Kirk Cousin’s Clarifies ‘If I Die, I Die’ Comments About COVID-19, Masks

Kirk Cousins on Tuesday made headlines for comments he made on a podcast in July, and since has tried to clarify things.

The Minnesota Vikings quarterback, while discussing COVID-19 with Kyle Brandt more than a month ago, shared his lack of concern with contracting the virus. Cousins also said that he wears a mask out of respect and concern for other people, but is taking a “survival of the fittest” approach to his own safety.

“If I die, I die,” Cousins said on the podcast.

After catching heat for his remarks, Cousins admitted he wishes he worded his thoughts better, but stood by his personal feelings.

“What I was trying to say back then, admittedly, I probably wasn’t as clear as I would have liked to have been,” Cousins said in a media availability, via FOX 9 KMSP. “But what I wanted to say then, what I would echo again now is that while the virus does not give me a great amount of personal fear, there’s still great reason for me to engage in wearing a mask and social distancing and washing my hands as frequently as I can and following protocols that have been set in place.”

Cousins said despite his personal feelings, he still feels a responsibility to follow protocols put in place by government health officials as well as the NFL.

“Obviously to be respectful and considerate of other people, which is very important, but then also to be available for all 16 games this fall because as the protocol is set up, if a player were to test positive, they would be potentially out of a game or games. And so there’s plenty of reasons to wear a mask, social distance and be very vigilant to help stop the spread of the virus. That was the heart of what I was trying to say in July.”

The NFL tweaked their COVID-19 testing protocols in hopes to minimize false positives that could keep players out of games after it was learned there were 77 false positive tests.

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