Two Chiefs Players Placed on COVID-19 List After Getting Haircuts From Infected Barber

A barber who cut receiver Demarcus Robinson and center Daniel Kilgore’s hair tested positive for coronavirus. Sources tell NFL.com neither Robinson nor Kilgore tested positive for the virus and all parties were wearing masks during the encounter. Still, the proximity to an infected person forces Kansas City to place the players on the reserve/COVID-19 list due to “high-risk close contact.”

With the Super Bowl less than a week away, this contact couldn’t have come at a worse time. But if Robinson and Kilgore continue to test negative, they will be able to return to the Chiefs’ active roster prior to their match-up against the Buccaneers. They won’t be able to practice in the week leading up to the Super Bowl and will be mandated to self-isolate for five days. Fortunately, the Chiefs aren’t traveling to Tampa until Saturday.

Sources say that the barber tested negative five consecutive days before he was allowed to enter the Chiefs’ facility. The barber also took a rapid test before entering the facility on Sunday, but the results were delayed due to the host of family and friends also getting tested. He was wearing double PPE and was still cutting Kilgore’s hair (the first in a line of players waiting for haircuts) when his positive result came back. He was removed immediately. During a follow-up interview with NFL officials, the barber revealed that he cut Robinson’s hair the previous day outside of the facility.

This follows memos from the NFL warning teams that “non-club service providers such as barbers, personal chefs, chiropractors, masseuses and stretching assistants who are employed by individual players” increased positive COVID-19 cases. Tyreek Hill also explained that the team is being careful when bringing in outside services.

“The Chiefs are bringing in barbers to the facility and getting ’em tested,” Hill said to the media on Monday. “So, like, they are really following protocol.”