(670 The Score) The Bears on Saturday morning encountered their first positive test for COVID-19 since the intake process when rookie offensive lineman Badara Traore, a member of the team's practice squad, tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Bears gave players the weekend off after earning a 20-19 victory against the Buccaneers at Soldier Field on Thursday night. The team returned to work on Monday morning, five days after the active roster's most recent contact with the practice squad. The Bears held a walk-through practice at Halas Hall, but that work didn't include the practice squad, which was kept away from the facility as a preventative measure.
Additional testing since Saturday hasn't returned any other positive tests for the Bears, who placed Traore on the reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday. Nagy indicated Traore, an undrafted rookie out of LSU, is doing well after his positive test.
"He feels bad because he has no idea when it happened or anything like that," Nagy said. "That’s the biggest thing is just trying to handle the why part -- why him? But at the same time, we all just need to understand that and support him and know that we have to do our job now and risk mitigate as much as possible, but he seems to be doing good."
Traore's positive test came as two NFL teams have serious COVID-19 concerns. The Titans had their game against the Steelers on Oct. 4 postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak that has affected 23 players and staff members. Tennessee is scheduled to host Buffalo on Tuesday in its first game since Sept. 27. The Patriots also had their game against the Broncos this weekend -- which was rescheduled for Monday -- postponed an entire week after having multiple players test positive since quarterback Cam Newton first tested positive.
The NFL made a series of changes to its existing schedule in order to accommodate the Titans' and Patriots' respective situations.
Meanwhile, the positive test for Traore led to some initial concern about whether the Bears could be in jeopardy of an outbreak.
"Just hoping that every day you wake up, you don't have that missed call, that call on your cell phone, that you tested positive," receiver Allen Robinson said. "This is a very unknown thing with how the virus is spreading."
The Bears are scheduled to play the Panthers in Charlotte on Sunday. Their next practice will be held Wednesday at Halas Hall, and it's expected to include the active members of the practice squad.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.