Vikings' infection control officer Eric Sugarman tests positive for COVID-19
The novel coronavirus has made its way into the Minnesota Vikings organization as head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman tested positive over the weekend.
"This weekend my family and I tested positive for COVID-19," Sugarman said in a statement release Monday. "We immediately quarantined and began to follow the established protocols. At this time we are all doing fine and experiencing only mild symptoms."
The Vikings say Sugarman, whose official title includes being the team's vice president of sports medicine and the infections control officer, has not had any recent contact with players, and everyone from the team who has had contact with Sugarman has been notified. So far, there are no additional cases within the Vikings front office.
"We have followed the team’s protocol for sanitizing the facility and for notifying any personnel who may have been in close contact with Eric. Those individuals have been tested and are returning under the established guidelines. Eric has not had recent contact with players, and no additional cases within the Vikings front office have been identified at this time," the Vikings said in a statement.
Sugarman's positive test results were announced on the eve of training camp, as the Vikings report to team headquarters at TCO Performance Center in Eagan on Tuesday, July 28.
Training camp will feature limited contact drills as part of the NFL's attempt to get through the summer workouts as infection-free as possible before the start of the regular season in September.
Last week, the league canceled all preseason games, so while head coach Mike Zimmer does plan some full-contact sessions, the Sept. 8 season opener against the Packers will be the first full game featuring full contact for every player since the end of last season.
Sugarman was featured in Peter King's Football Morning in America column last week, with King visiting Sugarman in Eagan to cover Minnesota's protocols for COVID-19.
“You are required to wear a face covering inside this building all day," Sugarman told King.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.