LSU asked a number of football players to self-quarantine in the past week because of instances in which some players tested positive for the novel coronavirus after social interactions outside of the Tigers’ training facility.
“This is what we anticipated. We planned for this. Our plan is working the way it should,” senior associate athletic director of health and wellness Shelly Mullenix told The Associated Press on Saturday, adding that none of the players have exhibited “significant” symptoms.
“We haven’t seen anything even close to a bad illness, but we’re prepared for that,” Mullenix said. “What we have right now is quite manageable.”
Mullenix declined to specify the number of players who have tested positive or the precise number of those asked to quarantine, stressing the number is fluid and can fluctuate considerably in short periods of time. But she emphasized that a single positive test could result in as many as 12 to 15 players being asked to initially quarantine because of LSU’s contact tracing procedures. Several media reports have attributed specific numbers to unnamed sources, but Mullenix called those numbers “inaccurate.”
“If our quarantine number is high, it means our players have been communicating not only where they’ve been and who’ve they’ve been with, but also their symptoms, as we instructed them to,” Mullenix said.