The NFL and the NFL Players Association have suspended all leaguewide COVID-19 protocols effective immediately, halting two years of largely successful efforts to play through the pandemic.
The teams received a memo on Thursday morning detailing the decision, which was "based on current encouraging trends regarding the prevalence and severity of the coronavirus".
Many of the league's most severe protocols were lifted by the end of the 2021 season, including mandatory testing for asymptomatic players and staff, requirements to wear contact tracing devices, and limits on distancing in the weight room and cafeteria.
There is no football activity going on at club facilities at this time in the off-season, and it could begin as early as 4 April for teams that have hired new coaches. But Thursday's change will still affect coaches and other staff members who are participating in this week's Scouting combination in Indianapolis or who work year-round at local markets. Those employees will no longer face surveillance testing, regardless of vaccination status, or mask requirements.
Teams can choose to implement their own mask policies if desired, and the memo leaves open the possibility of returning to protocol levels if circumstances warrant.
“Should there be a reason to re-implement aspects of the protocol or take other measures,” the memo notes, “we will work closely with clubs, the NFLPA and our relevant experts, and local, state and federal public health officials.” Protect the health of the NFL community."
Teams are still required to comply with any state and local public health regulations.
The pandemic forced the NFL to cancel its 2020 offseason training and preseason, but it has played all regular-season and playoff games, with a total of eight games rescheduled. The full slate included an extension to the postseason in 2020 and the regular season in 2021.
In some cases, the NFL's work on COVID-19 informed the decisions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health institutions.
The NFL ended the 2021 season with vaccination rates of 95% for players and nearly 100% for other football staff members. There were four known hospitalizations among players, coaches and on-field officials for COVID-19 between the start of training camp in 2020 and the end of the 2021 season.