On Saturday morning, the news broke that Patriots quarterback Cam Newton had tested positive for COVID, and that all options were on the table for New England’s scheduled game against the Chiefs on Sunday.
Given the complications surrounding even one positive test among an NFL team, the game has now been postponed, per NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy, to Monday or Tuesday.
New from the NFL pic.twitter.com/UyUAMKI0qE
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) October 3, 2020
After Newton tested positive, the Patriots released a statement in which the team said that no other players or staff had tested positive after receiving point of care tests. But that’s not the end of the story, unfortunately. When the Titans first experienced what has become a legitimate outbreak of positive COVID tests, the plan was for their Sunday game against the Steelers to be moved a day or two ahead. As the case numbers kept increasing, the league had to move the game to Week 7, with both the Titans and the Steelers receiving a Week 4 bye. This also moved the Steelers-Ravens game from Week 7 to Week 8, with Baltimore getting a Week 7 bye.
At this point, we don’t actually know whether the negative point-of-care tests reveal no additional cases beyond Newton’s, which is why the league has taken the first step of postponement. But at some point, Patriots players and staff will have to get on a plane to Kansas City, and the safety of that move is obviously in doubt.
In addition, per Ian Rapoport and Mike Garofolo of the NFL Network, Chiefs practice-squad quarterback Jordan Ta’Amu has tested positive for COVID.
Stay tuned, and don’t assume that you’ll see a Patriots-Chiefs game this week.