New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton said he's doing well after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.
"I was cleared yesterday," Payton said on Sports Talk with Bobby Hebert and Kristian Garic. "It’s been quite a process, and you spend a lot of time trying to learn as much as you can about it. We’re certainly seeing it on the news 24/7.
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"But basically a weekend ago, it wasn’t until Sunday night, when I first began to feel some flu-like symptoms. Monday morning, they were certainly a little bit more significant. I had a low-grade fever... and that’s when I had my test on Monday and basically quarantined at that point at the house."
Payton said his diagnosis is an example that the coronavirus doesn't discriminate and reiterated the importance of flattening the curve.
“Our state right now, the numbers aren’t very good," he said. "It’s doubling and tripling. To get where you need to get to, pay attention to every single detail they’re talking about. "Because when you look at the numbers and you look at what’s happened, when two goes to six and six goes to 28 and the next thing you know you’re at 500, it just tells you how contagious this is." Payton said he expects the city to bounce back from the physical and financial impact of the pandemic but implored citizens to follow both national and local guidelines regarding social distancing.
“This city is tough and resilient. We’re smart, we’ve been through so much, between the (BP) Oil [incident], multiple hurricanes since I’ve been here post-Katrina. But we don’t have to be just tough now, we’ve got to be a little smart, too."
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