The NFL season 2020 is taking place in the middle of a pandemic. The league wants to reduce the risk of infections with rapid corona tests.

The NFL Season 2020 is getting closer. In view of the continuing bad infection situation in the USA it will be a mammoth task to get through the season without a “bubble” in the style of the NBA or NHL. The league is therefore using all the tools at their disposal. This will include faster corona tests.

“Point-of-care” testing is the technical term for corona tests that can be performed without having to send the sample to a laboratory first. With these rapid tests one can be as far as possible sure that all persons entering the team facility or a stadium are not affected by the virus. With the normal test procedure, on the other hand, one would have to wait for the results.

The rapid tests work as follows: The sample is taken as usual with a swab from the patient’s nose and/or throat. Then the cartridge, which already contains the reagents required for the test, is inserted into a suitable device. The evaluation is performed automatically. The test evaluation should even be possible for medical personnel who are not specially trained.

Test accuracy of 97 per centThe NFL has been considering using these rapid corona tests for quite some time now, according to information from “Pro Football Talk”. However, there have recently been some uncertainties, as the test accuracy is said to have been only 80 to 85 percent. According to new studies by the provider, however, the reliability is now 97 percent.

This means that the test is still not safe enough to be used solely for “point-of-care”, but it is a useful addition to other test procedures. The widely used PCR diagnostics is said to have an accuracy of more than 99 percent, but takes considerably more time because it is sent to the laboratory.

In short, the “point-of-care” tests could help to play through all 256 games of the regular season and the 13 play-off games without much interruption. “Pro Football Talk” sees this as “very good news for the hosting of the 101st NFL season”.