Green Bay Packers announce more roster moves on Tuesday

The Green Bay Packers are still navigating their way through this current COVID outbreak. And on Tuesday, general manager Brian Gutekunst announced the addition of two more players to the team’s reserve/ COVID-19 list.

Green Bay has announced that they have placed linebacker Oren Burks and tight end, Marcedes Lewis, on the reserve/COVID-19 list as of Tuesday.

Teams are not allowed to disclose any other medical information on players other than their roster status. So it is uncertain whether either the two players have contracted the virus or have just been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive.

Burks has started in four of the 14 games he has played in this season. The six-foot-three linebacker out of Vanderbilt has recorded 22 total tackles, 16 solo, and half a sack.

The 37-year-old veteran tight end out of UCLA, Mercedes Lewis, has played in 15 games this season and has started in three of them. He has a total of 23 receptions for 214 yards with an average of 9.3 yards per catch this year. The duo will join a quartet of Packers players who Gutekunst announced to the reserve/ COVID-19 list on Monday.

The NFL announces changes to COVID guidelines

There has been sweeping reform to COVID guidelines throughout most major sports leagues in America, and now the NFL is following suit. NFL reporter Tom Pelissero released this update, via Twitter, on the current circumstances surrounding the NFL and their COVID protocols.

“The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to modify COVID protocols in accordance with new CDC guidelines, cutting the standard isolation period after a positive test for asymptomatic individuals from 10 days to 5 days – regardless of vaccination status,” wrote Pelissero.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter added that these new rules apply to all COVID positive players who are asymptomatic, and that includes players that are unvaccinated, per his sources.

The CDC shortened the recommended time for COVID-19 isolation and quarantine in response to the new variant of the virus, the Omicron variant, which is believed to be more contagious than the other variants.