Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group reports that the San Francisco 49ers could be facing discipline or a fine in the wake of an NFL investigation into wide receiver Kendrick Bourne testing positive this week for COVID-19. He, along with those he has been in close contact with (tackle Trent Williams and wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel), has been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list and will not play on Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers.
Samuel was already ruled out due to a hamstring injury.
Perhaps adding insult to injury, the investigation has revealed that Bourne may have violated NFL rules surrounding the wearing of a face mask.
Another important layer to this #49ers Kendrick Bourne COVID-19 saga:
Part of NFL's investigation has revealed there may have been a violation from the player from not wearing his mask properly or frequently, per league source
49ers are subject to potential discipline/fine
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) November 5, 2020
Masks are required for all team and league personnel, players included, while traveling to and from games. They also are required inside all team facilities with the exception of practices and workouts.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was fined $100,000 after Week 2 for improperly wearing a face mask. The team was fined an additional $250,000 for the violation.
NFL players are also strongly encouraged to wear masks on the sidelines during games. However, that is different for the 49ers and Buffalo Bills. Players on those teams must wear masks on the sidelines of their home stadiums due to local restrictions.
There was some speculation by NBC Sports Bay Area that Bourne's test may have been a false-positive after a subsequent test returned negative. Both Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Adam Schefter of ESPN doubt that to be the case, though.
#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
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
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