BY AAGD STAFF
June 7, 2020 — A new partnership between the PGA Tour and Sanford Health aims to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
The PGA TOUR announces it has partnered with Sanford Health to conduct on-site COVID-19 testing of players, caddies and essential personnel at PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions and Korn Ferry Tour tournaments in the continental United States for the remainder of the season. This effort is geared to helping reduce the number of infections and the spreading of COVID-19 disease.
The testing will begin with next week’s resumption of the PGA TOUR schedule at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. According to reports, lab technicians will be conducting the tests and traveling to tournaments in one or three mobile units. Sanford Health is deploying the units across the USA.
The mobile units will arrive on Saturday just before the tournaments begin, manned by a driver and three technicians who will oversee and handle the testing process. The mobile units will stay at the testing site through Thursday before dismantling and moving on to the next nearest tournament.
“With health and safety being our No. 1 priority upon our return to competition, we are extremely pleased to partner with Sanford Health and to utilize their expertise in testing our players, caddies and personnel going forward,” said Andy Levinson, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President Tournament Administration. “Not only will Sanford Health’s mobile laboratories enable us to deliver test results in a matter of hours so that our athletes can properly prepare for competition, but they will also allow us to implement our testing program without utilizing critical resources from the communities in which we play, which was of upmost importance to us.”
The testing process is simple and takes only five minutes to administer. Swabs are made and test results usually are returned within two to four hours. Sanford Health estimates that 400 individuals will be tested at each tournament testing site each week.
“Sanford Health is honored to help ensure a safe return to play for professional golf events in the United States by offering this testing,” said Micah Aberson, Executive Vice President of Sanford Health. “We are incredibly proud of our lab technicians who will represent us at these events as well as all of our health care workers who have gone above and beyond to protect and care for our patients.”
