More Kansas State football players test positive for COVID-19 after last week’s spike
Local health officials have identified the Kansas State football team as the source of a new coronavirus outbreak in Riley County.
The county is reporting that 10 K-State football players have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday afternoon. That number is up from the seven positive cases that the Wildcats announced last week following a round of surveillance testing.
Despite the recent spike in coronavirus cases, the Wildcats are continuing to practice as scheduled according to a team official. K-State will open its football season in less than two weeks when it hosts Arkansas State on Sept. 12 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Riley County health officials also identified eight Greek houses as sources of recent outbreaks, along with seven cases from the USD 384 School District Office. The Greek houses listed are: Alpha Delta Pi (6), Aplha Xi Delta (6), Chi Omega (5), Kappa Delta (7), Pi Beta Phi (5), Sigma Alpha Epsilon (5), Delta Sigma Phi (8) and Phi Delta Theta (21).
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that K-State will forge ahead with preseason camp, considering Texas Tech remains on the practice field after experiencing 21 positive tests last week. And Oklahoma continued ahead with practice after nine of its players tested positive earlier this month.
It is unclear how long K-State players will need to be away from the their teammates as they quarantine and recover from the coronavirus, but their status for the season-opener is in jeopardy.
According to new Big 12 safety protocol, all players that test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for approximately two weeks, test negative for the coronavirus and then undergo a series of other tests. They include an EKG, troponin blood test, echocardiogram, and cardiac MRI.
The 10 K-State players that recently tested positive will likely be unable to take the field against Arkansas State.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 5:23 PM with the headline "More Kansas State football players test positive for COVID-19 after last week’s spike."