Vikings' Kirk Cousins Not Concerned About Getting COVID-19: 'If I Die, I Die'

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins says he'll continue to live his life normally if he contracts COVID-19 and isn't concerned about the potential health ramifications.

On Wednesday's edition of the 10 Questions with Kyle Brandt podcast (via Andrew Marchand of the New York Post), Cousins graded his level of concern about the coronavirus pandemic as a ".000001" out of 10:

"I want to 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. You know, even if I die. If I die, I die. I kind of have peace about that."

Cousins clarified his comments on during a video press conference Wednesday: "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."

There have been more than 6 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, and over 184,000 people have died from the disease in the country, per CNN.

The latest age statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updated Aug. 26, show the vast majority of the deaths involve people 55 years of age and older, but 1,257 deaths of people between the ages of 25 and 34 have been related to the novel coronavirus.

The 32-year-old Cousins made headlines in April when he told reporters it could be "refreshing" to play games without fans in attendance because of the pandemic:

"Honestly, we practice every day in an empty grass area and pump in fake crowd noise for away games. But more often than not, you're used to it. OTA practices don't have a lot of pomp and circumstance to them. So honestly, to go out and just play the game would kind of be refreshing, a breath of fresh air, to just let us know that we don't have to have all the smoke and the fire. We can just play football. So as long as we're playing the game, I won't have a lot of complaints, and hopefully if it's still not returned to normal, we can find a way to make it work."

On Tuesday, the NFL announced the latest round of COVID-19 testing, which took place between Aug. 21 and Aug. 29, returned 10 positives (four players and six team personnel) from more than 58,000 tests.

The league reportedly informed teams of updated protocols on Monday, including shorter testing windows to allow players quicker returns upon the completion of a negative test, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. That would help prevent the possibility that a false positive impacts the regular season after testing issues in late August.

The 2020 campaign is scheduled to kick off Sept. 10 when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans. Cousins' Vikings will start with a home clash in front of no fans against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 13.