The New York Giants announced Thursday that the club has canceled in-facility meetings for players and closed its office to non-football staff in the wake of a surge in false positive COVID-19 test results.
The Giants said in statement they are enacting these practices as a precautionary measure after their COVID test facilitator, Bio-Reference Laboratories (BRL), discovered "an unusually high number of false positives using the Rapid Mesa Test at our facility."
"With the exception of one individual, all of the positive Mesa test results over the last two days have come back negative through PCR testing," the statement read. "The laboratory is working with experts to determine the source of the problem."
NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported that the Giants hope running back Saquon Barkley, offensive lineman Matt Skura and defensive back Xavier McKinney are among the individuals who registered false positives. All three did not practice Wednesday due to COVID protocols and will be re-tested; Barkley and McKinney were later placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Barkley and McKinney did not practice Thursday as they remained in COVID protocol, but Skura was a full participant after clearing the protocol.
The organization and BRL are continuing to monitor the situation and will forego administering the Rapid Mesa Test in favor of PCR tests for the time being. Players who aren't still being assessed under COVID protocols can return this afternoon.
