Multiple Big 12 Teams Dealing with Positive COVID-19 Cases

On Monday the West Virginia Athletics department announced that one WVU football player had tested positive for COVID-19. Monday was the first day of voluntary workouts for the Mountaineers and players had been tested 72 hours beforehand, adhering to the policies WVU had put in place.

For a lot of people, only having one positive case seemed like it might be good news. With the spread of COVID-19 across the United States it seemed like the question was not going to be if a football player tested positive, but rather how many would test positive. In that respect, you might be able to see WVU’s lone case as a win for having football in the fall. Across the rest of the Big 12, however, news has not been as good.

Just today the University of Texas announced that a total of 13 football players have tested positive for coronavirus. UT’s statement continued to note that an additional 10 players have been identified as being at risk due to contact and are also self-isolating. An additional four players tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, meaning that had the virus previously. This burst was up from just two positive cases Texas announced when players initially returned to campus last week.

On Monday Kansas State had announced that two football players had tested positive, but Tuesday that number moved up to eight. The Wildcats tested a total of 130 student-athletes that returned to Manhattan. The athletes all reportedly contracted the virus out-of-state prior to returning to campus.

Also on Monday, Texas Tech announced that student-athletes in its football, men’s track and field and women’s basketball programs had tested positive, but did not announce how many.

Iowa State was one of the first Big 12 schools to announced positive coronavirus tests, announcing 10 positive cases last Friday. Of those 10 cases, two are reportedly football players and none had participated in any team activities. ESPN reported that ISU announced on June 3 that a part-time student worker in the athletic department had tested positive just as student-athletes and staff were beginning to return.

Both Baylor and Oklahoma State have three confirmed positive cases. Baylor announced three positive cases out of 59 total test conducted with two of the three positive cases being asymptomatic. All three Oklahoma State student-athletes confirmed their positive tests via Twitter.

The only Big 12 schools that have yet to announce any positive cases are Oklahoma, Kansas and TCU.

This was all part of the Big 12’s plans to phase student-athletes back onto campus this summer. June 15, Monday, was the first day for voluntary football work outs, July 1 volleyball, soccer and cross-country athletes will be permitted to return and on July 15 all athletes will be permitted to return to campuses for “voluntary sport-related activities”.