The Kansas City Chiefs placed offensive lineman Daniel Kilgore and wide receiver Demarcus Robinson on the COVID-19 injured reserve list earlier this week as close contacts. If both continue testing negative, they will be eligible to play on Sunday in Super Bowl 55. However, the Chiefs may have just barely dodged an even bigger problem.
The close contacts for Kilgore and Robinson involved the team barber. Robinson got his hair cut last Saturday and Kilgore was in the process of getting his hair cut when positive test results came back. The barber had tested negative on five consecutive days before he was allowed to enter the Chiefs’ facility. The barber took a rapid test on Sunday but reports have the result delayed due to additional tests. He was cutting Kilgore’s hair while reportedly wearing double PPE when the positive test came back.
The barber was immediately removed, and it was none too soon. Adam Schefter is reporting the Chiefs had 20 players and staffers, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes scheduled to get a haircut that day with the barber. It’s possible none would have caught the virus, but even if they had not tested positive, they still would have had to isolate for five days. That would have covered most of the practice week leading up to Super Bowl 55 and created a competitive disadvantage for the Chiefs. The NFL would have likely still made them play the game on Sunday, so the Chiefs are fortunate things worked out the way they did given what could have happened.