Giants’ Alex Dickerson has emotional weekend after false positive test

There are worse places to spend a weekend than San Diego.

Alex Dickerson, a Poway native who played six years in the Padres organization, knows that as well as anyone. Yet the 48 hours after his positive COVID-19 test pulled him off the field just before Friday’s first pitch marked anything but a vacation.

He’s since tested negative about a half-dozen times. His wife, who is 39 weeks pregnant, also tested negative throughout an ordeal further complicated by what Dickerson deemed a false USA Today report that an unidentified player told “several members of the Giants’ traveling party that he believed he was possibly infected by a family member or friend in San Diego.”

Not remotely true, Dickerson said.

Dickerson said he tested negative before boarding Thursday’s flight from San Francisco to San Diego. His wife was waiting for him in his hotel room after landing at 2 a.m. She’d previously tested negative within the month, had been quarantining on bed rest and had only seen her mother, who had also tested negative.

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The sun sets as the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants start a game at Petco Park on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres holds onto his helmet while scoring on a Mitch Moreland double in the 1st inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres celebrates after scoring on a Mitch Moreland double in the 1st inning against the San Francisco Giants.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Jorge Ona of the San Diego Padres celebrates a solo home run in the 4th inning with Jurickson Profar against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres celebrates a home run in the 3rd inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Mitch Moreland of the San Diego Padres hits a two-RBI double in the 1st inning against the San Francisco Giants.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Mitch Moreland of the San Diego Padres hits a two-RBI double in the 1st inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Chris Paddack of the San Diego Padres pitches against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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The sun peaks out behind smoke before a game between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Catcher Austin Nola and pitcher Dan Altavilla of the San Diego Padres celebrate a win over the San Francisco Giants.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Fernando Tatis Jr. and Trent Grisham of the San Diego Padres celebrate a win over the San Francisco Giants.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Greg Garcia of the San Diego Padres hits a 2-RBI single in the 2nd inning off of Johnny Cueto of the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Jake Cronenworth of the San Diego Padres slides safely into home on a Greg Garcia single in the 2nd inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Mike Clevinger of the San Diego Padres pitches against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Donovan Solano of the San Francisco Giants throws to Brandon Crawford as Jake Cronenworth of the San Diego Padres approaches in the 6th inning.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Will Myers of the San Diego Padres hits a 2-RBI single in the 3rd inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Mike Clevinger of the San Diego Padres celebrates a win against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Sunday.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Wil Myers of the San Diego Padres hits a home run in the 2nd inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Wil Myers of the San Diego Padres celebrates with teammates after hitting a home run against the San Francisco Giants.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Jurickson Profar of the San Diego Padres hits a RBI single in the 5th inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Garrett Richards of the San Diego Padres pitches against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres is tagged out by Wilmer Flores of the San Francisco Giants as he tries to steal second base at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Jason Castro of the San Diego Padres is tagged out at the plate by Joey Bart of the San Francisco Giants in the 5th inning at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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The San Diego Padres celebrate a 2-1 win against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Pitcher Trevor Rosenthal of the San Diego Padres celebrates a win against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020.  (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Dickerson was emotional when discussing how the false report swept his wife, Jennifer, into a stressful 48 hours after Thursday’s saliva test came back positive just before first pitch Friday evening. The two are expecting their first child this week.

“(That false) reporting had extremely negative effects on me and my family,” Dickerson said Sunday morning on a video conference call with reporters. “ … It was completely false. My wife is 39 weeks pregnant and had to deal with a lot of stuff she did not deserve to deal with. That was not easy. A lot of this, when you’re dealing with a pregnancy and COVID-19, it is not a good thing to make the assumption that I broke protocol and saw family and friends.

“My wife was the only person I saw, and she has been quarantining on bed rest. It caused a lot of hate to come toward you and it was totally unwarranted.”

Farhan Zaidi, the Giants’ president of baseball operations, could not say why Dickerson registered what has been deemed a false positive. Dickerson was immediately pulled from the field and isolated at Petco Park, where Padres officials and medical staff scrambled to assist the Giants with rapid testing. Further tests were administered to Dickerson and his wife throughout the weekend, including at UC San Diego.

“It came as a complete shock,” Dickerson said of the false positive test. “At no point did I ever believe it was real. … Our team is one of the best at following all of the protocols.”

He added: “Throughout all of this we were asymptomatic even though we were dealing with the stresses of everything going on and also worrying about her going into labor.”

Major League Baseball announced early Sunday the two teams would play a doubleheader.

Dickerson, who was traded to San Francisco last year, was in the lineup Sunday in left field and batting second for the Giants in both ends of the doubleheader. He was 1-for-3 in the first game and 0-for-2 in Game 2, lowering his batting average to .265.

“I thought it was a false positive but at the same time you do have those moments of doubts,” Dickerson said. “ ... Getting the one negative test and getting another one from the hospital started to bring some relief. Still didn’t sleep really at all, especially that first night, just worrying about things.

“It did make us feel a little better and then as we started to get more confirmation through yesterday, definitely feeling a lot better today.”

Plans to make up the other game postponed this weekend have not been announced, although it seems likely it would occur the final weekend of the season when the two teams play a series in San Francisco.