Cardinals’ Justin Pugh criticizes NFL’s COVID-19 testing policy

Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman Justin Pugh criticized the NFL’s COVID-19 testing policy in a tweet on Thursday afternoon.

Hey @NFL we need daily testing for vaccinated and non vaccinated players. I was vaccinated and still got covid. As of now vaccinated players test every 14 days. That’s not enough! Who knows how long I walked around the building with it or whoever I got it from! Fix this ASAP

Teammate and defensive lineman Jordan Phillips replied to Pugh and said he also tested positive as someone fully vaccinated.

The NFL Players Association has been pushing for a change to the testing policy as well, looking for daily testing regardless of vaccination status.

Pugh was placed on the team’s COVID-19 list on Wednesday, becoming one of a handful of Cardinals players to land on the list prior to the start of the regular season.

COVID-19 cases in Arizona have been on the rise, with Thursday’s number of 3,546 new cases the highest since February. Looking at the cases by day on the Arizona Department of Health and Services COVID-19 dashboard, July 12 saw a day reach over 1,000 for the first time since March 1, as the state’s vaccination distribution reached its highs in February, March and April.

Looking at Aug. 2-13, 10 of those 12 days have reported at least 2,500 cases. While the overwhelming majority of those cases are among unvaccinated individuals, to Pugh’s point, 11% in July were for fully vaccinated persons, per an update from AZDHS in early August.

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