The Chiefs have been cleared to practice on Wednesday after negative COVID-19 test results.
The Kansas City Chiefs have been cleared to practice on Wednesday, as of now, because, according to NFL reporter Tom Pelissero, the entire team tested negative for COVID-19 the day after facing the New England Patriots in Week 4.
The #Chiefs -- who played Stephon Gilmore and the #Patriots on Monday night -- returned no positive tests from Tuesday's round of testing, I'm told. They're allowed to practice today under the supplemental intensive protocols, including mandatory use of PPE by player in practice.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 7, 2020
The situation in Kansas City and other places dealing with active COVID-19 cases—or the potential for more—is dicey, to say the least. The Chiefs played the Patriots on Monday night, a 26-10 victory in a battle for AFC supremacy. The reason the game was even played a day after it was originally scheduled was due to a positive test for COVID-19 for Patriots quarterback Cam Newton. After the news broke about Newton, the Chiefs had a player of their own, quarterback Jordan Ta’amu, test positive as well.
From there, teams were tested again and again and passed safety measures and protocols enough for the Patriots to fly in and out of Kansas City in a single day in order to play the game.
On Tuesday, however, the news took a turn for the worse. Less than 24 hours after the teams played each other, the Patriots placed a new player on the reserve/COVID list in defensive tackle Bill Murray. Then on Wednesday, major news broke early in the morning stating that Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore had also tested positive for the coronavirus.
Suddenly, it seemed as if dominoes were falling in a tragic direction. The reason this is alarming for Chiefs fans can be found in this single image.
That's Stephon Gilmore with Mahomes. pic.twitter.com/wY2GECSHgX
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 7, 2020
It’s clear that after playing each other and exchanging greetings after the game that both teams could have easily spread anything yet undetected to one another. The Patriots have already lost the two most valuable players on their team for the foreseeable future—Newton and Gilmore—and the same could easily happen to the Chiefs because of interactions just like this.
For now, the Chiefs are cleared to practice but it will be interesting to see how cautious the Chiefs are going to be in-house and whether any test results begin to show different results.