Vikings Taking Extreme Coronavirus Safety Measures For Training Camp

On Monday, Vikings athletic trainer Eric Sugarman detailed the team's safety protocols.

Vikings training camp is set to begin this week, but it won't be a typical one by any means. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.

On Monday, we learned a great deal about how the Vikings are preparing for this unique training camp, specifically in terms of the safety measures in place at TCO Performance Center in Eagan.

NBC Sports' Peter King – formerly of Sports Illustrated – recently visited the facility and took a tour with Rick Spielman and Eric Sugarman, the longtime athletic trainer who is doubling as the team's Infection Control Officer. King wrote a detailed piece about everything he learned from the tour, which you can read right here.

Then, on Monday afternoon, Sugarman met with local reporters over Zoom and broke down a presentation and virtual facility tour with tons of information about the team's adjustments and precautions. 

Per NFL protocol, non-player employees will be divided into three different tiers, which will be displayed on their lanyard at all times.

• Tier 1 consists of coaches, trainers, physicians, equipment staff, and strength and conditioning coaches. 
• Tier 2 consists of ownership, Rick Spielman, other front-office staff, communications and video people, and security staff. 
• Tier 3 consists of people like cleaning service staff, in-house media, broadcast personnel, field maintenance, and transportation providers

In a given day, only 60 people in Tier 1 and 40 in Tier 2 will be allowed in the building. Tier 1 can have direct access to players and will be permitted into restricted areas (playing fields and sidelines, training and medical rooms, meeting rooms, and player lounges and meal areas) as needed. Tier 2 can also do those things, but they will be limited more heavily. Those in Tier 3 can't interact with or come near the players or people in Tier 1 or 2.

Contract tracing is a key element of this. Every employee in all three tiers – as well as players – will wear a proximity tracking device that will monitor who they come into contact with, so that if someone tests positive for COVID-19, the Vikings will be able to "instantly" trace everyone who came near that person in the last 24 hours.

Joining Sugarman at training camp to lead these efforts will be three "COVID protocol coordinators" who will help manage testing, screening, and more. Tests will be conducted by BioReference Laboratories, which has a large trailer with four testing bays that sits where Mike Zimmer's parking spot used to be.

Prior to entering TCO Performance Center, employees in Tier 1 and 2 will undergo testing, and they'll have to answer a daily health screening on an app on their phone. They'll also have to do a touchless temperature scan to be granted access. There will be a completely separate entrance for Tier 3 employees.

Players, meanwhile, will need two negative tests before they are allowed to enter. They'll be tested on Day 1 and Day 4 upon reporting to camp, and daily testing will begin on Day 5. Only then can players who have tested negative both times actually enter the facility.

The Vikings are bracing for positive tests. “We’re going to have people that get COVID, it’s unavoidable," Sugarman said. "The first few weeks are going to be some of the toughest weeks we’ve had because they’re going to be critical to establish what we refer to as our ‘new normal.’”

In the event of a positive test, players will quarantine in a "COVID room" at the facility, where they'll receive a care package of medical supplies and more. Asymptomatic players can return after five days and two consecutive negative tests, while symptomatic players have to wait at least ten days, including three days after last having symptoms.

The Vikings – who are requiring that everyone at TCO wears a mask at all times, without exceptions – have also taken a great number of precautions to promote social distancing in the building. 

Here are a few of them:

• Players will have an empty locker on each side of their locker, which will result in some players needing to have lockers in different rooms. The couches are also gone from the locker room.
• Meeting rooms will all house fewer players and coaches than they used to. For example, the team's main auditorium will go from seating 174 to seating 42. Many meetings, especially those involving large groups, will be held outside or virtually.
• Athletic training rooms and weight rooms will have strict limits on the number of players who can be in them, along with sanitation of all equipment after every use.
• Hot tubs that would normally hold 15 people can now hold six.
• Towels will be single-use, and there will be no sharing Gatorade bottles.
• Every other shower head has been removed.
• The cafeteria capacity will be reduced from 100 to 40, and players will received pre-packaged food that they will be encouraged to take and eat elsewhere.
• There will be one-way hallways to reduce interaction.

There are also signs all over the facility that promote social distancing, hand sanitizer bottles all over the place, and much more. Sugarman has made it clear that he wants everyone to be as educated as possible about this virus and how to maximize safety, because doing so will be a competitive advantage for the 2020 season, assuming it happens as planned.

“This virus is not political," Sugarman said. "It doesn’t care about your political affiliation, it doesn’t care about the color of your skin, it doesn’t care what religion you are, it doesn’t know. We have to get everyone to understand that it’s an absolute competitive advantage in the NFL in 2020 to adhere to these protocols."

Check out all of our Vikings 2020 season preview content right here.

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