Some college teams are acknowledging positive COVID tests. Here’s the plan at USC
The University of South Carolina tested all of its football players for the coronavirus as they returned to campus for workouts.
The Gamecocks will not, however, be making anything public about how many might have tested positive for COVID-19.
USC coach Will Muschamp all but confirmed the school’s current position on the matter on a conference call with reporters Monday. Players started workouts at 8 a.m. earlier in the day.
“I’m not going to address any positives that we could or couldn’t have or if we had any,” Muschamp said. “If we did did have a positive, we have protocols in place for them to be quarantined. And we’ve got a good plan set for that.”
He said the quarantine will last for 14 days and will shut down everyone in the workout/living cluster of a player who tests positive. Each workout pod at USC includes four players.
Oklahoma State publicly announced its number of positive tests. Alabama did not, but its number leaked out via media reports. Auburn had some student-athletes test positive and confirmed that to reporters.
Arkansas State, Marshall and Iowa State also publicly announced positive cases. Schools are acknowledging the testing results without naming athletes’ names.
There is no plan for a second wave of overall testing for the Gamecocks at this time. Players will have temperatures taken daily before workouts and be quizzed about possible COVID symptoms.
The school announced an extensive set of protocols related to the return to team activities soon after the SEC announced a date for activities to resume.
Those include rather extensive plans for sanitizing athletic buildings. Muschamp has said in various interviews that he thinks players are safer on campus as opposed to being on their own at home. He and his staff have been back on campus for several weeks.
Muschamp was asked if he had concerns or whether or not another team’s handling of reporting cases might affect him, but he didn’t focus much on it.
“I’m just worried about South Carolina and our football team,” Muschamp said. “That’s all I can control.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 11:57 AM.
