Joe Kinsey
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Matthew Stafford’s wife, Kelly, wrote a blistering note on Instagram going after the NFL for “not holding themselves accountable” over what we now know were false-positive COVID tests that sent the Lions quarterback to the COVID-IR list. Kelly Stafford says her family was harassed by people who were under the impression Matthew was positive. The note puts all the blame for this situation on the NFL and how they release COVID results.
Kelly Stafford wrote on Instagram:
The past four days have been somewhat of a nightmare. For 24 hours, we believed my husband was positive for covid…we were all tested the day after and we were all negative including Matthew..then he tested negative again, then again, again and again.
After his second negative, we were made aware of the “false positives” and how this was one of those cases. I have been losing my mind because of how my Family has been treated since my husband was put on COVID-IR. Even after we knew it was false positive, our school told us they were not allowed back, I was approached in a grocery store and told I was “endangering others,” my kids were harassed and kicked off a playground, I was told I needed to wait in my car when trying to pick up food, and people closest to us had to get tested just so they could go back to work..and that’s just to name a few things. I don’t blame these scenarios on any of the people directly involved..I understand where they are coming from, but I do blame the NFL..I blame the NFL for not holding themselves accountable. These are people’s lives and livelihoods that are in those results in THEIR test sites. Maybe we should be absolutely positive a person has cover before releasing that info to the world. I’m sharing our experience because I don’t want it happening to any other family that plays in this league.
We are thankful for all those who called, texted, emailed and showed concern for Matthew and our family. Your thoughts during this strange, difficult time are greatly appreciated..but we are all absolutely fine and feeling great. Thank God for that.
Kelly added, “if you saw me out and about after this, it was because we already knew it was a false positive. We would never chance endangering anyone with this virus.” Matthew has since been removed from the COVID list and is back on the full roster.
So Dr Chao, today you told me false negatives were a bigger issue than false positives. In the handling of the virus on a team and league level that may be true, but how about this as it relates to the population at large and the overall panic created by how all this is being handled?
Great article, Joe! Thank you…
And big time props to Kelly Stafford for speaking up as she did!
Glanville was right. The NFL = Not For Long, but in the way he intended. And people need to do their own homework on the virus and separate out the politically-fueled hysteria from the facts on the ground. Stop being the pawn and be the king, intellectually, and morally.
While it’s likely that the NFLPA agreed that placing players on the COVID IR list would be made public (otherwise this would be a clear violation of HIPAA), perhaps doing so with a bit more caution (multiple positive tests) might be warranted.
Beautiful family, well done Mrs. Stafford.
The witch hunt of COVID19 is absurd, I DO blame the people who treated her like a leper. People are acting like your chances of dying from this virus are 50/50, not .005. It’s asinine how may idiots are overreacting.