BALTIMORE—Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the start of training camp, coach John Harbaugh announced Wednesday.
It’s the second time since November the 2019 league MVP has caught the virus, which sidelined him for a Week 12 road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Harbaugh revealed Jackson’s diagnosis after the team’s first practice, along with announcing that running back Gus Edwards, who was also absent from the session, had contracted the virus. Harbaugh, however, did not provide a timeline for when either player would return to practice. ESPN reported that Edwards would miss the first 10 days of training camp.
Jackson had begun testing last Wednesday for the virus upon reporting to the team’s Owings Mills facility, Harbaugh said, and had tested negative up until Tuesday.
According to NFL policy for the 2021 season, vaccinated players only have to undergo testing once every 14 days. Unvaccinated players must undergo a rapid PCR test upon their arrival to camp and continue to test every day like last season.
In June, Jackson declined to say whether or not he is vaccinated, calling it a personal choice.
According to a memo shared with teams, an unvaccinated player who tests positive and is not showing symptoms must self-isolate for 10 days. And an unvaccinated player who is deemed to be a close contact to an infected individual must quarantine for five days, like last season’s protocol. A vaccinated player who tests positive and is not showing symptoms can return after producing two negative tests 24 hours apart.
The team’s vaccination rate is in the 90 percent range and expected to rise, Harbaugh said Wednesday.
