Penn State reports 8 positive coronavirus tests among athletes
Eight Penn State athletes have tested positive for coronavirus, the university announced Wednesday.
They are the first positive tests announced since the school first started publicly revealing results on a biweekly basis July 1. The first two batches revealed no cases in 280 tests. Wednesday’s results showed eight positives in 120 tests. Results of 66 more tests are still pending.
The results were not broken down by sport.
In a statement, the university said athletes who test positive will be isolated for 14 days. The school will also conduct contact tracing.
The Big Ten canceled all nonconference games for fall sports earlier this month, but conference matchups remain on the schedule.
Two Big Ten programs — Michigan State and Rutgers — have isolated their entire football teams after recent outbreaks. Michigan State had 16 players and four staff members test positive. Rutgers had 15 players return positive tests.
The Rutgers outbreak has been attributed by state officials to an on-campus party.
In its release, Penn State said the university expects all athletes to follow CDC guidelines for limiting the spread of the virus, including the wearing of masks, social distancing, hand hygiene and refraining from gathering in large groups.
Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.