Penn State Athletics Reports Just One COVID Positive Following Latest Round of Testing

Penn State Athletics reported just one COVID-19 positive following its latest round of student-athlete testing. The testing period spanned October 10-16 and was released as part of the department’s weekly COVID update.

Over that same period the athletic department conducted 1,241 COVID-19 tests with five of those still pending. As per usual student-athletes are tested on a daily basis per Big Ten protocols and in turn, total tests are not a reflection of total student-athletes tested.

In either case, Wednesday’s news continues a downward trend and sustained management of COVID-19 within the department. The single positive test follows in the wake of last week’s report where just three student-athletes tested positive for the virus. Those results fall in line with an ongoing decrease in cases over the past two months.

For comparison, on September 9, Penn State Athletics paused team activities for several programs within the department following 48 positive tests. The following week the department reported 50 positives but at a rate that did not require any program shutdowns.

All department results are reflected in Penn State University’s overall COVID numbers.

Penn State does not report which teams have acquired COVID positive athletes, although Penn State football coach James Franklin said on Tuesday that no football players would be held out of the upcoming season opener against Indiana this weekend due to COVID. Big Ten health and safety rules require student-athletes who test positive to sit out for the next 21 days.

The Centre County region added 34 COVID cases on Wednesday while Penn State reported 91 new cases over its most recent testing period, the second-straight with fewer than 100 positive results.