No positives among 102 covid-19 tests of Penn State football, basketball players
Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said 102 of the school’s football and basketball players have been tested for the novel coronavirus, and none has turned up positive.
Six Nittany Lions teams have been permitted to report for summer workouts, beginning with football early last month. Men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball did not report until this week, and results were not yet available on the 60-70 tests conducted on those players.
All of the 102 tests that came back negative are from the football and men’s and women’s basketball teams, the first to allow athletes to return to campus.
Penn State athletes are required to undergo testing and an isolation period when they report to campus and must do so again if they leave for travel that is not associated with their team or the school.
“That’s our protocol for the summer, and we’re continuing to look at the science and the conditions around us,” Barbour said via video conference call with media Wednesday. “And as the university settles on what they’re going to be doing for the fall, certainly, kind of fold up under that as well.
“We’re also going to need to then take some different approaches as it relates to competition and travel for student-athletes, as we arrive at that point.”
The university’s athletics department will report its covid-19 testing numbers among athletes every two weeks (on Wednesdays) for the remainder of the summer. It will not break down the numbers by sport.
The basketball rosters contain approximately 15 players each. That means, at least, about 70 football players have been tested. While there are 85 players on scholarship, the overall roster extends to more than 100 players. Seventy-five were permitted to report to campus June 8, and all are allowed to by now.
Barbour said some athletes have opted out of playing the coming season because of concerns related to coronavirus. She did not say what sport(s) those athletes played.
An athletic department spokesperson said Penn State will not release results of testing for coaches and staff, although that data will be referred to the appropriate agencies at the state and local levels for tabulation.
Barbour said protocol at Penn State will be that after the initial testing and isolation period, athletes will not be tested unless they are symptomatic.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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