NEW YORK — The Giants are staring down a potential coronavirus outbreak, as the team said 13 tests came back positive on Tuesday when the team returned from Kansas City.
Running backs coach Burton Burns was positive again on Wednesday, but Joe Judge said the other 12 were negative in a round of re-testing.
“The first thing he said to me is he was apologetic,” Judge said of Burns. “He doesn’t go anywhere. Burton goes from his apartment to here. He gets on the team plane and he goes to the hotel and he doesn’t leave when he gets to the hotel, so he’s only been places with the team. As I told Burton, I said the one thing about this whole deal is you don’t have to go somewhere to get it, it can come to you.”
A new batch of players tested positive on Wednesday, Judge said. Among them was running back Saquon Barkley, according to the NFL Network. Barkley is vaccinated and currently dealing with an ankle injury. Vaccinated players can return to play with no symptoms and two negative tests in 24 hours, although it was unclear if Barkley was going to play against the Raiders Sunday anyway.
Barkley was among a group of players who were positive on rapid tests Wednesday and were awaiting PCR results. Offensive lineman Matt Skura and safety Xavier McKinney also missed Wednesday’s practice; the Giants say all three are in COVID-19 protocols.
Practice was delayed Wednesday as players, coaches and staff lined up to get tested outside.
Burns is 69 years old and isolating away from the team. Other than Burton, Judge said the situation was unclear.
“That is all still to be determined,” Judge said. “They are going through all the tests, which takes about a day of going through the trainers, close contacts and tracers and all that stuff. In terms of any answers as far as Sunday or even something that will lead into practice, we don’t have any definite answers, except for really Burton, right now.”
