Latest COVID-19 report shows spike in Penn State athletics
Updated 7:40 pm: Penn State football and men’s basketball remain operational and practicing and are not among the “paused” programs. Football has another practice set for Thursday.
Original story: Not since July has Penn State athletics reported more than one positive COVID-19 test per week among its student-athletes.
Throughout its public release of testing numbers, the Nittany Lions topped out at eight positive test results at any point along the way.
Wednesday afternoon, those prior figures were upended.
Releasing its weekly updated testing numbers, this time for the period of August 31 - September 4, Penn State announced 48 new positive cases of the coronavirus among its student-athletes. A total of 920 tests were conducted in that timeframe.
The news comes parallel to a major spike in COVID-19 test positives on Penn State's campus and, by extension, the Centre County region. Notching a record 184 positive tests Wednesday, the highest one-day total more than four-fold anything previous for the county in one day, it comes on the heels of a Tuesday release from Penn State adding 205 cases since its report last week.
As a result of the positive tests, Penn State has "paused team activities for several programs," though did not mention which ones specifically in its statement.
Updated 7:40 pm: Football and men’s basketball are not among the impacted, paused programs. Football will practice again Thursday.
Statement provided courtesy of Penn State Athletics:
PENN STATE ATHLETICS COVID-19 TEST RESULTS UPDATE (SEPTEMBER 9)
For the period of August 31-September 4, Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics conducted 920 COVID-19 tests of students with 48 positive test results. The Intercollegiate Athletics reporting numbers are also included in the Penn State dashboard.
These results represent a 5.0 percent positivity rate for Penn State Athletics and have set in motion many of our established protocols. Based on these results and out of an abundance of caution, Penn State Athletics has paused team activities for several programs and initiated standard isolation and precautionary quarantine. Contact tracing is being performed and there is no evidence to suggest COVID-19 was transmitted during practice or training activities.
The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and the broader community are of the utmost importance. Therefore, as part of the protocols established in the return to campus plan by the Penn State Athletics medical staff and in consultation with University, local and national officials and guidelines, individuals with a positive test have been assigned to isolation for 14 days and will be retested at that point. In addition to isolation, contact tracing procedures have been implemented, which includes quarantine and testing for those individuals who might have been determined to be close contacts of positive individuals, even if asymptomatic.
We expect our student-athletes and staff to follow University requirements and guidelines for limiting the spread of COVID-19, including wearing masks, practicing social distancing, washing their hands regularly and not gathering in large groups.
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