The San Francisco 49ers find themselves in a very difficult situation heading into tonight's game against the Green Bay Packers. The roster has been devastated by more than just numerous injuries. Several players will be forced to sit out the game because wide receiver Kendrick Bourne tested positive for COVID-19.

That forced the 49ers to conduct contact tracing on Wednesday and to place four players, including Bourne, on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The others were left tackle Trent Williams and wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. Samuel had already been ruled out of the game due to a hamstring injury. The others will miss Thursday's game because of close contact with Bourne this week.

Bourne's agent said the receiver is symptom-free, and now it seems that the test may have been a false-positive. According to NBC Sports Bay Area, Bourne and others have undergone another test, all of which returned negative.

That doesn't change anything for Thursday night, though. Bourne, along with Williams and Aiyuk (again, Samuel was already ruled out), will still have to sit out the game.



Ian Rapoport of NFL Network seems to contradict Maiocco's speculation that Bourne's test may have been a false positive, noting that a subsequent negative test doesn't often indicate something wrong with the initial test.


Rapoport's ESPN counterpart, Adam Schefter, noted something similar.


False-positive or not, the situation leaves the 49ers with one healthy and available wide receiver — Trent Taylor. Richie James Jr. could play but was listed on Wednesday as "questionable" due to an ankle injury. San Francisco also has three options on the practice squad, including former Chicago Bears first-round pick Kevin White.

Note: This article has been updated with information from Rapoport and Schefter.

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