Santa Clara, California. – A week after the NFL and Players Union began an investigation into the San Francisco 49ers’ compliance with the league’s Covid-19 protocol, the team has been cleared of any possible violations.
A league source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that after reviewing the team’s compliance with the NFL guidelines, the Niners have been found to have met the requirements and no further action will be taken against them.
The Associated Press reported that the first 49 potential violations had been cleared.
The Nainers investigation began after a positive test by receiver Kendrick Bourne last week and the team had to shut down its facilities before Thursday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers. The league investigated whether Bourne was wearing his defensive face properly and frequently enough.
Bourne, fellow recipients Debo Samuel and Brandon Ayuk, and left-hander Trent Williams, landed on the reserve / COVID-19 list because the latter three were considered Bourne’s high-risk contacts. All four players did not play against the Packers.
On Friday, after Bourne returned consistently negative results on its COVID-19 tests, Ninars activated that quartet. But Bourne returned to the list on Monday after another positive test, leading to a series of confusing incidents that coach Kyle Shanah tried to persuade on Wednesday.
“I mean, positive, negative, negative, positive, negative,” Shanah said. “It happens, I guess, and we’re all dealing with it. I know there’s a weird situation with it. It’s not just our football players, with everyone in the world, it’s weird. So, we “I’m just trying my best with the protocol and hopefully it’s always clear there is a negative and hopefully we can get it out of here in a few weeks.”
If Bourne had been found to have violated the protocol, the Niners would have been subject to league discipline, including possible penalties. Earlier this season, the league fined Shanah 000 100,000 and Niners 250 250,000 for not covering his face properly during the September 20 win over the New York Jets.
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