Denver Broncos president John Elway, CEO Joe Ellis test positive for coronavirus
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos president of football operations/general manager John Elway and president and CEO Joe Ellis have each tested positive for the coronavirus and are isolating at home.
Ellis and Elway both received their positive test results early Tuesday morning. Both have experienced mild symptoms, and team sources said Tuesday that neither Ellis nor Elway has been in close contact with any of the team's players and coaches in recent days as the Broncos were already operating under the NFL's enhanced COVID-19 protocols.
The Broncos' facility was closed for the players and other team employees Tuesday for Election Day, but as a precaution the team also told its coaches to work from home. Ellis sent an email to Broncos employees early Tuesday, around 7 a.m., revealing he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Ellis and Elway were notified of their positive test results shortly after 4 a.m. Tuesday.
In a statement, the Broncos said: "Based on a review of contact tracing data with the league, we are confident these cases originated independently outside team facilities. There were minimal close contacts identified for each (no players or coaches), and those individuals have been notified.
"While our facilities are closed for Election Day, coaches are conducting their game preparations today remotely as a precaution. Our organization will remain in communication with the NFL, making all decisions in consultation with the league and based on guidance from medical experts.''
Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer, said Tuesday that the Broncos' situation was "concerning," but added that "to date, we have not seen transmission extensively within the building there as we have outside.''
Sills said the team and league are taking additional steps and continue to monitor the situation. He said the league has talked to state and local health officials in Colorado.
He noted that team executives wear contact tracing devices if they are in and around the team environment, as Elway and Ellis are.
"We have the same information on them that we have on players. We go through the same steps," he said. ''We can say with a reasonably high degree of certainty that in these cases, most of these cases, that the exposure, the infection, did not originate inside the building, it came outside the building. As virus levels surge in the community, people are going to get more exposed outside the building and that's where they get infected.''
The Broncos are scheduled to play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Broncos currently have two coaches isolating under the league's COVID-19 protocols -- Mike Munchak and Ed Donatell -- though the team hasn't announced whether either has tested positive for the virus or was in close contact of someone who did.
Broncos guard Graham Glasgow also tested positive last week and was moved to the reserve/COVID-19 list. Running backs coach Curtis Modkins tested positive last month and has since returned to the team.
Team sources said Tuesday that Ellis was not in the Broncos' complex Thursday or Friday last week as he was working remotely and only stopped in briefly Saturday morning to pick up his credential for Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Ellis, 61, did not attend the game because he did not feel well, the first game he did not attend in the last 26 years.
Elway, 60, was in the team's complex Monday, but left when he experienced some mild COVID-19 symptoms. Under the enhanced protocols, Elway has not been in close proximity with the team's players and coaches inside the team complex.
