Rutgers coronavirus outbreak nearly doubles after entire program put into quarantine
A COVID-19 outbreak within the Rutgers football program nearly doubled on Monday and spread to several staff members, according to NJ.com.
Rutgers had suspended all team activities and quarantined its entire team last week after 15 players tested positive since they returned to campus in June. That number, according to NJ.com, is now at 28 cases.
Outbreak connected to a party
Athletes across multiple sports at the university reportedly attended an on-campus party, which officials said on July 29 that they believe was the source of the outbreak. At that time, only 15 players had tested positive.
Now, according to three people who spoke to NJ.com on the condition of anonymity, 28 players along with “multiple staff members” have been infected. Some players are experiencing symptoms, while others are asymptomatic.
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The team is in isolation at least through Saturday.
There were more than 4.7 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Monday night, according to The New York Times, and nearly 156,000 deaths attributed to it.
Rutgers is the second program in the Big Ten to quarantine everyone after an outbreak, following Michigan State — which had 16 athletes and four staff members test positive last week. Northwestern suspended team workouts on Monday, after a player tested positive, too, making it the sixth program in the conference to have done so.
The Big Ten is hoping to play a conference-only schedule this fall, though has yet to announce when football programs can officially move forward with preseason camps. That decision is expected to come this week.
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