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Fred Warner has been activated by the San Francisco 49ers off the reserve/Covid-19 list. His activation fills out the 53-man roster, which was left at 52 players while Warner was kept on the list. He is now available and likely to play in the Week 1 opener against the Arizona Cardinals after spending nine days on the list, beginning August 31; however, it is the 10-day mark including the 31st. He also did not practice on the 30th.
The team is not allowed to reveal whether Warner tested positive for Covid-19; only Warner can. The league follows the following protocols for return to play from the list, as we explained here:
“For Warner to return, the following protocols take place:
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If he did not test positive, he will be monitored for symptoms and tested daily. Three negative tests will have him removed from the list.
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If he tests positive, but negative on the point of care test at the facility and is asymptomatic, he can return to the club facility with increased symptom monitoring and daily point of care testing after 1-8 days.
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If he tests positive on both the standard daily test and the point of care test, but has no symptoms, he can return once 10 days have passed since a positive test, or once five days have passed since the first positive test and two-straight negative point of care tests and the club physician approves his return after consulting with the NFL’s Incident Command System, which oversees coronavirus protocols.
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If he tests positive on both the standard daily test and point of care test and has symptoms, he can return once 10 days have passed since the first COVID symptoms appeared, at least 72 hours have passed since the last symptoms appeared and the club physician approves his return after consulting with the NFL’s Incident Command System.”
Given the amount of time Warner spent on the list, he had to have tested positive. If he tested negative and then had three subsequent negative tests, it would have taken five days or less to take him off the list.
It is likely that Warner tested positive on both the standard daily test and point of care test, but was asymptomatic. This would place him at roughly the 10-day mark since testing positive. The other barometer is five days after the first positive tests and two-straight negative point-of-care tests. Only Warner can confirm this was the case, but the amount of time he spent on the list indicates he likely fell into that third category.
