Carolina governor Roy Cooper introduced new measures Tuesday to curb the state’s increase in COVID-19 cases, including a curfew.
The Panthers will still be able to have fans in attendance for the final two home games as of now, per state regulations, with both games scheduled for 1 p.m.
Attendance restrictions for outdoor facilities that seat more than 10,000 has remained the same for Phase 3 of North Carolina’s reopening. While the limit is for 7% of capacity, the team received an exemption from the governor’s office last month to have more fans than 5,240 the law allows in the upper deck. They have hosted as many as 5,815.
Bank of America Stadium will host the team’s game against the Broncos on Sunday and the Panthers’ Week 17 game vs. the New Orleans Saints, scheduled for Jan. 3.
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 5:31 PM.
