Last Wednesday, it was announced that 15 players on the Rutgers football team tested positive for COVID-19, with the outbreak linked to an on-campus party. And less than a week later, the amount of positive tests for Scarlet Knights football players has nearly doubled, to go with positive tests for staff members.
Keith Sargeant of NJ.com reports that 28 Rutgers football players and multiple staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.
Breaking: Rutgers football coronavirus outbreak doubles, extends to staff https://t.co/e9wwug9rgg
— Keith Sargeant (@KSargeantNJ) August 4, 2020
The number of COVID-19 cases connected with the Rutgers University football team nearly has doubled from 15 to 28 players, plus multiple staff members, three people with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media on Monday night.
Sargeant adds that there are multiple players with COVID-19 symptoms, such as fevers, headaches, and sore throats. The players have received tests every other day since the outbreak began, and “the school has taken the step of moving the entire team to an on-campus dorm to quarantine.”
There are multiple players with symptoms widely associated with the coronavirus, including fevers, headaches, and sore throats, two of the people said. There are also numerous players who are asymptomatic after testing positive last week, two of the people said.
Since the outbreak began in late July, players have been receiving tests every other day and the school has taken the step of moving the entire team to an on-campus dorm to quarantine, two of the three people said.
This is a very bad situation for Greg Schiano’s squad and shows how difficult it will be to complete a 2020 college football season amid the pandemic.
Rutgers finished 2-10 (and 0-9 in the Big Ten) last season, and Schiano was hired last December to turn the program around after having tremendous success in his first stint (2001-2011) as head coach of the Scarlet Knights.
[NJ.com]
