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UPDATE: Ian Rapoport is reporting the game is a go with no Falcons players or personnel testing positive during the Saturday testing.
Sources: The #Falcons-#Bears game is officially on, despite ATL CB AJ Terrell being placed on the COVID-19 reserve list and contact tracing over the last more than 24 hours. All ATL players and personnel are cleared for today’s game. No positives from testing conducted yesterday.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 27, 2020
The Atlanta Falcons are scheduled to host the Chicago Bears at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, but the game is in question due to Covid-19. Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell tested positive for Covid-19, according to multiple reports and had practiced with the entire team before learning of the result. The team has not confirmed Terrell’s positive test, but contact tracing is underway. We won’t know until later Sunday morning whether or not the game will need to be postponed.
Terrell took the test on Friday, practiced later that day, and then learned of the positive result on Saturday. He did not take part in the team’s Saturday walkthrough after learning of the result and has been placed on the Covid-19 injured reserve list. If Sunday’s game happens, he will not play in it.
The NFL and NFL Players Association are conducting contact tracing of the Falcons, and the league is awaiting results from Saturday Covid-19 tests. Those results will arrive Sunday morning. Players wear tracking devices while inside team facilities to assist with contact tracing.
The league was “hopeful” Saturday evening about the game being played, but until contact tracing and the next round of testing is completed, the game remains up in the air, according to Washington Post reporter Mark Maske. One concern would be that even if nobody tests positive, it can take more than a day for the virus to show up. Saturday morning testing does not guarantee nobody contracted the virus from Terrell on Friday.