The Detroit Lions versus New Orleans Saints game will be played at it’s originally scheduled time as Michael Burton’s original sample was retested and confirmed negative, per multiple reports.
If you missed the drama throughout the night, here’s a quick recap.
The Saints’ players and staff were tested on Friday per usual and after their results came back negative on Saturday morning and they were cleared to fly to Detroit. Before departing New Orleans, they once again went through the testing process to clear everyone for Sunday’s game. When those results came in, Burton was flagged with a positive result.
Once the positive result came in, the Saints did contact tracing and identified four other players that needed testing, and a rapid-tests were administered. Burton’s original sample was also retested and all tests came back negative.
The rerun of #Saints FB Michael Burton's original sample came back negative, source said. It appears that was a false positive for COVID-19.
All rapid-result point of care tests given to Burton's close contacts also were negative.
Game on in Detroit.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 4, 2020
Ironically, it was Matthew Stafford’s false-positive test result from training camp, and the Lions’ protest over testing standards at the time, that forced the NFL and NFLPA to change the testing procedures to rule out future false-positives, like Burton’s.
In the end, the game will be played at 1:00 pm EST, as previously scheduled. Stay tuned to Lions Wire for all your pre-game articles.
