Report: Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz tests positive for COVID-19

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Just days after his spectacular performance in Wisconsin’s win over Illinois, Badgers quarterback Graham Mertz has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. The team still has to confirm that test, but he could miss significant time if he does have the virus.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Mertz has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Another nasal swab test has to be done in order to confirm that result, but if Mertz is positive, he will have to sit out practices and games for the next 21 days due to the Big Ten’s official policies.

3COMMENTS
Should Mertz be sidelined for the next 21 days, he would miss games against Nebraska, Purdue, and Michigan. With Jack Coan already out indefinitely due to injury, the Badgers may have to turn to sophomore Chase Wolf at the quarterback position.

247sports.com

Report: Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz tests positive for COVID-19

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247sports.com 247sports.com
 



He lit up Illinois too! This kid looked like the real deal!
 

Ron never should have let his kid go to Sconny...the ghost of Sid is at work.

In all seriousness, wish the kid a speedy recovery.
 








He'll be back for our game, but yeah, the game against michigan will be tough if their defense doesn't keep michigan to a low score
 

i wonder if this will be the first straw to push the B10 to change their rules now that they have one of their more high-profile players positive (or will it take Justin Fields)
 

He caught it between friday and today? Whoops.
 




So with close contact their other QBs and OL are out for 2 weeks?
 

Score one for daily antigen testing. Anything short of daily testing and this could have ended the Badger's season (if confirmed).
 

GoldenUMNGopher said:
What are the odds they will come back and say false positive? :unsure:
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Pretty someone posted that you test positive on the daily saliva tests first, then they do another test on the more advanced and accurate PCR tests, before they declare you testing positive.
 

Or this could end up with games postponed or canceled if their positivity rate increases. The QB is in close contact with a lot of guys for a lot of cumulative time throughout the course of a game and practice, in the huddle, LOS, hands all over the football, etc. Just think QBs are standing right over the OL/DL barking out signals (unless in shotgun).
 




Well big in the sense of the big score, but yes you have a good point.


Rittenberg says Mertz has only failed the daily saliva test. PCR result is not known yet.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...nfirmation-positive-covid-19-test-per-reports

Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz, who had a record-setting first career start Friday, tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, according to the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Both newspapers reported Sunday, citing sources, that Mertz had an antigen test come back positive. Mertz will take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to confirm the result. If confirmed, Mertz would have to miss a minimum of 21 days, according to the Big Ten's protocols for athletes who test positive.

Team officials did not immediately confirm the reports. Coach Paul Chryst is scheduled to speak to reporters Monday morning. A source told the Journal Sentinel that Wisconsin has had several false positives since beginning daily antigen testing last month.
 

GoldenUMNGopher said:
Not sure i would call win over Illinois big, but to each their own
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If a Gopher freshman qb in his first start put up his stat line against any conference team you would be calling it party worthy for the kid
 

Brutal for him if he tests positive again. Would miss the Michigan game.
 


Catechol said:
Or this could end up with games postponed or canceled if their positivity rate increases. The QB is in close contact with a lot of guys for a lot of cumulative time throughout the course of a game and practice, in the huddle, LOS, hands all over the football, etc. Just think QBs are standing right over the OL/DL barking out signals (unless in shotgun).
Click to expand...
you mean scored no contests
 


The season should have started a few weeks ago as this sort of thing is inevitable. Now we (potentially) get to see the games played around contact tracing. Fifteen cumulative minutes without masks/shields within six feet. How many high risk exposures?
 

howeda7 said:
Maybe they "forgot" to test him on Friday so he could play...
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I think you only have to get tested max 3 days before the game? If so, sure the top players test 3 days before. He probably had it during the game.
 

Doesn't it take 2-7 days after getting it for it to show up on a test?

If it ends up getting confirmed, it seems like he was almost certainly infected when he was sick. Just from huddles it seems like the whole starting offense would be at risk, not to mention anyone on the sidelines, from practice, in the locker room, on the other team, etc. Looks like they ran about 75 plays so at 12 second per huddle, that alone gets them there, even without counting time during plays or when lined up. With it being on TV it seems like it would be hard for them to make an excuse for not having them sit out.

Are they using the same wristbands the NFL has?
 

This exactly why I said that the BIG trying to play football in a now worsening pandemic was folly.
This season will have an asterisk next to it and will be meaningless..
In general the saliva test is more accurate than the nasal swab.
WI should send the second sample to the same lab that decided Saban had a false positive test.
 

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