Friday, March 29, 2024

11 Michigan State athletes test postive for COVID-19

September 30, 2020
<p>Spartan Stadium has converted into a COVID-19 testing facility to allow students living on or near campus to get tested. The entrance to the testing center is located at Gate B. Shot on Sept. 23, 2020.</p>

Spartan Stadium has converted into a COVID-19 testing facility to allow students living on or near campus to get tested. The entrance to the testing center is located at Gate B. Shot on Sept. 23, 2020.

Photo by Lauren DeMay | The State News

After testing 165 athletes and 13 staff members, Michigan State announced 11 athletes and zero staff members tested positive and for COVID-19 from Sept. 22 through Sept. 30.

With eleven athletes testing positive out of 178 tests, that makes up approximately a 6.2% positivity rate. That rate is slightly higher than the average rate since the beginning of testing on June 15.

Since June 15, Michigan State has tested 2,499 athletes and staff with 142 positive results, making up a 5.68% total positivity rate since testing began.

Athletes who have tested positive will have daily health check-ins with the athletic training staff and additional services from medical and administrative staff. The tests taken by Michigan State athletes and staff will be added to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard.

The Big Ten conference laid out extensive testing protocols for football earlier this month when they flipped their decision on football being played this fall. In those protocols, the Big Ten laid out what percentage of tests would have to come back positive to stop play and practice. If the team positivity rate is greater than 5% and the population positivity rate — which includes coaches and staff — is above 7.5%, the team must stop practice and games for at least a week or until the rate improves.

The positivity rate provided in the latest release is that of all tested athletes, not solely football.

Michigan State is currently preparing for their first matchup against Rutgers and if all goes to plan, the Mel Tucker era will finally begin in East Lansing.

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “11 Michigan State athletes test postive for COVID-19” on social media.