DETROIT – The Detroit Lions say quarterback Matthew Stafford has been removed from the COVID-IR list and back to the active roster following a false-positive test.
The Detroit Lions released this statement on Tuesday:
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“As a result of a False-Positive test result, he was forced due to NFL/NFLPA protocols to sit out until he received two negative tests. His testing sequence for the Pre-Entry period was: negative, negative, False-Positive. The next three tests were all negative.
To be clear, Matthew does NOT have COVID-19 and never has had COVID-19 and the test in question was a False-Positive. Also, all of Matthew’s family have been tested and everyone is negative.”
Stafford was placed on the COVID-IR list last week. Sports Illustrated reported that he tested positive for COVID-19.
Stafford’s wife, Kelly, posted to Instagram, talking about the family’s experience in recent days.
“The past four days have been somewhat of a nightmare. For 24 hours, we believed my husband was positive for COVID,” Kelly writes. “We were all tested the day after and we were all negative, including Matthew...then he tested negative again, then again, again and again.”
“I have been losing my mind because of how my family has been treated since my husband was put on COVID-IR,” Kelly continues. “Even after we knew it was false positive, our school told us they were not allowed back, I was approached in a grocery store and told I was “endangering others,” my kids were harassed and kicked off a playground, I was told I needed to wait in my car when trying to pick up food, and people closest to us had to get tested.”
“I don’t blame these scenarios on any of the people directly involved, I understand where they’re coming from, but I do blame the NFL. I blame the NFL for not holding themselves accountable. These are people’s lives and livelihoods that are in those results in THEIR test sites. Maybe we should be absolutely positive a person has COVID before releasing that info to the world.”