More and more NFL players keep testing positive for COVID-19 and on Saturday one the league’s biggest names, Cam Newton, headlined the list.
The New England Patriots quarterback has tested positive and is out for Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Late last night, we received notice that a Patriots player tested positive for COVID-19. The player immediately entered self-quarantine,” the Patriots said in a statement Saturday. “Several additional players, coaches and staff who have been in close contact with the player received point of care tests this morning and all were negative for COVID-19.”
Statement from the New England Patriots. pic.twitter.com/eSTUukh5vl
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 3, 2020
The Patriots were scheduled to depart for Kansas City on Saturday afternoon, but plans are now on standby as the team awaits more test results and guidance from the NFL, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport adds that this is an isolated case, as of now. Patriots players were alerted this morning to arrive for tests because a player had tested positive. The immediate results show no more positives, according to Rapoport, but results can often take days to manifest.
Earlier this week, with news of the Tennessee Titans’ coronavirus outbreak, Patriots coach Bill Belichick had said: “We monitor everything every day. We don’t just do it when there’s a problem or something comes up somewhere else. We do it on a daily basis and make everyone — because this is everybody, it’s not just players; it’s players and coaches and staff and everybody else — make everyone aware. Or if we can do something better, then we talk to them about how we can do it better. So, we try to monitor it the best we can, and we I think are pretty vigilant with, really, all of us.”
Stay tuned, but Sunday’s Pats-Chiefs showdown could be in jeopardy.