Kentucky football team is COVID-19 free; three active cases elsewhere in athletics
There are three active cases of COVID-19 within the University of Kentucky athletics department.
The positive diagnoses — determined through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic testing — exist among individuals with ties to the men’s basketball, volleyball and women’s soccer teams, but the school declined to give further information about the positive results, citing privacy concerns. A total of 41 players and 21 staff members were tested from those teams; one player provided proof of having undergone an at-home diagnostic test prior to their return to campus.
The three individuals who tested positive have been quarantined.
“The length of the quarantine period for each case is determined by the local health department in conjunction with current CDC guidelines,” Guy Ramsey, a spokesperson for UK, wrote in an email to the Herald-Leader. “Individuals are required to stay home and isolate. Student-athletes in quarantine are contacted on a regular basis to monitor their health.”
Additionally, three athletes from those teams were positive for past COVID-19 infection through antibody testing.
A total of 150 athletes have participated in voluntary workout activities at UK since the football team kicked off a series of returns in early June. The school announced Monday that all of its 108 football players and 58 football staff members deemed essential at this time tested negative for COVID-19 through PCR testing last week. UK initially tested only for antibodies but began last week also testing for the active infection (PCR) as it continued to phase through its return to activity.
UK’s men’s soccer team returned to Lexington late last week and is undergoing its initial screening process for returns.
The athletic department said it “plans to continue current mitigation strategies and evaluate the need for additional testing on a regular basis.” Asked if PCR tests would continue to be administered to individuals in the athletic department weekly, Ramsey said “any other updates on additional testing” would be shared in future news releases.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 12:07 PM.
