World enews: Ben Roethlisberger: NFL Covid outbreak continues as Steelers QB placed on reserve list

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won’t play in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions because he has been added to the “Reserve/Covid-19 List,” the team confirmed on Saturday. That means he either has a case of coronavirus or was exposed to someone who does.

The Independent has reached out to the team for more information.

Mr Roethlisberger said last week he is fully vaccinated.

“I think you’re supposed to have your mask on if you’re not vaccinated. I don’t know who on our team is and isn’t,” he told the “Dan Patrick Show” last week. “I know I am, so I don’t have to have my mask on, but you still have to live your life.”

The Steelers star is the second NFL quarter to miss a game because of Covid in two weeks.

Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers was temporarily sidelined earlier this month for a positive case. The Rodgers diagnosis caused a controversy because it was revealed he wasn’t vaccinated, after previously telling reporters he had been “immunised.”

The NFL fined the Packers $300,000 and penalized Rodgers and teammate Allen Lazard personally to the tune of $14,650, stating the players broke league protocol by attending a Halloween party despite being unvaccinated. The star QB will return in Sunday’s matchup between the Packers the Seattle Seahawks. Rodgers initially lashed out amid the controversy, invoking Martin Luther King, Jr., cancel culture, and the famous abortion rights slogan “my body, my choice” as he defended his actions.

“I realise I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now, so before the final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I’d like to set the record straight on some of the blatant lies that are out there about me now,” Mr Rodgers told a radio host, arguing he was not an “anti-vax flat earther,” but rather a “critical thinker” who believed he had an allergy to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

Rather than get the vaccines, Rodgers said he consulted with alternative podcaster Joe Rogan and used a number of unproven fringe Covid treatments like ivermectin.

He later apologised, telling the Pat McAfee Show earlier this week that “…I misled some people about my status, which I take full responsibility of, those comments. But in the end, I have to stay true to who I am and what I’m about. I stand behind the things that I said.”

“We respect the League’s findings and we recognize the importance of adherence to the COVID protocols to keep our team and organization safe and healthy,” Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy told CNN. “We will continue to educate the team regarding the importance of the protocols and remain committed to operating within the protocols.”