Saturday provided some good news for the 49ers and wide receiver Deebo Samuel. ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reported Samuel passed COVID-19 protocols and was back at the team facility after missing the final two days of practice leading up to Week 5 with an illness.
Players who’re sick are required to have two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests before returning to the team’s facility. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Friday said Samuel told the team he wasn’t having symptoms and was “feeling great.”
Shanahan explained why the new protocols for sick players forced Samuel to exit the building.
“Deebo, he was sick, so I think he was just a little achy. I think he might have had a fever at night,” Shanahan said in a video conference with reporters after Friday’s practice. “Especially with flu season coming up, that’s going to be common, but if you have symptoms, you’re automatically out of the building, I think, for at least two days, because you need to pass two tests to confirm it’s not COVID and anyone who’s been around you also needs to be out for those two days.”
San Francisco hasn’t officially changed his ‘questionable’ designation on the injury report, so there’s still a chance he doesn’t play vs. the Dolphins. The good news is he won’t go on the reserve/COVID-19 list and be forced to miss time.
