At least 30 LSU football players have tested positive for Covid 19 since the start of June, Clemson 23, which shows the tricky wicket of playing football in 2020

Will this matchup occur this year?

Photo: ABC Sports

… outbreaks probably came from off-campus bars and socials

It was not that long ago that Louisiana State quarterback Joe Burrow was leading the Tigers to the national championship over Clemson. 

Today, that seems like a long time ago. Long before Covid-19 wrecked the college football scene, leading schools to vacate their campuses and focus on online learning. 

And leaving athletes to work out on their own, when they could. Then, the NCAA opened up workouts for the start of June, and many traipsed back to campus to engage with their teammates. 

However, not all of that news from this month has been positive to college football.

LSU administrators would not talk to SI

According to a Sports Illustrated story posted yesterday, LSU administrators did not want to talk about their refusal to test athletes when they returned to campus. Instead, they asked a trainer to do so, and neither would confirm the numbers,

Like many in college football, the defending national champions are as well battling a viral outbreak.

At least one-quarter of LSU’s football team was in quarantine this week because of virus-related concerns, multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated, but that number is continuously fluctuating based on test results. At least 30 of LSU's 115 players have been isolated because they tested positive for COVID-19 or were found to have had contact with those who tested positive.

High-ranking LSU athletic department officials declined comment Saturday, citing medical privacy laws. They referred SI to Shelly Mullenix, the school’s long-time senior associate athletic trainer.

Ross Dellenger, “At Least 30 LSU Football Players Quarantined Due 

to COVID-19 Outbreak,” Sports Illustrated, June 20, 2020

No athletes have been hospitalized

According to the SI story, LSU said that it has identified where some of the cases may have originated, and they do not believe that they were at the on-campus workouts,

A portion of LSU’s football players are quarantined after frequenting a string of nightclubs near the school’s campus called Tigerland. On Friday, the Louisiana Department of Health announced that more than 100 Tigerland bar-goers have tested positive for the virus and warned those who have frequented the establishments to quarantine for at least 14 days. Mullenix is in constant contact with the Louisiana Department of Health, showing health officials team trends, a process that helped reveal the Tigerland bar outbreak.

Infected or potentially infected LSU players have been isolating with roommates in their on-campus apartments, and some of them have continued to participate in modified, outdoor workouts with their own quarantine group, though they are not required to do so. Meanwhile, constant testing is being administered through the contract-tracing process. The school, in fact, got good news Friday night, when test results returned negative for a group of players who had frequented the bars.

Ross Dellenger, Sports Illustrated, June 20, 2020

In fact, one Louisiana paper said that the bar in question should be off-limits to everyone,

[T]he Tigerland bar circuit near campus should be off-limits to all LSU football players and other student-athletes. In fact, for the time being, it is not a good idea for anyone to go there.

State health officials on Friday said there was a cluster of COVID-19 outbreaks stemming from patrons at bars in and near the Tigerland area, which is where some of the LSU football players had been frequenting after just returning to campus June 9.

Glenn Guilbeau, “Will Louisiana wake up now that COVID-19 has 

hit LSU football?” Lafayette Daily Advertiser, June 21, 2020

Clemson also hit with 23

The team that has dominated college football over the past four years, Clemson, which lost to the Tigers in January but has won two previous titles in four years, also made public that the South Carolina school had some athletes who have tested positive for the coronavirus,

Clemson athletics announced Friday that thus far in the month of June, 28 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 out of 315 completed tests. 

According to The Athletic's Grace Raynor, 23 of those positive tests stem from football players.

The university said in a statement that it has notified and isolated each of the individuals who have tested positive for at least 10 days. 

Those known to have close contact with them have also been asked to quarantine for at least 14 days. The athletic department said most of the total cases have been asymptomatic. 

Clemson is far from alone in seeing positive test results from athletes returning to school. A number of programs, including the University of Texas, University of Houston and SMU, have had college football players test positive for COVID-19 since voluntary workouts resumed. There also have been reports of positive tests at Kansas State, Alabama and Michigan. 

Ben Pickman, “Report: 23 Clemson Football Players Test Positive 

for COVID-19,” Sports Illustrated, June 19, 2020

The problem goes beyond workouts

The reality here is that most of these athletes are young and in very good physical condition. They should recover quickly, but that is not the case for the rest of America. Many think that the virus is gone, though most had said that it would be reduced during the summer. 

Nevertheless, the outbreaks in the South and West indicate that people are probably not doing much to alleviate the problems associated with the disease. 

So, even if football does occur, how many fans will be willing to attend games? How many students? How many faculty? How many parents?

That is the real tricky wicket for this fall. Games will take place, but at what risk to the general population and to the colleges and universities themselves?