Former Spartan QB Kirk Cousins on COVID-19: ‘If I die, I die’
Former Michigan State football quarterback Kirk Cousins is entering his ninth season in the NFL, and it's probably not going to be what he's used to due to the pandemic.
Although, the coronavirus doesn't seem to concern the Minnesota Vikings starter after appearing on the podcast "10 Questions with Kyle Brandt" in July and saying "if I die, I die" in reference to COVID-19.
Brandt asked Cousins to rate the level of concern he has over potentially having the virus himself on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being "the person who says, 'Masks are stupid, you're all a bunch of lemmings,' and 10 is 'I'm not leaving my master bathroom for the next 10 years.'"
He replied with, "I'm not gonna call anybody stupid, for the trouble it would get me in. But I'm about a .000001."
However, he doesn't want people to think he doesn't respect "what other people's concerns are."
"For me personally, just talking no one else can get the virus, what is your concern if you could get it, I would say I'm gonna go about my daily life. If I get it, I'm gonna ride it out. I'm gonna let nature do its course. Survival-of-the-fittest kind of approach. And just say, if it knocks me out, it knocks me out. I'm going to be OK … I kind of have peace about that," said Cousins.
Following some backlash over his statement, Cousins spoke to reporters on Wednesday, and according to ESPN, he wasn't as clear as he "would have liked to have been" about what he said back in July.
"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 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.
"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. Admittedly I didn't say it as clear as I would have liked to, so I just want to share that same message again and hopefully articulate it a little bit better," Cousins said. "But that has always been my heart and is again now, just trying to say that."
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