The San Francisco 49ers find themselves in a very difficult situation heading into tonight's game against the Green Bay Packers. The roster has been devastated by more than just numerous injuries. Several players will be forced to sit out the game because wide receiver Kendrick Bourne tested positive for COVID-19.
That forced the 49ers to conduct contact tracing on Wednesday and to place four players, including Bourne, on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The others were left tackle Trent Williams and wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. Samuel had already been ruled out of the game due to a hamstring injury. The others will miss Thursday's game because of close contact with Bourne this week.
Bourne's agent said the receiver is symptom-free, and now it seems that the test may have been a false-positive. According to NBC Sports Bay Area, Bourne and others have undergone another test, all of which returned negative.
That doesn't change anything for Thursday night, though. Bourne, along with Williams and Aiyuk (again, Samuel was already ruled out), will still have to sit out the game.
It is looking as if #49ers WR Kendrick Bourne's test from yesterday was a false positive, according to source close to him. He and three others who live with him have all tested negative. Still, he, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Trent Williams must remain on COVID-19 list today.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) November 5, 2020
#49ers UPDATE: NO positive COVID test results - per team source.
***even Kendrick Bourne received a NEGATIVE test result.***
If the #GBvsSF was a Sunday game , the team would likely have all of its available players able to suit up.
— Jennifer Lee Chan (@jenniferleechan) November 5, 2020
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network seems to contradict Maiocco's speculation that Bourne's test may have been a false positive, noting that a subsequent negative test doesn't often indicate something wrong with the initial test.
#49ers WR Kendrick Bourne, who tested positive for COVID-19, was negative on his last test, source said. That doesn't mean it was a false positive. In fact, this has happened plenty of times before in the NFL and 98% of the time, players have been proven to be positive.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 5, 2020
Rapoport's ESPN counterpart, Adam Schefter, noted something similar.
Update: Kendrick Bourne's test came back positive Wednesday and negative today. There have been 104 instances this season of a positive one day and a negative the next - and it has been proven positive 101 of the 104 times with further testing.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 5, 2020
False-positive or not, the situation leaves the 49ers with one healthy and available wide receiver — Trent Taylor. Richie James Jr. could play but was listed on Wednesday as "questionable" due to an ankle injury. San Francisco also has three options on the practice squad, including former Chicago Bears first-round pick Kevin White.
Note: This article has been updated with information from Rapoport and Schefter.