Late last week XFL fans around the world were shocked when the league announced it had decided to suspend it’s season due to the coronavirus. The news came after the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS had all suspended their seasons and March Madness was officially cancelled.
A few weeks ago it was reported that two CenturyLink staff members that worked the February 22 Dragons home game had contracted covid-19. This, among the spread of the virus in Seattle, had originally resulted in the The Dragons being forced to play in an empty stadium. But… as we stated above, the season was ultimately suspended due to the coronavirus scare.
There was rumors online that possibly one of the players had also contracted covid-19, but nothing was ever confirmed. Well, today the XFL has released a statement shedding some more light on the situation.
XFL statement pic.twitter.com/JaKq3iNKrr
— XFL (@XFL2023) March 15, 2020
As it turns out, one of the Seattle Dragons players did indeed test positive for covid-19. The player is not named, but he did play in the March 7 match-up against the Houston Roughnecks. At the time he was asymptomatic, meaning he did not show any signs of carrying the disease. He self-reported to the medical staff on the 10th and has been in quarantine since. He was given a test as early as possible, with the positive results coming through March 13th.
Consequently, the entire Seattle Dragons roster met with medical staff on the 13th for their exit physicals and additionally screen for coronavirus symptoms. The XFL is reaching out to all players, staff, vendors and partners associated with the Dragons, Roughnecks and BattleHawks, as this player had also played February 29th against St. Louis.
We’ll keep you posted as more information comes out on the subject. It still stings to think about losing the XFL season early, but the league has to do what was right to protest the players, staff and fans.
