Ravens had at least 4 strains of Covid

WASHINGTON • The Baltimore Ravens had at least four different strains of Covid-19 in their facility during a major outbreak involving 23 players, Dick Cass, the president of the National Football League (NFL) team, said on Saturday.

The Ravens are enduring one of the biggest outbreaks of the deadly virus among professional sports teams, one that delayed their game at the Pittsburgh Steelers for a week and pushed back last week's game against Dallas Cowboys to tomorrow.

"With a dangerous virus like this, everyone must comply with the protocol to avoid infecting many. We now know that not everyone at the Ravens followed the protocol thoroughly," Cass said in a statement.

"Based on information provided by the NFL, we have learnt that we had at least four unique strains of Covid-19 in our facility.

"Three of the four were stopped and not spread within our organisation. Unfortunately, the fourth was a highly contagious strain and spread throughout our organisation."

At least one Ravens player tested positive for Covid-19 for 10 days in a row. ESPN, citing unnamed sources, said a strength and conditioning coach was suspended for not always wearing a mask or contact tracing device while in the team facility.

The Ravens still have 10 players remaining on their Covid-19 reserve list, including star quarterback Lamar Jackson.

At 6-5, Baltimore sit one game behind the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts for the last play-off spot in the American Conference with five games to play. Should they fail to make the post-season, the team will rue their complacency that has led to a string of absentees, Cass admitted.

"To our community, our neighbours, our fans and families, we say, 'Please learn from what happened here'," he said. "This virus is serious. Very serious."

REUTERS