Chiefs’ suite members were tested for COVID-19 ahead of Thursday’s season opener
As the Chiefs revealed their plans to host some 16,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium for Thursday’s NFL opener, they simultaneously announced suite members would be contacted separately.
The additional note they received: You’ll be tested for coronavirus.
Over the early part of the week, those planning to occupy a suite for the Chiefs-Texans game Thursday have been tested for COVID-19 through Clinical Reference Laboratory, based in Lenexa. They must have tested negative in order to attend the game.
That constitutes approximately 1,000 fans, who were mailed CRL’s saliva test, then returned them via FedEx or drop-off sites, including Arrowhead Stadium.
The suite holders will be in a partially enclosed space, compared to the outdoor seating of the remaining fans attending Thursday, and health professionals have said being outdoors decreases the likelihood of coronavirus transmission.
All of the tests were self-administered in the past 72 hours, with the lab completing the results over the past two days, said CRL chief executive officer Robert Thompson.
“The Chiefs are going to prevent people who currently have any viral load at all, they’re going to prevent those people from going to the game,” Thompson said. “And that’s a big deal. There were other ways they could’ve done that wouldn’t have caught people in the early stages. They’ve taken the most expensive (avenue) and the high road on that, so I applaud them for what they’re doing.”
The Chiefs have assumed costs for the tests. CRL designed the test and received FDA approval at the end of July. The lab has conducted the saliva tests primarily for places of employment, along with 14 universities, including Kansas.
The test is self-administered, requiring the patient to spit in a tube, seal the tube, shake it and place a barcode on it. After completion, the patient mails it back to the lab overnight. The lab in Lenexa, where most of the process is automated, returns results in 24-48 hours, with the average turnaround time at 15 hours, Thompson said.
CRL is analyzing approximately 16,000 tests per day and anticipates expanding that number to 50,000.
At Arrowhead, each suite has a designated administrator charged with handing out tickets to those who’ve received negative COVID test results.
Thompson said he did not know how many of the Chiefs fans’ tests had been returned positive, but typically when testing other asymptomatic populations, such as universities, the rate has been between 1-2%.
During the design process, CRL’s studies showed “100 percent agreement” with use of the nasal swabs, Thompson said.
“I’ll be at the game myself with 20 people (in a suite), so obviously I trust the technology,” Thompson said.