FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys have added three more players, including second-year wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, to the COVID-19 list and moved to a virtual format on Sunday and Monday, when defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and defensive tackle Carlos Watkins were on the run. Sent home early from Saturday's preseason game against the Houston Texans.
Coach Mike McCarthy said, "I think we're just as cautious as most things and want to make sure we stop this outbreak and just be smart with it."
Besides the lamb, Safary Malik Hooker and Israel Mukumu were added to the reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday.
Following the announcement of Quinn and Watkins being placed on COVID protocol, the Cowboys announced that 93% of their players had been fully vaccinated, which would account for 80 of the 86 players on the roster. The entire coaching staff and support staff need to be fully vaccinated before the start of the training camp to continue working closer to the players.
If a fully vaccinated player or coach fails one test and is completely asymptomatic, he or she may return to a club facility and receive two negative PCR tests as well as two negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart. Can interact with players after a negative MESA test prior to entry.
If a fully vaccinated player or coach tests positive and has symptoms, he should remain in isolation until he has had two negative PCR tests in 24 hours and is symptom-free for 48 hours. be.
Non-vaccinated players without symptoms will be forced to take at least 10 days off. Non-vaccinated players with symptoms will also miss at least 10 days, as well as other requirements, depending on the severity of symptoms.
It is not clear whether Quinn or the four players have the symptoms.
The coaches and support staff were tested on Sunday.
"Hopefully we'll get to the 72-hour mark by Saturday and hopefully we'll have more information there," McCarthy said.
With four players on the COVID list, the Cowboys will have to make just one roster move to reach the 80-player limit on Tuesday. Once players clear the protocol, the Cowboys must move to the corresponding roster.
The Cowboys are due to return to practice on Tuesday, but McCarthy didn't expect the duration of the workout to be affected.
"I'm probably like everyone else here. I see the numbers, listen to the league's recommendations, know with certainty what's happening in our society, of course here locally and just guess, " They said. "My job is to make sure that no matter what happens, we have a plan."
A year ago, the Cowboys had six players on the COVID list for seven missed games.
McCarthy said, "The messaging is constant. Whenever a memo comes from the league or the NFLPA, it's always communicated." "I really like the player council that we have put together. Those guys are proactive. We all have a clear understanding of what position we are in. We are in no way clear about what happened last year . We are taking the same approach."