The COVID-19 outbreak has struck the NFL again.
Los Angeles Rams center Brain Allen is the first NFL player to test positive for the coronavirus, as reported by FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer. Allen told Glazer said his symptoms began around three weeks ago.
“I woke up three weeks ago, I couldn’t smell anything,” Allen said. “I lost all sense of smell to the point where I had smelling salts here, I cracked them open, put them to my nose and nothing would happen.
But that wasn’t the only sense he lost.
“All I could feel was texture in my mouth,” Allen said.
Other symptoms included periodic sore throats and fatigue. Those symptoms lasted only three or four days around when he first tested positive, but another test taken recently still came back with a positive result.
He still remains without his sense of taste and smell. Doctors have told him it could take upwards of six to eight months for those senses to fully return, per Glazer.
Luckily, Allen’s situation was not nearly as serious as other cases of the deadly coronavirus, and he is thankful for that as well.
Breaking news from @JayGlazer: Los Angeles Rams C Brian Allen is first NFL player to test positive for Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/pkGeD2GHJ2
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) April 16, 2020
New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was the first in the NFL to test positive for the virus. He has since recovered.
