Texas State has announced that five football student athletes have tested positive for Covid-19.
“While we have had five football student-athletes test positive for COVID-19, it was determined that they acquired the COVID-19 Virus in their different communities, and not on the university campus,” said Dr. Emilio Carranco, Director of the Student Health Center, Texas State University Chief Medical Officer. “All five are self-isolating for 14 days, and their care is being managed by our university health professionals, athletic trainers, and team physician.”
Texas State has been conducting daily symptomatic testing since the football players reported to campus. Each player has a daily temperature check, and Bobcat athletic trainers conduct symptom screenings before workouts begin.
“We are pleased with our results since their arrival on June 1, and believe we have been able to mitigate the circumstances in order to keep our student-athletes safe while working out in our facilities,” said Texas State Director of Athletics Larry Teis. “We continue to take the precautions of wearing masks during indoor activities and disinfecting the facilities, which include the weight rooms and training rooms.”
“We are following proper guidelines of our health professionals and have not had any positive tests from contact tracing inside our facilities thus far,” added Teis. “We are pleased that it appears our protocols have been successful to date.”
News of the positive Covid-19 cases comes as Texas State enters Phase 2 of their return to campus plan.
The football program began voluntary workouts on June 1 with 53 student-athletes on campus, while the men’s and women’s basketball teams began voluntary workouts on June 15 with 20 student-athletes returning.
Phase one had the football team working out in groups of 10-or-less players, and those group sizes have increased to 50-or-less players in the second phase.
