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Details emerge of Saints' COVID-19 false positive ahead of Detroit Lions game

It was a mostly sleepless Saturday night for New Orleans Saints fullback Michael Burton as he wrestled with the uncertainty of a positive test for COVID-19 that might affect his team.

It turned out to be a false positive and Burton played in the Saints’ 35-29 victory over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.

“I told the doctor when I got the call, ‘Like, there’s no way,’ ” Burton said after the game. “Not that that means anything and not that that can’t happen again but I just said there’s no way. I tried to take all the proper precautions that were set in place by our team and the NFLPA. It’s something I take very seriously to not be that guy to be a distraction.

“Again, luckily it all worked out well and I just tried to go out today and play the best game I could to help my team win because I know last night was tough for the guys, the coaches and doctors. I didn’t want to be the centerpiece of that.”

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Saints fullback Michael Burton walks off the field after warmup before the game against Lions at Ford Field on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020.
Saints fullback Michael Burton walks off the field after warmup before the game against Lions at Ford Field on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020.

Burton, a former Lion, received a positive test after traveling with the team to Detroit, ProFootballTalk reported late Saturday night. Burton was re-tested twice, and both tests came back negative, according to Fox Sports.

Burton wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. Several of the Saints’ coaches and personnel stayed up waiting for the results of Burton’s test. They finally came back negative at 3 a.m.

“There were seven, eight, 10 of us up past 1 a.m. in the morning and that’s just the way it is,” Payton said. “Took them awhile to get the point-of-care tests here. …

“This testing was done by 12:55 a.m., and then we got the results back before 3 a.m. Look, we were playing a game and getting ready to play a game. That’s just part of the deal this year.”

Nothing else changed with the Saints’ preparations before the game. And NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email Sunday morning the Lions-Saints game will go on as scheduled.

The Saints took an extra measure of precaution with the contact tracing.

“The concern that we had with the tracer system is that it only showed three (close contacts) and we knew it was way more than three, just based on where he was sitting on the airplane,” Payton said. “So we went ahead ourselves — and point-of-care tested four or five more players that weren’t on the tracing system. I think the tracing system has had some inaccuracies, to say the least, but I think we were smart enough to realize who else might have been exposed and went ahead and had those guys tested.”

Lions coach Matt Patricia said he wasn’t concerned about the game possibly being canceled.

“No, we just got up ready to go,” he said. “The league obviously has policies and procedures in place to make sure everybody is safe and we just go play.”

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, a victim of a false positive test this summer, said he wasn’t concerned about playing against the Saints after Burton’s false-positive test.

“No, I didn’t think so,” he said. “I think we have to trust what the league is doing, and they’re doing as good as a job as they possibly can. They say it’s safe to go out there and play, we’re going to go out there and do it.”

Saints quarterback Drew Brees said he was proud of the way the team rallied to win after facing quite a bit of uncertainty and adversity before the game.

“Coming up here,” he said, “we lose some starters this week in practice, and then we had the whole COVID ordeal last night, or a false positive that unfortunately kept a lot of people up late and all of that stuff.

“But man, I think it just says a lot about this team, about all of the guys that stepped up and filled that void, filled those roles. And everybody just persevered and found a way to get a big win today.”

Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez. The Free Press has started a new digital subscription model. Here's how you can gain access to our most exclusive Lions content.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Saints' COVID-19 scare went down before Detroit Lions game