Browns player tests positive for COVID-19; team briefly closes facility ahead of Week 10 game vs. Texans

As COVID-19 cases peak across the country, the NFL season is rolling along. 

Teams are dealing with positive tests among players and staff but have found success in isolating those cases, and closing team facilities after news of a positive is becoming a common practice. That's what the Cleveland Browns did Friday, when the team announced a player had tested positive for the virus. 

"The individual has immediately self-isolated and the Browns facility is closed this morning while contact tracing is being conducted," the team said in a statement.

The Browns are scheduled to host the Houston Texans on Sunday. Houston closed its facility last Thursday and the Wednesday before that following positive player tests. 

After contact tracing had been completed without any high-risk close contacts being identified, the club reopened its training facility and held practice at 3 p.m. Practice had originally been slated to begin at 12:35 p.m.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

“This is 2020,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said on Zoom after practice. “Things are going to come your way, and you've got to react. So I think our team is used to that. We got our work in, got all the reps we were supposed to get.”

Backup offensive lineman Chris Hubbard landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, meaning he won't be available to play when the Browns (5-3) host the Houston Texans (2-6). However, none of the Browns' other players was forced to the list as a result of being a close contact of Hubbard.

“We just try to follow all the protocols to a T,” Stefanski said. “We met virtually this morning, which we were doing already. We just basically had to push back the day a little bit. Obviously, every single day it's part of how we operate. I think also a big part of this is not having a high-risk close contact. [It's] really a main goal of ours today, moving forward, every day. It's something we take very seriously.”

There were only minor disruptions as a result of Hubbard's test result, which the Browns have established isn't a false-positive.

Cornerback Denzel Ward and linebacker Sione Takitaki didn't practice Friday because they weren't cleared as potential close contacts in time for practice. They were ultimately cleared and will return to team headquarters Saturday, Stefanski said.

“It was a proximity thing,” the coach added. “After working with the league and the third party that investigates these types of things, everybody followed the rules.”

The NFL said the game is still on.

"There’s no change in the status of the game," an NFL spokesman wrote in an email response. "There’s been roughly 100 instances of a player or personnel positives at clubs and we have not moved a game."

Contributing: Nate Ulrich, Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal