Pete Carroll returns to lead Seahawks after COVID quarantine, wearing a mask
Pete Carroll is back — to 2020 mode for a bit.
The Seahawks coach was back at training camp and on the practice field Friday morning, wearing a mask for the first time around players this year. He ended a five-day quarantine following his positive test of COVID-19 Sunday.
Carroll watched the live feed of the three practices he missed.
“The players, they looked a little more fired up than when I was out there. It kinda worried me, to be honest,” he joked following Friday’s practice.
He said he talked to assistant coaches via phone during practices.
“It’s really good to be back out here. I missed the crap out of being out here,” Carroll said. “It was so much fun today. Practice went way too fast.
“I’m feeling great. I never did feel really bad. I just had a couple of symptoms that ticked it off and away we went. We’ve tried to really be cognizant and respectful of everybody else. It doesn’t matter about me right now. I just have to make sure I don’t affect anybody else.”
Carroll said this was only the second time he’s missed a practice, as a player or a coach. That dates to 1970 at the College of the Pacific.
“I’ve missed one practice in my life that I can recall. My dad passed away back at USC in the springtime,” he said. “I never missed a practice playing and I never miss a practice coaching, so it was a new experience.
“And, as always, when we miss something, you realize how much you appreciate getting it back. It was a blast to be with the guys today. I feel like it’s been a month, it feels like forever.”
Carroll alluded to having to wear a mask Friday, and not beyond that if he continues to be free of symptoms./
The team said Monday the 70-year-old Carroll tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday. That meant he tested negative and was free in time to be back on the field and inside the team facility coaching on the first day he could.
“He is fully vaccinated and experiencing mild symptoms, while remaining at home,” a statement from the Seahawks said Monday. “Carroll remains in contact with the coaching staff and will participate in team meetings virtually until he returns to the facility.”
Associate head coach Carl Smith ran the team in Carroll’s three-practice absence.
After two years of daily testing for COVID-19 at the deadliest height of the pandemic, the NFL changed its coronavirus protocols for 2022 training camps and the coming season. Players and staff members no longer have league-mandated surveillance COVID-19 testing, regardless of vaccination status. Players and staff are no longer mandated to wear electronic tracking devices inside team facilities, to determine close contacts.
Players are staff are not required to wear masks or face coverings, subject to state and local requirements.
A positive COVID test obviously changes that.
The league’s new guidelines for 2022 state “teams also have the authority to enact a mask requirement if they elect to do so.” Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 will still require a negative test before entering any team facility. If the test is positive, they must isolate for a period of at least five days, as Carroll did.
Coaches were required to wear masks throughout the 2020 season, at the height of the pandemic. Those NFL protocols began to change and ease last year.
